I so admire you, Tom, for summoning the will and clarity to write this much-needed, spine-stiffening piece. I don't, personally or professionally, know one single person who wanted this outcome. So I feel like I've been living in an alternate reality. Turns out I have. Time to look the facts in the face and gauge the best response I can — once I've found my feet again.
For me, the hard part was the realization that the aberration was not 2016; it was 2008, 2012, and 2020. What happened yesterday is who the majority of Americans are. And I say majority because it comes down to this: Anyone who did not vote Democratic is racist, misogynistic, and bigoted.
My trans young adult is apoplectic. I fear for her safety. She is already dealing with severe mental health challenges. This might be the last straw. She’s not wrong to be worried. All minorities and marginalized people are fucked. Climate is fucked. The economy is fucked. Democracy is fucked. Accountability is fucked. Major parts of our government are fucked. Civil servants are fucked. Anyone who stood against him is fucked. Protesting is fucked. The healthcare system is fucked. The cult will be emboldened. I have a hard time seeing any silver lining.
I am part of the resistance and will not be effed by the likes of Trump or his cult. I will not console any Trumpers when they get what they've asked for, nor will I rub it in, but they have decided who their "savior" is and they can put their hands out to him and listen to the laughter that follows when they present as the proles they will be. Their addiction to chaos has to make them hit rock bottom before they have any chance for enlightenment. The one who's orgasmic this morning is Putin, with a little Musk on the side, although China can still mess with Musk.
More obvious at Helsinki. Of course, the Miss Universe Moscow trip was a clue. Some of our reps are too. My rep Granger and others cozied up to Vlad. He’s the winner
Ca;ifornia can't even start counting ballots till close of business next Tuesday, the last day they accept mail in ballots. There re 4-6 flippable seats here and what I saw from groundwork done in two of them, it can happen. California house seats are still in play.
Today seems like a good day to make your infamous toasted cheese sandwich. I used grated sharp cheddar and habanero cheeses, plus some goat cheese, and spread mayonnaise on the bread which made it toast up beautifully. Some of the cheese fell out and arranged itself along the bread crust forming an extra layer of crispiness, and I ate it by dunking it in homemade tomato fennel soup. Today, the simple pleasures seem huge.
Mmmmmm! Split pea with ham, whole wheat bread here. Usually make my own, but cheated since I was a little tired from yelling "F&@$" for a couple hours last night.
Living in interesting times sucks, but such are the cards that have been dealt. Hawaii and the West Coast delivered, but the heartland is rotten and festering and beyond redemption, I feel. They have sown the wind, now they shall reap the whirlwind but we’re coming along for the ride into the abyss.
Old New Yorker cartoon: two intellectuals (you can tell because they have long hair and corduroy jackets and there's a big bookshelf behind them) are talking: #1: "Yes, yes, I agree, those who fail to understand history are condemned to repeat it." #2: "And those of us who do understand history are condemned to be along for the ride."
I think of the movie Excalibur and the line that Nicol Williamson as Merlin says that it is the doom of men that they forget. Over one million Americans died on trump’s watch because he botched the government response to Covid, but it’s “Nah, he deserves a second chance…” Collective selective amnesia fueled by hatred and rage against the “other”.
Especially if RFK Jr is able to outlaw vaccines. The good news will be that such a decision will go a long way towards taking Dumbfuckistan out of the argument.
An old one that I posted many times while on T and FB. Still got a pic of it. Along with a zillion pics mocking chump. I had hoped to trash them, but he will haunt me til my dying days.
I'm glad you could sift through the trash and find the treasures, however small they might be. Thanks for that. Today, I'm going to do what I have been needing to do for a long time: renew my passport. I don't want to leave my comfy home, and I may not be able to, but this country is worse than I had ever imagined it to be and I'm not sure I have the "stuff" to fight another fight to help right the ship. I hoped the pandemic had winnowed out more of the bleach drinkers, and that women had what it took to stand up to (as in not "stand by") their men, and that those long lines of students would be enough to offset the knuckle draggers on their tractors. But. We lost. So, if I'm painting a picture of this America, it looks pretty pathetic and dark to me on this pretty Wednesday morning.
A question: in researching the "why" of this sorry outcome, do we need to look more closely at Opus Dei? At the Catholics on the court and in government (at all levels)? At the Hispanics who voted to deport themselves? Is this a result of manipulation by oligarchs or theocrats or both?
I too looked at passport renewal online today and was pleasantly surprised how easy it is now. As long as you got your old one between 2009 and 2015 you can take your own photo and upload. It's fully an online process if you meet the criteria.
As I read this this morning, it crossed my mind that anyone who wants to get a passport, or needs to renew a passport, had better act quickly. Who knows where the tentacles of P2025 will reach & change. Happily, I renewed my own two years ago but, at age 80, don't anticipate needing to use it again for travel abroad. I *hate* those long flights....
Tom, I am pleased to read your post today. I am a long-time follower. I just subscribed. I had to cull some of my other Substack subscriptions, as I was overzealous, and after a while, I figured out certain subjects didn't speak to me as much. I'm glad to be here; your words have often benefited me. In addition, I enjoy your WWII history posts, and I always think about my dear dad, who passed in 2021. He had some experiences that were always interesting, though he didn't talk about it much. He would best be described as the strong, silent type, though that is not quite right. He was very friendly, and sometimes, when I was out with him, it seemed he knew everyone in town! Sorry, on a tangent, but the war history brings my thoughts to him. I will look forward to your thoughts in the coming days, weeks, months, and how we can all, in the community, help persevere and hopefully find a way to dull some of the sharp edges coming our way.
With great reluctance because I realize how conspiracy theorist this sounds, and with great embarrassment because Repubs in 2020 rendered the whole idea of demanding ballot counts just a signal of paranoia and ignorance... but I sure would appreciate if there were a few hand counts of paper ballots in, oh say three polling places. Doesn't seem much to ask... just to see the numbers verified as reflecting actual ballots.
I know we've been smacked in the face by a brutal reality and it's been a shock, and I know we are being urged not to waste time trying to figure out the causes and I myself am particularly averse to laying blame on anyone in the party (and already I've seen some of this) but everything except the polls - in fact even the polls - so utterly failed to predict this that coupled with all the indications there were schemes and clever enough people so I was dubious they were only going to reinvent the old ones, and biased and crooked enough people with enough money so... well I'd just like to have one or two reassurances that, as one cartoon I clipped once says "and somewhere between here a miracle occurs" didn't happen. More than half of voters were women and there was as of the last I heard five million more votes for 45 (ugh now 47) than for Kamala? Where are all the women we were hearing from? It just doesn't feel right and I'd love to have that one final reassurance that because we are Dems we aren't also just being compliant, well behaved, stay in line suckers... and losers.
Okay, now like I said it's embarrassing but that's how I feel right now, and it's not due to some misinterpretation of a red wave or mirage phenomenon. You can all now talk me down off this hard spot...
I'm feeling very much like you right now, so you're not alone in this thought process. I can't help wondering WTF is wrong with all the women who voted for him. Do they just not care about any of the other women and girls of this country??!!
I'm of two minds. One side (right?) thinks it doesn't add up, the other side (left) feels like I woke up on a couch and looked around and realized I didn't know where I was, don't know any of these people around me, and have no idea how to get home.
At least their, and others, books are already out there. No way there can be 100% confiscation. Especially for those of us who have digital copies on our e-readers.
After all the dirty tricks, we all should be thinking about how they did it. What was the big secret. There has never been a more devilish group of people in government.
Tom, I hope you will never stop being that guy yelling in the back of the room so you can continue refocusing your readers on the things that matter.
It's safe to say that the most disheartened person today may be Melania whose planned departure is now delayed, and the one most likely to coke out is Orange Snake, Jr. So it's not all bad.
Hi Judith, I had a slightly different take. I suspect she shows up, (like a modeling gig) and performs and gets paid lots of money for it. Her absence has spoken much stronger than her presence!!!
Thank you TC. I breathe a little better with the positives you point out BUT we have a tough road ahead, with suffering and more for some (many?)---as the old spiritual says, we're going to be "climbin' the hard side of the mountain". Time to join hands and do the work and support each other through these perilous times. I mourn for many friends threatened by the hate filled intentions of T and his thugs. Yes, the majority has spoken, and what America really is has been declared----blue urban islands floating in a blood red landscape that dwarfs the islands (mixed metaphors, I know). I'm waiting for the Trump trucks to circle the town square here (again) and for the open carry folks to come to town and put loaded guns on the park tables (again).......
Those blue islands may be small, but based on past analysis they produce about 65% of the US GDP..... Economically they carry the rest of the nation. I wonder what will happen when the states that have codified abortion rights in their state constitutions continue to allow abortions in spite of a possible national ban.....
Well, one result is that I am too poor to do this or anything like it again. But you reminded me of a post from Twit from years ago that still fits. From Derek DelGaudio “I used to rig card games for a living. I’s watch people sit down and lose everything, again and again. But they didn’t lose because they “played by the rules” and we didn’t. They lost because it wasn’t a game. It just looked like one. Democrats think it’s a game.” And this wasn’t an election, it just looked like one. It became apparent a while back that chump was not trying to win over voters. He was just performing for his cult. After Joe dropped out and chump was so distressed, somebody came up with the plan that stressed misogyny. And god knows what else. Maybe some investigative journalist that is trying to explain something rational about this election could do a little Woodward and Bernstein and dig for the specifics….If anybody in media gives a crap about the country. Maybe they will as Project 2025 gets rollin. If they are not locked up…
I so admire you, Tom, for summoning the will and clarity to write this much-needed, spine-stiffening piece. I don't, personally or professionally, know one single person who wanted this outcome. So I feel like I've been living in an alternate reality. Turns out I have. Time to look the facts in the face and gauge the best response I can — once I've found my feet again.
Yes indeed.
You can repeat that paragraph for so many of us here. None of our friends looked t=for this outcome--not at all. And yet, here we are.
Jan, look to your right in the supermarket the magas are there! Look to your left in a restaurant, the magas are sitting next to you!
I'm aware of that, Louis -- I do live in Idaho ;-)
For me, the hard part was the realization that the aberration was not 2016; it was 2008, 2012, and 2020. What happened yesterday is who the majority of Americans are. And I say majority because it comes down to this: Anyone who did not vote Democratic is racist, misogynistic, and bigoted.
And, yes, we work against it with all our might.
Propaganda works, wasn’t Germany proof enough.
My trans young adult is apoplectic. I fear for her safety. She is already dealing with severe mental health challenges. This might be the last straw. She’s not wrong to be worried. All minorities and marginalized people are fucked. Climate is fucked. The economy is fucked. Democracy is fucked. Accountability is fucked. Major parts of our government are fucked. Civil servants are fucked. Anyone who stood against him is fucked. Protesting is fucked. The healthcare system is fucked. The cult will be emboldened. I have a hard time seeing any silver lining.
I am part of the resistance and will not be effed by the likes of Trump or his cult. I will not console any Trumpers when they get what they've asked for, nor will I rub it in, but they have decided who their "savior" is and they can put their hands out to him and listen to the laughter that follows when they present as the proles they will be. Their addiction to chaos has to make them hit rock bottom before they have any chance for enlightenment. The one who's orgasmic this morning is Putin, with a little Musk on the side, although China can still mess with Musk.
Putin won, no shot fired. Kevin Robert’s also orgasmic
"Putin won, no shot fired." A ghastly, ghastly thing to have to face. A friend shared this shocking, for me unbelievable, video clip: https://substack.com/profile/6666202-ransom-rideout/note/c-75788365?utm_source=notes-share-action&r=3yvoa
Chump was in Putin’s pocket from Helsinki. Totally ignored by MSM.
Oh, I think he was in pukin's pocket WAY, WAY, WAY before Helsinki. Decades ago.
More obvious at Helsinki. Of course, the Miss Universe Moscow trip was a clue. Some of our reps are too. My rep Granger and others cozied up to Vlad. He’s the winner
🤬🤢😱😢🤬🤢😱😢🤬
And 51% of the population- women- are also fucked.
Trump's overall theme was to put down women.
Silver lining, not even with a microscope. The House is still in enemy hands from my last check.
Ca;ifornia can't even start counting ballots till close of business next Tuesday, the last day they accept mail in ballots. There re 4-6 flippable seats here and what I saw from groundwork done in two of them, it can happen. California house seats are still in play.
A real plus. That would turn the tables on the arses. Been so distressed about that as the last map I saw looked very bleak
Don’t forget—Ukraine is fucked and Gaza is fucked.
Today seems like a good day to make your infamous toasted cheese sandwich. I used grated sharp cheddar and habanero cheeses, plus some goat cheese, and spread mayonnaise on the bread which made it toast up beautifully. Some of the cheese fell out and arranged itself along the bread crust forming an extra layer of crispiness, and I ate it by dunking it in homemade tomato fennel soup. Today, the simple pleasures seem huge.
You're Welcome. That sounds great.
Mmmmmm! Split pea with ham, whole wheat bread here. Usually make my own, but cheated since I was a little tired from yelling "F&@$" for a couple hours last night.
Living in interesting times sucks, but such are the cards that have been dealt. Hawaii and the West Coast delivered, but the heartland is rotten and festering and beyond redemption, I feel. They have sown the wind, now they shall reap the whirlwind but we’re coming along for the ride into the abyss.
Old New Yorker cartoon: two intellectuals (you can tell because they have long hair and corduroy jackets and there's a big bookshelf behind them) are talking: #1: "Yes, yes, I agree, those who fail to understand history are condemned to repeat it." #2: "And those of us who do understand history are condemned to be along for the ride."
I think of the movie Excalibur and the line that Nicol Williamson as Merlin says that it is the doom of men that they forget. Over one million Americans died on trump’s watch because he botched the government response to Covid, but it’s “Nah, he deserves a second chance…” Collective selective amnesia fueled by hatred and rage against the “other”.
Yes Dennis! May we never forget the stupidity of his Covid response. Read Dr Fauci’s new book. Idiocracy and Mad Max, here we come.
Especially if RFK Jr is able to outlaw vaccines. The good news will be that such a decision will go a long way towards taking Dumbfuckistan out of the argument.
An old one that I posted many times while on T and FB. Still got a pic of it. Along with a zillion pics mocking chump. I had hoped to trash them, but he will haunt me til my dying days.
Hello, Illinoisan here! Don't paint my state with that nasty brush! :D
The one state back there still blue!
I'm glad you could sift through the trash and find the treasures, however small they might be. Thanks for that. Today, I'm going to do what I have been needing to do for a long time: renew my passport. I don't want to leave my comfy home, and I may not be able to, but this country is worse than I had ever imagined it to be and I'm not sure I have the "stuff" to fight another fight to help right the ship. I hoped the pandemic had winnowed out more of the bleach drinkers, and that women had what it took to stand up to (as in not "stand by") their men, and that those long lines of students would be enough to offset the knuckle draggers on their tractors. But. We lost. So, if I'm painting a picture of this America, it looks pretty pathetic and dark to me on this pretty Wednesday morning.
A question: in researching the "why" of this sorry outcome, do we need to look more closely at Opus Dei? At the Catholics on the court and in government (at all levels)? At the Hispanics who voted to deport themselves? Is this a result of manipulation by oligarchs or theocrats or both?
I too looked at passport renewal online today and was pleasantly surprised how easy it is now. As long as you got your old one between 2009 and 2015 you can take your own photo and upload. It's fully an online process if you meet the criteria.
As I read this this morning, it crossed my mind that anyone who wants to get a passport, or needs to renew a passport, had better act quickly. Who knows where the tentacles of P2025 will reach & change. Happily, I renewed my own two years ago but, at age 80, don't anticipate needing to use it again for travel abroad. I *hate* those long flights....
Thanks
So. We get back to work.
Tom, I am pleased to read your post today. I am a long-time follower. I just subscribed. I had to cull some of my other Substack subscriptions, as I was overzealous, and after a while, I figured out certain subjects didn't speak to me as much. I'm glad to be here; your words have often benefited me. In addition, I enjoy your WWII history posts, and I always think about my dear dad, who passed in 2021. He had some experiences that were always interesting, though he didn't talk about it much. He would best be described as the strong, silent type, though that is not quite right. He was very friendly, and sometimes, when I was out with him, it seemed he knew everyone in town! Sorry, on a tangent, but the war history brings my thoughts to him. I will look forward to your thoughts in the coming days, weeks, months, and how we can all, in the community, help persevere and hopefully find a way to dull some of the sharp edges coming our way.
Thank you, Kathy!
With great reluctance because I realize how conspiracy theorist this sounds, and with great embarrassment because Repubs in 2020 rendered the whole idea of demanding ballot counts just a signal of paranoia and ignorance... but I sure would appreciate if there were a few hand counts of paper ballots in, oh say three polling places. Doesn't seem much to ask... just to see the numbers verified as reflecting actual ballots.
I know we've been smacked in the face by a brutal reality and it's been a shock, and I know we are being urged not to waste time trying to figure out the causes and I myself am particularly averse to laying blame on anyone in the party (and already I've seen some of this) but everything except the polls - in fact even the polls - so utterly failed to predict this that coupled with all the indications there were schemes and clever enough people so I was dubious they were only going to reinvent the old ones, and biased and crooked enough people with enough money so... well I'd just like to have one or two reassurances that, as one cartoon I clipped once says "and somewhere between here a miracle occurs" didn't happen. More than half of voters were women and there was as of the last I heard five million more votes for 45 (ugh now 47) than for Kamala? Where are all the women we were hearing from? It just doesn't feel right and I'd love to have that one final reassurance that because we are Dems we aren't also just being compliant, well behaved, stay in line suckers... and losers.
Okay, now like I said it's embarrassing but that's how I feel right now, and it's not due to some misinterpretation of a red wave or mirage phenomenon. You can all now talk me down off this hard spot...
I'm feeling very much like you right now, so you're not alone in this thought process. I can't help wondering WTF is wrong with all the women who voted for him. Do they just not care about any of the other women and girls of this country??!!
I'm of two minds. One side (right?) thinks it doesn't add up, the other side (left) feels like I woke up on a couch and looked around and realized I didn't know where I was, don't know any of these people around me, and have no idea how to get home.
They cheated in ways that NOBODY has a clue about. Woodward and Bernstein are no more
At least their, and others, books are already out there. No way there can be 100% confiscation. Especially for those of us who have digital copies on our e-readers.
We’ll read our way to power. Nazi resistors wrote volumes, how many decades ago?
However, not in occupied territories...
After all the dirty tricks, we all should be thinking about how they did it. What was the big secret. There has never been a more devilish group of people in government.
I was an enemy combatant in 2016-2020. Guess I am again.
We stand up anyway we can.
We don't step back! Not one
step back! None of this is
what most of us wanted, but
we have to keep moving
forward, one step at a time.
For those who haven't
heeded the warnings and
chose this path, they're about
to find out exactly what their
complacency, racism and all
their "inflation" worries are
going to bring them.
I'm not going anywhere! This
is my country too and I'm not
going down any easy roads!
Freedom and democracy are
worth the effort.
There are no easy roads. No safe place to hide. The earth shudders…
Tom, I hope you will never stop being that guy yelling in the back of the room so you can continue refocusing your readers on the things that matter.
It's safe to say that the most disheartened person today may be Melania whose planned departure is now delayed, and the one most likely to coke out is Orange Snake, Jr. So it's not all bad.
I'm not so sure about Melania. She had a face-splitting grin last night and it didn't begin to look artificial.
Hi Judith, I had a slightly different take. I suspect she shows up, (like a modeling gig) and performs and gets paid lots of money for it. Her absence has spoken much stronger than her presence!!!
Let's collaborate?
Jr will crow like the most rabid rooster. At least til Vance takes over.
Thank you TC. I breathe a little better with the positives you point out BUT we have a tough road ahead, with suffering and more for some (many?)---as the old spiritual says, we're going to be "climbin' the hard side of the mountain". Time to join hands and do the work and support each other through these perilous times. I mourn for many friends threatened by the hate filled intentions of T and his thugs. Yes, the majority has spoken, and what America really is has been declared----blue urban islands floating in a blood red landscape that dwarfs the islands (mixed metaphors, I know). I'm waiting for the Trump trucks to circle the town square here (again) and for the open carry folks to come to town and put loaded guns on the park tables (again).......
Those blue islands may be small, but based on past analysis they produce about 65% of the US GDP..... Economically they carry the rest of the nation. I wonder what will happen when the states that have codified abortion rights in their state constitutions continue to allow abortions in spite of a possible national ban.....
They will
I just ordered a garden flag from Etsy. It says “I TRIED” WITH BALLOT BOX next to the words. My own little sign of defiance.
Deep breath. Gather our wits. Then gather our collective wits.
Let's collaborate?
Well, one result is that I am too poor to do this or anything like it again. But you reminded me of a post from Twit from years ago that still fits. From Derek DelGaudio “I used to rig card games for a living. I’s watch people sit down and lose everything, again and again. But they didn’t lose because they “played by the rules” and we didn’t. They lost because it wasn’t a game. It just looked like one. Democrats think it’s a game.” And this wasn’t an election, it just looked like one. It became apparent a while back that chump was not trying to win over voters. He was just performing for his cult. After Joe dropped out and chump was so distressed, somebody came up with the plan that stressed misogyny. And god knows what else. Maybe some investigative journalist that is trying to explain something rational about this election could do a little Woodward and Bernstein and dig for the specifics….If anybody in media gives a crap about the country. Maybe they will as Project 2025 gets rollin. If they are not locked up…
😢😢😢😢