DON'T TELL ME NOT TO BE ANGRY.

I wrote a post yesterday to express how I feel and, at the time, thought it was cathartic, that it released the emotions I’d held onto since Tuesday. This morning I realized it very much did not. Why? (Partly because I'm an empath holding onto the anger, despair and sadness for EVERYONE who IS suffering / WILL suffer in the future as a result of what's happened. But that's another post.) Because yet again I read posts that effectively tell me to “love” and “not be angry,” and "do something."

Are you serious? This isn’t 2016. THIS IS VOTING THE WORST, MOST UNFIT AND DYSFUNCTIONAL FORMER PRESIDENT INTO OFFICE A SECOND TIME. Knowing who he is. Knowing he has already destroyed this country in myriad ways during the last eight years and then WANTING, even BEGGING, him to kick us in the nuts while we’re already down. People of faith voting to expunge from this country 11-20 million poor, decent, hard working and productive HUMAN BEINGS (who are largely people of the same faith) when they should be “seeking them out and caring for them.” People of color voting for a racist bigot who openly despises them. Service people who fought FOR our freedom and democracy, know he dodged the draft and called them “suckers and losers” and STILL voting for him. Union workers voting for the man who is anti-union. Women voting against their own healthcare for God’s sake. The list goes on and on. And my brain physically hurts trying to make sense of it.

Further, by God’s/the Mother’s/the Universe’s grace, Tr*ump failed to make things even worse than they could have been from 2016-2020 partly because the majority of his administration, though largely assholes, still had some degree of moral fortitude and kept him in check for the really bad shit (eg him literally SUGGESTING PROTESTERS BE SHOT so he could freely walk to a church for a photo op of him holding a bible, which he held upside down because he’s never even opened one before). But he and his sycophants learned from their mistakes and have had four years to plot and scheme. His new administration will be filled only with those who pledge 100% fealty to him. READ ABOUT PROJECT 2025. NO MORE GUARD RAILS.

So, you want to know why we’re angry? Why we’re disgusted? Why most of all we’re sad, scared to death and worried that “fighting” is now an impossible mountain to climb? Read this NPR article from November of last year. THIS ARTICLE IS WHY. This is also why it’s no longer alarmist to be concerned about an impending loss of freedom and democracy. Tr*mp fucked it up the first time. He won’t a second time. He has or will have in place everything and everyone he needs to succeed and all because half of this country said "Yes, please!" and enabled him to do it.

By the way, the transition to a disgusting, hate-filled, ravaged America/American landscape is already underway. On day one, he has now promised to:

1. Launch the mass deportation of 11-20 million HUMAN BEINGS (at an estimated cost of $88 billion a year /$1 trillion over the next 10 years for all you “economy” voters, and it will likely be done in an inhumane way just like his horrific parent/child border separation methods before)

2. Ban gender-affirming care and revoke transgender student protections (a heartbreaking thought as it will vastly increase violence toward and the suicide rate among trans teens, but who cares? They're mental, right?)

3. Destroy our public lands to “drill, drill, drill” (he says with pride on his face)

4. Pardon and release every violent, Jan 6 domestic terrorist who tried to over throw the government and called for Mike Pence and Nancy Pelosi to be hanged (because there are "fine people on both sides")

5. Cut federal funding for schools that allow discussions about race, gender or sexual orientation, and schools with vaccine mandates (effectively ERASING SO MANY OF US and our histories and reintroducing preventable diseases and death to our children)

6. End the Green New Deal further destroying our planet for future generations (because who gives a shit what the planet looks like for our grandkids and great grandkids? We won't be around anymore!)

7. Oh, and fire Jack Smith (because a president is now immune and can't be held responsible for his egregious crimes. Thanks, Supreme Court!)

From the linked article:

“At a recent rally, former President Donald Tr*mp used language in a speech that echoed Adolf Hitler, comparing his political opponents to ‘vermin,’” and said, “We pledge to you that we will root out the communists, Marxists, fascists, and the radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country.”

“Tr*mp said that immigration is ‘a very sad thing for our country; it's poisoning the blood of our country.’”

“Robert Jones, founder of the Public Religion Research Institute, or PRRI [says] ‘Trump has clearly crossed into the domain of Nazi ideology openly.’”

Authoritarianism (and Fascism, which is embodied by Tr*ump, not the Left) are “…when the executive branch and the leader find ways to take away checks and balances…so they have a degree of power that they don't have in a democracy, and they find ways to take away the independence of the legislature and the independence of the judiciary."

P.S. I AM DOING SOMETHING. I’m processing my own emotions and helping others do the same. I’m giving words to those who have been struggling to express what they’re feeling. Most importantly, I’m validating others and telling them they’re seen, heard and not alone in their anger, fear and sadness.