I was different about this the first time around; too raw, too new. Now I know just how bad that energy is for people who need protection and encouragement the most, so my doomerism policy remains, and I am committed to tempering all my political posts with hope. Because when did we need hope? When Obama won? A lil’. When do we need it much more? Times like this.
And so, my main points about why we are not all gunna die:
The majority of conservatives are not monsters. That’s all it takes to prevent the worst things people fear from coming to pass. To get the death camps and the red dresses and bonnets, you need more than just the levers of power: you need people to enforce them, and outside of the most twisted fucks in the world, who is going to want to enforce all these laws Pisstake 2025 is trying to enact? People who voted for fascism this time around were, by and large, not voting for fascism. They were voting for illusions that were sold to them by billionaires who have basically bought the entire fishbowl they swim in. Reversing inflation, saving freedom, pure nonsense. They were not voting for death camps, and they will not man those trains.
Having all the power means they get everything they want – legislatively. But. Every monstrous thing they favor is a nail in the coffin of their power, the inspiration for the fucking fools that voted them to work against them the next time around. Now, will they prevent any future elections from happening? Part of the reason this was possible was because of four years of concentrated voter disenfranchisement and suppression. OK, but you don’t need an election to get your ass fought.
We have fighters. A lot, a lot of fighters. People who every day are doing their best for women’s rights, trans rights, black lives, native americans, immigrants, etc etc. They will do what they can until the end of the line. No matter what oppressed group you are in, you have allies, including some people for whom your particular cause is their entire reason for being. Long live the fighters!
State’s rights, lol. But seriously, blue states are the economic fulcrum of the country. They can make it hurt to do evil, and they are likely to do so. Anybody thinking shitbird’s sentencing is going to go as scheduled is bound to be disappointed; don’t go for false hope when you have a lot of other things you can hope for.
As much as I despise accelerationists, they are sometimes, in a nasty way, right. Things have to get worse before they can get better. That is gonna be terrible for some people, which is why that’s an evil philosophy to hold. But it can be effective. More people are against Israel than before Hamas’s big terrorist funtime, and when Americans have to live under the kinda laws these guys are going to pass, they are going to rebel against that in a way that the fascists are not going to weather. They are going to fucking lose, some time, mark my fucking words.
It’s just a question of time, of doing your best to be alive so you can smile as they fucking burn, burn, burn. And to temper that anger too, because living with constant anger ruins people. Live for what’s good in your lives. It’s still there. It is still there, and you are too.
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I want to add to Satan’s post, that like money, the government is kind of fake, lol. You go out on a mountain or forest or even in your backyard and there is no one to get you or touch you or do anything to you. No gods no masters. Don’t give people power over you that they don’t have. They will rattle their sabers and try to scare you, don’t let ’em do it. Keep fighting.
Oh, also, look back at your favorite blog or youtube channel that existed from 2016 to say, 2019 and notice that whatever troubles there were, people still joked about stupid movies and had a good time despite anything else. This stuff will not rule over your life. ~2016 conservatives and gamergaters and the like were just so absolutely horny for evil and we got through it. It’s been a long eight years and they are weak and tired and shitting their pants publicly. Just keep that in mind lol
Thanks for staying up late to write this. It helps.
I thought I was ready, but I just wasn’t. Told myself I wouldn’t look, it can’t be that bad. We’re a smart species, right? Okay, just a quick glance before retiring to sleep.
Oops. Big mistake. No, we ain’t so smart.
Just feels like floundering. In my own home.
I hope you’re right. Solidarity.
for most of us, i am definitely right. there will be some amount of people who suffer and die for this stuff – they already are, see mano’s article about the abortion issue – but just like covid didn’t kill every shithead in red, conservative legislation won’t kill all us sad folks in blue. the vast majority of us will live on, have good times with the bad. it’s 100% sure and true.
I wish you all the best. stay safe, and hope for better times. I would say come here to New Zealand, it’s better. but our own right wing is currently trying to make that no so as fast as possible. I don’t know what will survive this madness, that is the worst globally I have ever noted in all of human history, but I AM sure, that the best people ever to exist on the planet exist right now, in this time. If you can survive this mess, and it will take some time to do so (sadly, I think around 20 years or so), I truly think there is a much better world waiting on the other side of it.
i would also not be surprised if the fascists here hold onto power for a few decades, but equally i am sure that a good life will be possible for many of us even under that shitty circumstance. and those of us that can help the worst off, we will do what we can. my kiwi comrade, i salute your effort to remain hopeful in a fucking terrible hour. excellent.
It literally is talking ALL my willpower to do so. all of it.
I lived in California up until I was 45. 5th generation american. I saw this coming. My progressive friends refused to believe me. though I was exaggerating. Really, it wasn’t so much the comming right wing crazy town that was the major motivator for me motivating to greener pastures at the time. It was the simple refusal on the part of people I THOUGHT at the time were best suited to fight against it… to even try. I tried fighting the good fight in the proper channels, doing the proper things, utlizing NGOs, forming foundations, etc. but if you end up surrounded by people who refuse to fight for their own rights, because they refuse to believe their own rights are in danger… what can you do? I admit, I gave up. I ran to someplace I thought I could get at least 20 years of peace of mind to enjoy the last half of my life anyway. Couldn’t even get that. pandemic sped up the “authoritization” of New Zealand 4 years ahead of schedule. I only keep warning now in hopes that people will realize just how serious, and how global, this issue is.
Reach out to those you trust, reach out to your neighbors. form real life support groups where you can meet and see each other face to face on a regular basis. These things will keep you sane. I learned a LOT from Oceanoxia, right here in your own backyard! Nobody will survive this on their own. reach out. grab a hand and hold tight. Things are going to get worse before they get better, but history DOES show, that forming a support group can save your life in times like these. And yes, I truly do believe there is something amazing waiting at the end of this cycle. Hopefully a new renaissance, this time without the specter of fake religious nonsense, without the endless rich grifters. hopefully people will grab on to that with both hands and do everything they can to involve themselves in it, rather than letting someone else do the things for them. Being a politician is supposed to be a MENDING profession, not a divisive one. Someday, we will remember that.
Sorry if this sounds maudlin and sappy. but I have seen a lot of the world, and a lot of life. I do believe this to be the case.
good luck all.
er, 6th sentence should be “Thought” not “though”. whatevs, you get it.
I just can’t fucking believe it. I guess the polls were right.
But I still am having a hard time wrapping my head around the results.
Trump himself is not a huge worry to me. He’d be just as happy spending four years doing a victory lap and leave the government to his handlers. His handlers are what worry me, as well as the nutters in the legislature. The implications of what can happen if there is a large expansion of political appointees in government service is staggering. There will be big news items; Trump may never get his tariffs because businessmen know how damaging they will be for their profits.
But there will be a systematic dismantling of a lot of the programs which protect people and things, many of which will never reach the news. Some things, like transitioning to cleaner energy, are going to continue, although without incentives probably at a slower pace. Other things are likely to be restricted or eliminated. Things like the Clean Air Act, or the EPA may be unenforced or ineffectual over the next four years. Logging, grazing, and mining on federal land will be expanded, and it’s quite possible that a lot of federal land gets sold. Stewardship will be replaced by ownership.
The changes to things like health care or social security will be small. Things like allowing insurance companies to deny coverage based on pre-existing conditions will probably return, and cost-of-living increases for social security will probably shrink. But even these changes will increase deaths. Will we get an national abortion ban? I couldn’t say, that one might spend four years in court challenges.
The big issues will have people fighting for them. The smaller changes, with long term impacts, may not. But those might also be able to be reversed in four years. But who knows what harm they may generate in that time.
I don’t believe that things have to get worse before they can get better. But the new administration is unlikely to make anything better, unless you believe that might makes right. There will be people who will not be safe in their backyards. There will be people who have lived decades in the USA, immigrants, who will be deported. I will not be one of them, but that doesn’t make it right. The actions which will be taken by the winners of this election will inspire people to keep their heads down and avoid being noticed, i.e. there will be an increase in fear and a reduction in freedom. Which feeds into the narrative of the people already in power.
Yes, we’ll live through the next four years, and maybe some of the people who voted for the leopard-eating-faces party will realize that they’ve been duped. There will be good times and bad times. There will be happy times and sad times. Right now I’m a little sad because of the results, but I’ve also been shown to be a poor prognosticator so maybe I’m wrong about what what I see happening for the next few years. Is it too much to ask of a government to work to improve the lives of all of the residents of a nation?
“I guess the polls were right. ”
don’t you believe it. there is no actual reality behind polling data any more. you KNOW this. you saw how bad the poll predictions were in 2020, and again in 2022. nah, it was a coin toss, and those are good odds in vegas.
“maybe some of the people who voted for the leopard-eating-faces party will realize that they’ve been duped”
I thought that back in 2016. not now; in fact, I do not even know why I ever did. History does not support right wing authoritarians changing their minds until they are literally threatened with death. they continue to think it will always be the OTHER guy’s face that gets eaten first, and they will be able to laugh. You saw the same thing with the COVID response. none of them believed in Covid… until someone very close to them died of it in front of them. That, is simply the mindset of the right wing authoritarian. We are not right wing authoritarians, so we cannot empathise with that kind of mindset, at all. But it exists nonetheless. It is what drives fascism, and the same long before fascism was ever even a term itself.
” Is it too much to ask of a government to work to improve the lives of all of the residents of a nation?”
No, it is not, and eventually there will come a time where that is true, where people remember that the job of a politician is to MEND relationships, not break them. But we will have to hold on for a while, while we wait for that time to come around again. It will happen, but it’s going to get far, far worse for the world before it gets better again. reach out to your neighbors, your friends, your loved ones. hold on tight. Use what you have for all it’s worth.
I think the main thing to keep in mind is that he’s going to spend a lot of time trying to force the media to cover him. He’ll do every stupid mean thing he can just to get more cameras pointed in his direction.
Following along with that is exhausting. And it makes you feel bad. So ignore as much as you can. I mean, it’s not like you’re going to learn anything new. So the nasty creep is acting like a nasty creep again. He’s a cranky 78 year old fraud, it’s not like anyone’s expecting him to change.
Just be aware of the people around you that might need help. Be there for each other. That’s what’s important. Seriously, it wasn’t due to politics but I’ve been in some bad places and I’ve helped other people who found they were in bad places. It means a lot to have a helping hand when you’re down and it feels pretty good to be able to offer that to someone else. Think of it as your anti-establisment pacifist resistance if you like. Or non-violent guerilla warfare. Whatever floats your boat.
Politicians can be a right pain in the ass. But they can’t change who we are. And they can’t stop us from working together to be better than they are.
It feels so bad right now but at least I take solace in knowing the resistance I sorely missed will reappear with renewed vigor. I’m also happy that I live in a blue state (Washington) and all the Democratic candidates handily won their races so they can act as a fortress against the upcoming regime. We need to start resisting immediately and never let up.
this is the essence of the moment – mutual support. so many people were feeling like they will just straight-up die if this happened. i don’t want even one person who felt like that to go. one glimmer where i live is WA state having a resistance-type governor, who made his bones as a crusading state attorney general, going after sheisty corporations and such. that’s somebody that can help push humane laws to make the state a haven against federal evils. a lot of places have no such glimmers, but you still got some people, on internet like me and to some extent in person. help each other out.