Here we go again
So it’s been three weeks since our world got turned upside down. It’s still tricky to try to put my finger on what things look like. We’ve been forced to go from a stunning bodyblow to immediate fight mode, and the whiplash is still real. These are dark times. And yet there are already some reasons to be vaguely hopeful about this dark fight we’re facing.
It didn’t really hit me until I showed up to my mom’s house for Thanksgiving and she was wearing a “Resist” shirt from eight years ago. Yes, we’re back to that now. We all kept those shirts around as what we hoped would be memories of having defeated Trump. Now we’re back to wearing such shirts out of necessity. This is not a place we wanted to be. And while the idiots who voted for Trump deserve him, we deserve better. Yet here we are. The fight always falls to those who are wise enough to understand that the fight is needed, and to those who are brave enough to fight the fight.
We are indeed finding ourselves in familiar territory. Most of the things that were true about the last go-around are still true. It’s just that they all seem to have had their knobs turned up to eleven. Trump had an openly fascist agenda last time around, and this time that fascist intent is on steroids. Trump was having moderate cognitive issues last time around, and this time he’s fully senile. And so on.
The good news is that Trump is struggling badly. Really badly. His highest profile cabinet nomination has already failed amid scandal and been withdrawn. Trump had a free pass for his cabinet and still somehow blew it. That probably knocks three points off his approval rating before he even enters office. He’s also doing himself no favors by essentially having gone into hiding. The public may not notice his absence right now because of the Thanksgiving distraction. But at some point in early December the public is going to start wondering why they elected a guy who then vanished. That’s when we’ll get a real opportunity to demolish his approval rating.
In the meantime, let’s all remember to take care of ourselves. This is not going to be a short battle, even if Trump does kick the bucket. We’ll need to pace ourselves. I’m going to need all of you at your proverbial fighting weight. So be good to yourselves during this holiday season. Meanwhile I’m going to keep working. This is not the fight that we wanted, but I intend to make sure we find a way to win it.
