We Were Wrong About America: John Pavlovitz

[edhopper]

https://johnpavlovitz.com/2020/11/05/we-were-wrong-about-america/

This echos what I have been feeling.

[Binkie The Clown]

1. Very powerfully said, and very, very sad. nt

[lapfog_1]

2. Yes to everything he wrote

but what do we do about it?

[CrispyQ]

11. Until we address right wing media machine that morphed out of hate radio,

our country will always be divided.

We need a national ad campaign, paid for by Democrats, that deconstructs the right wing narrative, item by item. A narrative that they have built over the past 40 years, starting on hate radio, a narrative that blankets rural America, & one that we haven't challenged.

We need to take all of the right wing memes & come up with ads that demolish each lie, one by one. Trickle down economics—a lie. No child left behind—a lie. The party of fiscal responsibility—a lie. The party of family values—a lie. Clean skies & healthy forests—a lie. The party of God—a lie. Memes that many Americans believe without thinking, partly because the memes have been around for so long & partly because our side never challenges them.

Then we should dissect that Joe Conservative essay & come up with an ad that highlights each issue (issues that most Americans agree on when they aren't presented as left vs. right, or dem vs repub, or liberal vs conservative) & show how dem policies are more positively aligned with American values than repub policies. And we should hammer home that the Republican Party has the power & the influence to completely change the lack of action on climate change & THEY DO NOTHING.

This should be an ongoing campaign that runs even in non-election years. The Democratic Party is decades behind the 8-ball on messaging. We need a marketing department, STAT!

[Brother Mythos]

23. Yes, the RWNJ Ministry of Propaganda needs to be repudiated and dismantled.

It's also time to organize mass boycotts of any businesses that advertise on the RWNJ media.

[not_the_one]

73. We need to also boycott any state that went overwhelmingly for the turd.

There is no way people will not be hurt, but the good of the country overrides the need of the personal.

I am going to try to research every purchase I make and reward states who DON'T take their marching orders from fascists or dictators.

If we ever get to the point of being able to have conventions or conferences, they should NOT be held in any state that went for the turd.

They don't respond to patriotism or concern for others, so we have to hit them where they WILL feel it. In their pocketbook.

[Brother Mythos]

82. I agree.

[iluvtennis]

28. + agree. nt

[Golfnbrew]

32. absolutely agree.

The messaging is important, because people resist changing their minds, they feel personally attacked. This will take a lot of careful, directed effort. But it needs to be done.

[llashram]

35. this because

it will at least be another attempt at combating GENERATIONS of hate racial and otherwise brought to all of us by the PTB. Especially by Republicans who need the hate, racial and otherwise, to continue to stay relevant. I'll put this on my 300-page list on how to stop racist hate in America.

[jayschool2013]

41. The Public News Service

Not associated with PBS or NPR, this organization produces radio news stories that are then distributed to rural and suburban audiences via both commercial and non-commercial stations. The stories highlight traditional issues that progressives are concerned about, racial justice and climate change among them.

They do take donations.

[Initech]

46. I said it in 2016, I said it this year and I will keep saying it.

The RW media machine is the problem - radio, TV, and podcasts. Until we start addressing the RW media machine, expect nothing to change.

[calimary]

76. ABSO-FREAKIN'-LUTELY!

Hate radio! It’s GOT to GO!

It bombs into the rural areas and validates all the shit and wrong thinking and racism and sexism and misogyny and intolerance and backwards beliefs that these folks who may have nursed these hatreds and grudges and grievances for years and, through the validation and reinforcement, have been told that all those feelings are good, and right, and supportable.

Hate radio turned everything upside down. Turned the bad into something good. Turned the reprehensible into something acceptable and even reinforceable.

Which is just what that crowd was hoping for.

When we were growing up, we were (presumably) all taught that such cock-eyed views - of greed, selfishness, mean-spiritedness and intolerance - were NOT the way to live and NOT the way to treat your fellow man and, for us in whatever faith community might be applicable, not Godly. Not what a Supreme Being would sanction. Not of the Golden Rule.

But what if you didn’t want to follow that? What if you WANTED to hold tight to your racism. You didn’t want to renounce your prejudices or beat back your resentments or deny your sense of falsely-inflated entitlement. In short, what if you DIDN’t want to admit or accept that you were wrong?

I’ve said this before. NOBODY wants to admit they were wrong, much less than they’ve been HAD. TAKEN. SUCKERED. Played for FOOLS. NOBODY wants to face THAT about themselves.

And then an element like trump comes along and turns everything upside down so it’s actually okay to nurse those negatives. It’s actually preferable, even desirable and totally defensible! You’re now told to be “out ‘n’ proud” of these previously-forbidden feelings. I mean, look at their leader and his own whining and yowling about his own never-ending stream of grievances and even parading them around like some bloated badges of “honor” and “courage” and absolute rectitude. Wouldn’t that make you feel a whole lot better about yourself if some big-ass charismatic “leader” was saying AND demonstrating by example that bad was good, greed was great, and mean-spiritedness was just marvelous. Wouldn’t you eagerly fall into the open waiting arms of THAT?

Such is the psychological and pathological shit playing out here, methinks.

[Jakes Progress]

74. Only partly.

These influences need to be addressed.

But I have seen fox and friends, I've heard hannity. It didn't persuade me. The underlying problem seems to be what the OP is about. The underlying problem is that talk radio and fox appeal to these people. They already think these things. They are already bigots and homophobes and misogynists. They watched fox because it agreed with them, reinforced their beliefs.

We watch MSNBC because it reinforces our beliefs.

That's what is sad about the election. We watch programs that appeal to love and acceptance and generosity and community. They watch programs that appeal to fear, hate, and nastiness.

The problem has been exacerbated by social media and by opportunists like murdoch and prosperity evangelists. But it was an easy task to get them to tune in and fill the pews.

I have read Pavlovitch for some time. This is the most depressed I have ever seen his writing. It's because we have to realize what he says down in the article. Our neighbors, our friends, our family members who voted for trump twice are just not good people. They were not duped. They have just shown their true nature.

And that is very sad.

[tiredtoo]

75. Reinstate the Fairness Doctrine

Which was removed during ST. Ronnies reign. Making way for hate radio and fox.

[calimary]

81. EXACTLY. AND reinstate the ownership restrictions

that also got rolled back. That paved the way for staggeringly/obscenely large monopolies in f media ownership!

There used to be some 600 owners of radio properties. Lifting f the ownership restrictions opened the floodgates of a feeding frenzy where stations were bought up from coast-to-coast, little mom-‘n’-pop stations sold, often at ridiculously inflated prices, the little mom-‘n’-pop owners made out like bandits and the buyers expanded their broadcast empires. Last time I was keeping track, the ownership numbers had shrunk down from 600 to SIX. Six mega-conglomerates.

And then you’re left with a shit-ton of stations owned by one interest eager to spin its “gospel” of free-market gorging and greed to millions of u suspecting “marks” who were now getting (and giving) lots of “mega-dittos” for reprehensible tendencies and desires that they’d been discouraged from embracing when they were little and supposedly learning about stuff like the Golden Rule.

They were now being schooled to forget all that Golden Rule stuff because those anti-social, angry, mean, resentful, and thoroughly UN-Christian inner feelings were justified! And okay! And something to embrace and even to be proud of and defiant about. And BOY HOWDY did they get the message!

Those messengers of hate need to be bought up, one-by-one OR en masse, and be given a format change!!!

[CrispyQ]

3. So far almost SIX MILLION MORE people voted for the orange POS than last time.

Unfuckingbelievable.

[PatSeg]

12. It really is

I wouldn't have expected that. There is seriously something wrong in this country and it won't be healed easily, if at all. It is rather depressing.

[Golfnbrew]

33. in all fairness -

Millions MORE people voted in general. Joe has 6 million more than Hilary, so that's 12 million more votes than last election. And they're still counting.
Yes, it means more racist idiots, but they were always there -

[Blue_true]

92. Yes, it is. nt

[marylandblue]

4. I realized this when he first won the Republican nomination

He didn't fool anybody, he was saying what they really wanted to hear. But I think it's impoetant to understand that these are not bad people. They are authoritarian followers. They are easily led. It's in their nature. We need to stop the next Trump before he starts. I hope we can.

[KPN]

21. The problem is they are easily led by authoritarians, not egalitarians.

[if..fish..had..wings]

5. Excellent article

very depressing but very true

[AirmensMom]

6. I read that first thing this morning.

It’s so much how I feel.

[Raster]

7. I could have written this. I am thinking the very same thing...

The hateful, cruel rhetoric and actions is not a bug, IT. IS. A. FEATURE.
And about 45% of our country seems to be OK with it.

:crying:

[Raster]

13. I asked my sibs this morning...

..what are they attracted to?

The cruelty, the hate-filled rhetoric? The lack of responsibility? The complete lack of empathy?
What is it that binds these people to tRump*?

"But my 401K looks good."

[marylandblue]

24. They can't answer that question. He manipulates their emotions without their knowledge.

Last edited Thu Nov 5, 2020, 12:38 PM - Edit history (1)

They are easily frightened by nature. He frightens them and promises to save them. This brings them in. They lack the critical thinking ability to understand it and find their way out.

[KS Toronado]

51. I've been thinking for several years now that our school system should be teaching

Critical thinking abilities to all students. Not only would we receive smarter engineers, scientists, doctors, etc
we would have smarter voters.

[volstork]

58. But the fact that they don't

is a direct result of RW policies to prevent them from doing so. "Teaching to the test" does not teach anyone anything other than to regurgitate material; no thinking is involved. The RW has specifically designed public education to satisfy the lowest common denominator and nothing else. the result is a populace that largely will believe whatever they are told by the PTB.

[bullwinkle428]

14. Absolutely over 50% in the state of Iowa, of which I'm a resident. I'm utterly

sickened by the mindset which is apparently so pervasive here. The results of this election absolutely bear this out.

[PatSeg]

8. Very sad

And very disturbing.

[Blasphemer]

9. Speaking real truth to power there... nt

[empedocles]

10. Methinks the number of blue collar/ service/ need cash next week/etc. voters, who weighed

immediate cash flow needs versus possibly getting too sick with the virus, - often voted for trump. This may be more recognized over time, imo.

The popular view was that Covid was total a disaster for trump - it may have made the race closer.

[bullwinkle428]

16. I just read about instances within my state of Iowa where people were surveyed

within LatinX households, a very-much growing community here. Some of these included both legal and undocumented citizens, and nearly ALL were Trump supporters! Grotesque.

[Lanius]

40. I've always said that LatinX voters aren't a guaranteed Democratic constituency

Many of them are very religious and conservative socially. In addition, the ones who come here as immigrants are sometimes more conservative economically than those who stay in their home country.

[LeftInTX]

62. Also once they become citizens, I think they want to put the process

"all behind them"..

They really do not have much "to give"....

It isn't really a case of I've got mine, so screw you. It's more like "I'm trying to put food on the table and can't be bothered with this".
A least this is how I see it.

[LeftInTX]

63. Agree 100%

[KPN]

15. This is exactly what I heard from numerous family, friends and acquaintances yesterday.

It is how I feel/felt as well.

Somehow, I feel trapped.

[genxlib]

17. Thank you for that

Very well written and spot on.

My only addition is that I get the sense that it is less about active support and more about passive following. You can say it is a distinction without a difference but I think it matters in that vast numbers of people are largely disconnected from policies and behaviors that don't effect them directly. Of course this a just a different level of wrong based in selfishness and privilege.

With that in mind, I think of three things

One, the protests this spring and summer initially got widespread support. But when they turned to violent riots, I think it played directly into Trumps hands. That was a bad look for us and they played it up on the news, social media and ads.

Two, Covid was not the overwhelming Trump killer we assumed it would be. As tragic as all those deaths are, they are still sporadic enough to not directly impact all American families. And many of them have been concentrated in very blue areas. I am not sure it really registered in personal tragedy terms beyond the abstract numbers. More importantly, I think the fatigue has set in to the point where many people don't want to deal with the consequences of what a good response would look like. Whether it is wishful thinking or just desperation, I think there are people who want to open and live with it even if they believe it is dangerous. I have to keep reminding myself that wanting to keep places closed is a position of privilege since I don't rely on those places for an income.

Finally, it is always the case that people vote with their wallets. Even though the pandemic put a hurting on the economy, the stock market stayed up way higher than it should have. While that doesn't mean much to the working class, it means a lot to retirees and the suburbs.

Bottom line is that 1/3 of the Country is shallow and barely pays attention to things that aren't directly impacting their lives. I just think we misread how those people reacted to a world that they just want to be back to normal around them

[Klaralven]

18. Trump has a great feel for America - beauty contests, pro-wrestling, gaudy hotels, "reality" TV

He knows from experience how to connect with the average American.

[chia]

36. It kills me to admit you're right on this

[Klaralven]

39. I was at a meeting in AC shortly after the Trump Taj Mahal opened

My thought was "who the hell would come here to lose money in this gaudy piece of shit!"

Lots of people did.

[BlueNProud]

19. There are a handful of family members that are completely dead to me now and I mean it

when I go dark I go dark. They're no longer worthy of my company.

[Mad_Dem_X]

25. I have a few "friends" whom I probably

won't ever talk to again. It's sad, but I can't bear their hateful attitude.

[BusyBeingBest]

34. Yes, I found out recently that I have a family member

who is dead to me, but he's an in-law and I never see him anyway, so nothing really changes fortunately.

[BlueNProud]

83. Dump is an entirely different animal than say voting for W

You're not always going to agree with the people in your life. But voting for Dump is a big reveal about either the intelligence or character of someone.

[BusyBeingBest]

85. I agree--support for Trump in 2020 is far, far worse

than support for any previous GOP Presidents. It means you watched the most imbecilic, cruel, incompetent, traitorous, racist, nasty administration that has ever existed in our history and still gave it a thumbs-up. That speaks volumes about what sort of person you are.

[Nay]

20. He's said it all. It's a dark day for the USA, frankly. If I'm still alive in 4 years, I

I expect the Republicans to win again.

[Bettie]

22. I read this earlier.

He puts into words why I feel devastated, no matter who wins.

We know that we are all surrounded by monsters. People for whom cruelty is the point. People who really embrace racism. People who embrace hate because that is all that makes them feel anything.

[GoCubsGo]

26. What he describes just confirms what I've suspected all along.

I was hoping we were better than this. I really, really wanted to be wrong. I wanted to go back to being a country that was the leader in innovation, science, and medicine. And, decency. But, no. We are what I knew we are all along: The Idiocracy. The only consolation is that there are still more of us than there are of them. Not much more, but it's a start.

[dalton99a]

27. Trump is a racist demagogue and he combined BLM, Antifa, Kamala to great effect.

This election was about fear and hatred.

[johnnyfins]

29. You know, i'm starting to see rhis same story

come up ahain and again.

There is another possible explanation. The 2020 election was marked by 1) A brazen confidence by republicans before election day 2) ANOTHER giant failure of pre election polls. 3) The genuine surprise coming from potus that he hasn't won, combined with ridiculous debate prediction that the repubs would take over control of the senate.
4) The VERY surprising results of the senate races.

No one is talking about massive fraud on the right.

I smell ratfuckery.

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

90. Yep.

No one wants to talk about the fact that in many cases we really don't know if the reported vote counts are accurate.

Where I vote, we fill out a paper ballot. We then hand it to someone at a copy/scanner type machine. It appears to scan the ballot. I have no idea what is actually recorded in that apparent scan. No way of knowing if my selections are correctly entered & counted for the candidates I choose.

And the documentary Hacking Democracy showed that software on electronic voting machines (widely R-owned businesses) is proprietary--therefore secret. And I don't trust Rs not to lie, cheat, steal, and even kill to get what they want.

[Wounded Bear]

30. Sobering read, but certainly not untrue...

[GETPLANING]

31. I grew up in Spain

the only country where the fascist government of the WWII era survived the war. We have a saying. "Fascism never rests." Believe me, it doesn't.

[world wide wally]

37. So sad, but true

[lindysalsagal]

38. Yes, but 72 Million of us voted for decency: So we're learning to answer the call.

That's also as true as everything in that essay.

[Caliman73]

64. Yes it is true, but not the point.

The point is that while there are more people who are prosocial and willing to sacrifice a bit to help others, we have had, in this country, since its beginnings, a very large segment of people who are not of that persuasion. In Germany, there are still people who support White Supremacy and the ideas of the Third Reich. The difference is that Germany had to reckon with what they did in the 1930's and 1940's. They banned the symbols of Nazism and while there, the movement is effectively shut out from power. We had a Civil War here over secession and slavery, but we DID NOT deal with the issue of Slavery and Racism. We actually allowed the people who were literal traitors (or enemy combatants if you accept the secession as legitimate) to assume power in the government again. While the Civil War was about restoring the Union and ending Slavery, BOTH sides still supported the idea of White Supremacy.

The attitudes are around us all and permeate every part of society, which is why policing is so much more brutal in Black and Brown neighborhoods, why Black and Brown people hold less wealth and why health outcomes are so much worse for Black and Brown people.

The same problems are extended to women in general because we also have a problem with sexism that has never been fully dealt with either.

Even Black and Brown people, AND women buy into some of the ideas of White Male Supremacy.

It is good to look to the positive and the progress. It gives us hope. We also HAVE to crawl into the muck and deal with the the problems that have ALWAYS been part of the American experience.

This may sound extreme, but conservatism is a toxic ideology that needs to be eradicated. The premise that it is built upon, the idea that there is a hierarchy of value among people, and that those at the top, have a "natural" right to lead, is the basis of the racism and sexism, and anti-LGBT attitudes, etc...

[lindysalsagal]

77. Agreed. Plus, religion blinds us to the problems, the causes, and the solutions.

Religion is the ultimate entrapment in a system that is guaranteed to fail.

[BobTheSubgenius]

42. How unutterably sad is this recounting?

It's undeniable, eloquent, hits all the spots that needed hitting...and leaves me wondering about the future.

I have been saying this for a few years now, but I find it less and less facetious as the years go by. Looking around me, I feel that being in one's 60's (70's, soon enough) is not the worst thing.

[tavernier]

43. I blame most of it on Fox and RW radio.

They are lied to daily and brainwashed. I think the numbers would be different if they had been following the truth.

[BobTheSubgenius]

44. Certainly true, but the old "you can lead a horse to water" adage also seems apt.

They are SO ready - even eager - to believe the most shocking and unlikely things...

[RANDYWILDMAN]

45. Damn, so true, so sad

I wish I had those words because that is how I feel.

[cp]

47. Yes.

Very eloquent.

[smirkymonkey]

48. It's so sad and depressing, but unfortunately true.

I feel devastated. I am so disappointed in our country and what we have become.

[Duppers]

49. ....

[bluescribbler]

50. So sad and dispiriting.

I am ashamed of my country.

[miffelplix]

52. If you think it's better somewhere else, you're wrong.

This battle is being fought in every democracy. Better to make a stand here, in your home land, where you can make the most difference, in a country that can make the most difference.

[In It to Win It]

53. That just tells me it's time to get to work on the next election

[Oscarthegreat]

54. We were very wrong

I think that even if Biden becomes President, and with Trump's and his enablers' behavior it's not a certainty, America is on the verge of disintegration. After four years of unimaginable shit, and after eight months of THIS, no Republicans voted for Democrats, white women who were supposedly turned off by him voted for htrump, in larger numbers than in 2016 and more black and latino men supported him than in 2016. The only reason we probably won the presidency is because millions of Democrats who sat out the 2016 election were to scared to sit this one out.

Fascism in America is strong, rising and seems uncontrollable, and I wouldn't be shocked if the 2024 election is the last free election we ever have.

[melody]

55. How on earth is this a dark day?

Biden TROUNCED him. But military grade propaganda is powerful ... and comes in many forms.

[CaptainTruth]

56. We were wrong about (approximately) half of America.

[hadEnuf]

57. This is what 20+ years of unrelenting 24/7/365 viscously hateful and demonizing

right wing propaganda on TV, radio and the internet gets you. We have a couple of generations that have been raised on this shit.


Honestly, I sometimes wonder why we are not like Rwanda in 1994 yet.

[MarcA]

72. Yes. Organized to play on the fear of losing "their" world to the "other".

The loss of their land, their blood, their myth. Other than the high tech format, nothing new.

[hadEnuf]

88. Repeat of Germany in the 1930's.

[Hekate]

59. KnR

[Jetheels]

60. After 2016

I realized, oh, now I get the unfathomable, this is how nazi Germany happened.
Then it took mainstream media 4 years to worry about democracy.
And Left wing media took how many years to stop calling his blatant lies “untruths”?
Church pulpits have become politicized.
Also, the right wing has no variation/ variety, they are banded together as one mind (or mindless), whereas the left wing spans from woke far left to center right.
Whatever the reasons, greed, fear of taxes, anger, fear of whites becoming minority, brainwashing, Randian libertarian bs, stupidity, there’s people that willingly choose fascism. It’s not some out of the blue horror that came out of nowhere and was forced on the land. Somehow they must have left that part out of textbooks since were all so shocked.
We’ve switched places with nazi Germany.

[cwydro]

61. Heartbreaking read.

But spot on.

[hibbing]

65. It is sickening n/t

[tirebiter]

66. Don't back down. We were right.

We were spot on in our judgement call. Even some neoconservatives saw what we saw. He’s like Covid in that he’ll never totally leave. We just have to inoculate and never let our guard down. O

[zaj]

67. I've said that whoever follows Trump will be even worse...

... because he normalized the worst. Anything even appearing slightly better will be a relief, and will praised.

And the next person won't be a blithering idiot.

He will be a much more polished abuser. We have decades of work ahead.

[Demsrule86]

68. Guys, consider that an incumbent president has not lost since 1992,

And we are going to win IMHO. That is huge. And Bush l only lost thanks to Ross Perot. Look this is a center left country and we need to roll up our sleeves and get to work in order to win in red and purple states. Let's look at what we have won here. We may have won Georgia, Perdue and Loeffler are headed for a runoff...my God this is Georgia! Now we need to fight the GOP and start working for the Senate in 2022. I do believe Joe Biden has won.

Here is the list of incumbent presidents who lost in the last 90 years...Hoover, Carter and Bush I. The situation with Latina voters and even Black men voters show clearly we can't count on Demographics going forward. We must be prepared to compete in every state...red or blue. We can do great things for all the people, but we will need a big tent party to do it.

[JohnnyRingo]

69. Amen brother.

And most of all, we were wrong about people we know and love and live alongside and work with and study beside; about our parents, spouses, siblings, uncles, best friends, and neighbors: they are not the people we thought they were and we do not live in the country we thought we lived in.

We believed the best about this nation and we were mistaken.

/snip

But this is the sober spot in which we stand now: realizing that our optimism about the whole of this nation was misplaced,
our prayers for the better angels of so many white Christians were unanswered,
our childish illusions that people were indeed basically good and decent, seared away in their reaffirmation of something that the rest of the watching world finds reprehensible.

/snip

Right now, the only thing I know is that I expected something beautiful and life-affirming was going to mark this day and it isn’t.

I was certain we were better than him, but we are not.

I was so sure that even though I know hatred dies hard, that America was going to let love have the last, loudest word.

I was wrong.

[Orrex]

70. Or, as I've been saying for years:

The ignorant racist fuckhead trump is worshipped you a cult of ignorant racist fuckheads.

It’s really that simple and requires no further elaboration. Certainly “empathy,” “understanding,” and “outreach” are wasted on them.

Fuck each and every last one of them. They have nothing positive to contribute.

[whathehell]

71. A higher number of Black & Hispanic Men voted for him too..

[EveDibb]

78. I'm sorry to say this

I have been telling my family for a long time that the fight starts the day after the election.

This did not surprise me at all.

I have a sign that’s hanging from my front porch that says southern belle who thinks racist Yankees are dingdong’s. The sign is not coming down. I grew up in the south this is not a shock I live in Ohio now.

I’m a little older and I grew up hearing the N-word Used and people thought it would be OK because I was white until the day when I was young and I put my finger in a persons face and I said do not use that word around me. That word is now no longer used out in the open.

Whether it’s propaganda or their true self came out I don’t care it’s time to run these people back into the shadows where the sun don’t shine. Name blame shame. When they are emboldened to express their true selves they feel they’re powerful when they get called out For who they really are they speak less we speak louder.

We all wished including me that this would be a repudiation Even though I’m not surprised by the outcome. Take some time to grieve and get ready to fight.

[rickyhall]

79. So we go back to Iron Wall McConnel

but maybe Social Security, etc. are safe, but no improvements. No improvements & no fixing SCOTUS. Bummer.... I'm retiring from worrying about it. What I'd to have happen didn't.

And my dog, my BFF, died the day before the election.

[tiredtoo]

80. Asked a few white women why they support this dude

Some of the replies:
He was sent by God
Pelosi is ugly
Socialism
Kamala Harris
Need a (successful) business man

All these appear to be rightwing talking points, except the God one from an evangelical.

They also believe the lies he spouts daily. Covid numbers are fake, he will protect prevailing conditions in health coverage ETC.

Don't know how to overcome this BS.

[LAS14]

84. Yup. This is what many of us have finally learned. The Trump gift of our awakening..

... knowledge about what our country is really like keeps on giving.

[LiberalLovinLug]

86. K & R sadly

[moondust]

87. "I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue

and shoot somebody, and I wouldn't lose any voters, OK?"

He ran on white supremacy knowing how unrelenting and all-important it is for many Americans. He knew they wouldn't care what he actually does as long as he's restoring white supremacy to its rightful place in the driver's seat. The details didn't and still don't matter to them.

[Heartstrings]

89. My heart is sad....

[Blue_true]

91. My feelings along the lines that were pointed out go back to 2016.

Coming into Election Day 2016, as fascism gripped the rest of the world, I thought “this is the USA, we will show them the right path”. Then I watched on election night in stunned disbelief as Trump moved closer to winning the Presidency. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing, I turned off the television, but I could not sleep, the next morning my eyes were a mess and my throat was raw. Fast forward to Tuesday night. As Trump lead in the vote count, was leading in the entire Midwest, and Joe was not gaining electoral ground on him, I wondered whether I was watching 2016 all over again.

Although I believed that mailin ballots would change the picture, in that despairing moment I wondered what I would do. Although I have steadfastly said I would stay here and fight regardless of how the election went, I started to wonder whether fighting was worth it with so many of my fellow Americans deeply under the control of a con man.

I have to believe that people like McConnell wanted to see Trump get smashed, as long as McConnell kept control of the Senate. But things are not working out, Trump will continue to hold enormous power within the Republican Party and chicken shits like McConnell will live in a corner, balled in a fetal position.

We did not slay the monster and then get to hold it’s head high to show one and all that is what happens to rancid monsters. We just injured it and sent it back into it’s dark lair to like it’s wounds and breed little monsters (Magats) that will do it’s bidding. We are left to fight and somehow defeat the hoard of little monsters that are almost as numerous as us, and re-enforced by new monsters who we assumed knew better (many White women). And they will hide in plain view among us, silently poisoning the nation body with their venom.

[Yeehah]

93. A very well written and emotional piece

that encapsulates my disappointment.

There are far too many stupid, evil people in this country for there to be a happy ending.