On November 8, 2016, I had a blanket over my head and was crying by 8:30. My friends gently teased me for being a pessimist, but I was a longtime political wonk and I knew.
It’s just as well I had taken the next day off, because the hubs and I barely slept that night. I cried through the night. We had had what was to have been a celebratory sleepover with our friends. The next morning, as I came downstairs, my friend gathered me into a hug. “Oh honey,” she said. “It’s going to be all right.”
“No it’s not,” I said. My next words were prophetic: “I feel terrible for all the poor working-class people who voted for him,” I said. “They’re going to feel so betrayed.”
After four years, we have learned the supreme resiliency of our democratic experiment. It has been tested to the utmost. It will be tested still more when 45 Republicans vote against convicting Mr. Trump for inciting sedition, which is precisely what he did.
Mitch McConnell is being blatantly hypocritical. First he said the Senate could not take up the articles until January 19; then he ssaid that since Mr. Trump is no longer in office, there is no point.
There is indeed a point. We must reinforce our democracy. We must ensure that Mr. Trump is never again allowed to hold elective office,
Meanwhile, like millions of others, I am healing, but it’s slow. The wounds are deep from five years (including campaigning) of outrage, misogyny, racism, white supremacy, lies, watching a con artist at work, personal enrichment, open nepotism, isolationism, sexual assault, graft, the careless explosion of geopolitical alliances— seriously! Don’t undo major policies of decades with a 2 a.m. tweet, the fawning kowtowing to dictators and rulers who are our enemies and who have nukes, openly craving a Soviet-style military parade, inspiring a million anx a half people to march on Washington and mlions more on every continent... But everything pales next to this heart of darkness. He has blood on his hands. In a ghastly replay of the early 1980s and AIDS, he at first ignored COVID because it appeared to be affecting blue states (that is, more populated areas). Then he said it would go away. Then he played politics, openly helping governors of friendly states and hijacking supplies destined for other governors. In a global pandemic that cried out for federal strategy, he said, "I take no responsibility." He refused to wear a mask and loudly mocked people who did. He threatened and handicapped Dr. Anthony Fauci. He insisted on holding huge maskless rallies, the only thing that would assuage his huge ego. When he finally got up a task force, he put his son-in-law in charge. And when he contracted it, he put people at risk by indisting on an unmasked car ride so he could see the prople cheering the naked emperor. So yes, the wounds are deep. I have post-Trump traumatic stresz syndrome. Every day I have watched him engage in words and deeds, any one of which would have sunk any other politician. And still people voted for him! He has made clear his comtempt gor his fawning supporters. Don't you dare tell me that you're terrified of what President Biden will do. He is a fundamentally decent man with a lifetime of public service. He is already opening doors snd throwing out lifelines. Do not underestimate the significance of having dogs in the White House. It is exhausting to hold on to sustained outrage and grief for so long. Allow us a few deep breaths. The scar tissue will be slow to form. And since I believe in show up, stand up, speak up, speak out, I will continue to make good trouble and hold the Biden administration to high standard. But if we still jump at small noises, give us time.
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