This week- geez, this year has been filled with a flurry of different emotions, and I think it’s safe to say we are all allowed to go through that gamut and shouldn’t feel shame in that. I was seeing a lot of criticism going around this week for people who are feeling hopeful, for people who are still feeling hopeless, for people who are indifferent, for people who don’t believe change is coming in the ways we need, for people who are skeptical, and for people who aren’t. You name it, there’s someone out there with an opinion on how everyone should feel during this distinctive shift in power. There are understandably so many complicated emotions around what’s next. This post-Trump phase we’re stepping into is akin to coming out of an awful relationship. We’ve been gaslit, lied to, and verbally abused for years. It’s okay to feel every single emotion and/or nothing at all.
It has been 70 days since the most depressing presidential election I’ve ever experienced and there has been no reprieve from the glaringly unstable president elect’s ability to frighten and disappoint on a large scale.
As his inauguration quickly approaches to the utter surprise and disgust of most of the country, people are continuing to battle for their voice and remain angry in protest to, frankly, TRY to stand up against a lying racist no, def racist, fascist narcissist that is relentlessly threatening our freedoms. In all of this, he still has a vicious staunch following that believe his lies so wholeheartedly that any hint of dissension unleashes a reign of despicable fury, a litany of personal insults that makes you question whether or not this aggression is coming from something deeper than a desire to defend an ideal, but is really a culmination of compounded hatred and blind selfishness that leads to the hapless belief in policies in direct opposition to their own interests. Not to mention these assaults are usually led by the president elect.
I listened to a podcast today, (shout out to Pod Save America!) and was able to (kind of) understand where some of this frustration comes from. There can be an air of superiority that liberals have when it comes to discussing conservatives that can be off-putting and stratifying. Calling Trump supporters classless and stupid are not great ways to garner traction to change minds, but then again, I guess that’s not really the point at this juncture. The right has alarmingly made up its mind to house and support white supremacy, and ignore the plea of thousands to rethink disrupting Obamacare- just to name a few indiscretions. At this point, the priority is to protect the republic and defend ourselves from the inevitable onslaught of bigotry that is going to find its way into law. A vast majority of the country has made it abundantly clear that we will not walk quietly into the night, while this incoming administration attempts to steamroll, crush, and diminish our rights.
There’s just a piece of me that wants to believe people can change. In the right context, under the right circumstances, truth can prevail against a despot. Alas, this election has chipped away at that hope and I am resigned to believe no amount of fact or the witness of actual events will change the minds of the white America that is so wrapped up in an identity that is based on ostracizing and belittling “The Other” while turning a blind eye to an emerging government that cares nothing to little about democracy (or their wellbeing) and everything about money.
To those people who will seemingly never see the dark side of this presidency:
How can you so intensely follow someone who wants to MAGA for the upper class no matter the cost to the rest of the American people? Why can’t you see you’re being duped?
