So things have spiraled downhill even faster than I anticipated. Today the senate confirmed Tillerson as the incoming Secretary of State. China has said that war with the US is almost assured. Jeff Sessions is going to be the next Attorney General. Green card holders have been kept out of the country. American citizens are going to pay for a boondoogle wall that will be as ineffective as it is stupid. This is only a partial list.
On the positive side, public outrage has managed to mitigate or reverse otherwise odious measures immediately taken by the Trump administration. Victories need to be celebrated with vigor even in the face of daily developments.
Unfortunately, I keep experiencing the sinking feeling that whatever we do will be too little too late.
Trump and his hand picked general seem itching to start the bombs dropping and the troops shipping out back to the middle east. Most likely Iran. Old allies are reacting with horror to what they see America rapidly descending into.
This is very dangerous. Fear let loose on the nation state level has the potential to cause already fragile relationships to reshuffle in unforeseeable ways.
And then there’s the domestic situation.
So far, reports of citizens clashing with citizens has been low. I hope this remains the case.
I live in one of the few states where democrats control both houses of state government as well as the governorship. When I look around the sea of red where this isn’t the case, I quail at what this bodes for our country. Because they aren’t standing up to the daily insanity which is the Trump administration. They don’t care that they won with a combination of fear, hate mongering, voter suppression, gerrymandering, Russian internet hijinx, and the director of the FBI deliberately trying to sink Clinton.
They don’t care.
They see the opportunity to eradicate everything their religious leaders despise at the same time they loot the national treasury. The very thought of this caused the vampires on wall street to break the 20,000 mark for the first time in history.
Nepotism is running rampant in the halls of our democracy. The senate majority leader’s wife was rewarded with a cabinet position after McConnell successfully kept Russian involvment out of the media until after the election. Or maybe it was for making sure Obama’s SCOTUS pick was never even given a hearing.
To make matters worse, the democrats who remain for the most part are not responding with anywhere near enough outrage and obstinance. Only one democratic senator opposed every one of Trump’s nominee’s. Just one.
I do have hope.
When I see the scale and intensity of protests and the increasing amount of alarm at what Trump and his coterie of vultures have in mind, I have hope. When I notice that media is finally beginning to call a lie a lie, I have hope. When I see a nazi punched in the face, not once but twice, I have hope. When I see a handful of republicans speak out against some of the worst that Trump has already said and done, I have hope.
Hope is essential but not enough.
I wish I were smart enough to see a solution or even an outcome that doesn’t involve far too much suffering.
To think of all those people in the past who fought and died to keep our country’s highest principles alive, all for nought if they get their way. When I do, I get pissed. I get pissed for them, who I imagine, if they could see what is happening (they can’t), would want me to be angry.
Anger isn’t enough either.
I will continue to shake off despair, embrace a positive attitude, and resist.
You should too.
