So...yeah. We've finally reached the point where my Nov. 9, 2016 morning anxiety attack...

[Tommy_Carcetti]

Last edited Mon Mar 16, 2020, 03:19 PM - Edit history (1)

...has pretty much panned out into full reality.

For about a month and a half after the election I truly feared the worst--pandemonium, mass confusion, a general pall over the entire country.

Then, just before the inauguration, the Steele Dossier came out. And then you had the huge march the day after the Inauguration, followed by the protests against the travel ban, and a few other things, and I felt there was a sense of push back.

Then Mueller was appointed, and it gave me more hope, as that investigation made its through very interesting paths and avenues.

But Bill Barr let the air out of the Mueller Report, and it was a big setback.

However, soon after came the revelations about Trump's shakedown of Ukraine, and Impeachment soon rocketed to the forefront.

But relying on the courage of Senate Republicans perhaps seemed to be a fool's errand, as necessary as Impeachment was.

Never mind--we thought--we had a large field of candidates to choose from to go up against Trump.

But just as we seemed to have settled on a single candidate--a good guy, a very well qualified guy--all of this hits, and it seems to have pushed all of that to the background.

And what we are left with, at the current moment, is a terrible, compromised, corrupt, immoral and incompetent "President" both incapable and unwilling to lead, instead only wanting to think about himself and only himself, all while his nation falls into fear and anxiety.

We can still beat this. If--and I stress if--we are allowed a free and fair vote in November, there is still hope.

But November is more than 7 long months away. 7 months of a Madman at the helm, and the potential for mass disruption, chaos, confusion and even death all in the way.

It's grim. Really grim. That worst type of grim I imagined.

On the morning of November 9, 2016 I woke up and--perhaps for the first time in my life--I literally could not stop shaking. I wondered what sort of future was in store for my kids, whether their lives would be as chaotic as my mother's, who along with my grandparents were forced to flee their homeland out of fear of political persecution.

My worst fears were held at bay for a long time. But now they are returning.

[dewsgirl]

1. Hang in there...😔

[LuckyCharms]

2. I'm right there with you, Tommy.

Hang tough. Do your best. It's all we can do.

[cilla4progress]

3. Yeah, who could have foreseen?

...

I basically fainted on election night.

PTSD here, too. Probably the rest of our lives.

[pnwest]

4. I'm with you as well. This chaotic calamity is

the realization if everything we feared that night. I remember the physical feeling of shock and fear that arose in my body the moment it sunk in the trump was going to win. And here we are. Utter incompetence and pure greed combined to bring us to this point.

[bronxiteforever]

5. K&R. Exactly as I felt November 9th 2016.

All of us here knew COVID 45 wouldn’t get through a full term without a major crisis and now that crisis has arrived. It just happens to be the worst crisis because to combat it requires curiosity and interest in science. Also the ability to read and to have empathy.
I can’t even type I am so wound up for all of us.
Thank you for posting this.

[Lulu KC]

6. With you

All the way--

I'm keeping my eye on the leaders who are adults.

[SiliconValley_Dem]

7. Same

[Skittles]

8. same

I just want to KILL Trump voters: they, with Russia, have fucked America. FUCK THEM ALL.

[Coventina]

14. IKR? I am so over being told we're supposed to kiss and make up with these creeps.

[BayAreaAtLast]

33. I agree

They are responsible for putting us in this position. May they all go straight to hell.

[Karadeniz]

9. I really worry that votes will be changed.

[mtngirl47]

10. Sounds like you wrote the story of my life!

Oh wait----It's all of our lives!

[alwaysinasnit]

11. I totally empathize. My first thought when that POS was declared president-elect was,

this is the death of the republic. My fears have been borne out. However, our strength comes from our collective sense of community. We are here to support each other.

[kimbutgar]

12. I remember waking up with so much dread that day

I knew what mf45 was all about in character and knew he was not up to the challenge temperamentally, intelligently or ethically. I was substituting for a 3rd grade class that day, it was a two day assignment the children on election were so excited about having a woman president. I wore white and still have the picture I took of myself with a huge smile on my face. That next day I spent the day comforting children who were afraid their relatives would be deported. [ a mixture of Asian and Hispanic children] It was the hardest day I ever worked. The school personnel were bursting out crying during recess, lunch and after school when discusssing the outcome Everyone was mourning the loss our country sustained.

[3catwoman3]

20. I didn't wake up with dread because I couldn't...

...fall asleep that night.

I feel like I am still stick in the denial and disbelief stage of grieving - every time I look at Trump, I cannot fathom that he holds the job he has.

I will NEVER forgive any Trump voters.

[leftieNanner]

27. Same Here

I watched stupid television all night.

I will never forgive any Trump voters either - nor Stein voters.

[Nay]

34. I stayed up as well, since I had a godawful premonition that the shithead would win.

I kid you not, I was depressed for 6 months at least. I knew this would not end well. And it hasn't.

[Sugar Smack]

13. I hate it that that's happening to you.

I know what it's like to be too far inside a panic attack to see a way out. The only remedies I have for this myself is to change venues. Even if it's just a different room, or outside if you can.

One of the things I did this weekend was to barricade vulnerable areas of the house with bookshelves. Then start nailing some boards over windows. It was a LOT of work, but it helped calm my nerves. I worry about civil unrest. Fortifying made me feel some control.

Physically doing something always helps for me. Yesterday I was in despair of what's been allowed to happen, played "Suffragette City" and found myself *dancing*. The energy was exactly right. Music helps.

I hope you find something that distracts you and helps you.

[Joinfortmill]

15. I agree

November will be critical if something doesn't happen before then.

[MyOwnPeace]

16. Yep! Feel the same......

I've been waiting for that "A-HA!" moment - and we've seen them come and go SO many times - like, "What will it take? This HAS to be it!" - and its not.

So easy to drop into despair - but that is the time that we need to reach WAY back into our beliefs and GET OUT THE VOTE!

[ThoughtCriminal]

17. The man makes every day feel like 9/12

And I wish his supporters would just go to Gaultland and create their own freak dystopia.

[bucolic_frolic]

18. Governors, mayors, county governments, citizens must steer around Trump/Pence incompetence

Good people will do the best they can. This was never going to be solved by Trump, or Washington. If HRC were in office she'd be blamed for everything even if her results were 10 times better than Trump's, and that sure wouldn't be hard.

But yes downward spirals in behavior, doomsday cults, every wacko promoting an agenda that only sees the light of day during periods of extreme chaos, they'll all be out and about.

Be strong, plan ahead, get trusted people to help. I'd say go local, that will be the most immediate source of aid.

[DENVERPOPS]

28. You are so right

Did you see today, where Trump basically said to the states....your on your own.
There is little left after his Trillion Dollar tax cut to the rich and corporations.......

[OMGWTF]

19. When I learned Shitler was our president* I vomited realizing he was my USCG son's C-I-C.

I haven't puked in decades.

[Dukkha]

21. Theyre already talking about suspending primary elections here

mark my words they WILL suspend the general election and impose martial law.

[DENVERPOPS]

29. For a year I have been telling people:

Welcome to the soon to be: Republican Fascist Tyranny......

[AtheistCrusader]

22. If you are literally shaking from this political reality, you need to do two things.

One, back away from politics. DU, the News, everything. 232 days till the general election, and NONE of this shit is going to get ANY better, and in fact, it's going to get worse.

Two, seriously consider consulting a therapist. There's no shame in it at all, and if it's affecting you physically, please do something sooner, rather than later. 232 days is too long to wait for the normal political process to offer you relief.

Back away, and get some help, because this shit can and will consume you if you don't.

[calimary]

23. How ironic that Jeb Bush, of all people, turned out to be right.

He predicted early in Campaign 2016 that trump would be “the chaos president” if he got elected.

I’m tempted to put the last word in the above sentence in quotes: “elected”. Because he cheated to win, and he did so with the help of an avowed enemy nation that only wishes us ill. I don’t regard that as a legitimate “win,” which means I don’t regard him as a legitimate “president.”

[Initech]

24. I've never been depressed before in my entire life.

But I've definitely been feeling something since the outbreak happened that I've never felt before and it's not good. I don't like it at all.

[Evolve Dammit]

25. I'm right there with you. We knew "chaos lover" 45 would be oblivious to any crisis, and here we are

[MFM008]

26. shocking

what he has done to this country.
how low he has taken us.

[Texin]

30. I felt the very same way. Glimmers of hope in between, of course, but now? Just doom.

I could think of a lot of the political ramifications for equal justice in this country being on the brink, and certainly the real fear that he'd get us nuked, but fuck all if his ineptitude and inaction aren't going to get Americans killed as a result of the CV19 pandemic. I really didn't see this one coming. Christ on a cracker. At least getting nuked at ground zero would be quick and I imagine too quick for anyone to feel any pain. But this?

Well, I don't know who he/she was, but it was said "people get the government they deserve." The rethugs are going to get theirs in the neck, but so is everyone else who is innocent from blame for this monstrosity.

[ecstatic]

31. I knew trump was a physical danger

to us. Many of us knew that. I don't understand how the rethugs let it get to this point. They should NEVER be allowed to darken the halls of congress again, assuming we even have a country by the end of the year. SMFH

[Ilsa]

32. I am beyond my prime in years, and I'm

Really scared of this disease. I'm trying not to be too depressed or show too much worry, though, with my grown children in the home.

[LymphocyteLover]

35. my feeling exactly, then and now

[Initech]

36. I've never been depressed about anything before in my life.

But the mental toll that this virus has taken on my collective sanity is beginning to push me to the brink. I seriously don't know how much more bad news I can take.