I've been in denial.

[Grammy23]

85. I just read through the long list of replies and it made me think....

As much as one CAN think at the crack of dawn.

Your comment about the anger made me realize I’ve had some level of anger since 2000 when Bush the Younger was (s)elected. I didn’t get to vote that year because my sister died and we were at her funeral out of town on Election Day. I remember our family watching the returns that night and just being gob smacked at the way things were going. Then that whole debacle that followed hit us all between the eyes. What followed was 8 years of more unbelievably wacko events that kept many of us enraged and feeling rather powerless.

And then came Obama. We were on top of the world. At last our nightmare was over. Everything seemed just primed and ready to make things good again. Turn it all around. Until we got that kick in the gut feeling as the Republicans tried to twart everything Obama set out to do. He managed to pull off some amazing hat tricks even as they worked behind the scenes to destroy his presidency. So we felt a little better.

It was a false sense of security to get lulled in by what Obama accomplished in the face of opposition determined to stop him. We let our guard down and along came tRump. We were sure that Hillary, smart, poised, accomplished would run circles around him. And she did. But we were not counting on how determined he was to win. We didn’t know then what we know now. So our common sense told us that no one in their right mind would vote for someone as vile as him. But we were wrong.

Not only did a lot of people vote for that disgusting piece of trash, there was a thumb on the scale that we didn’t realize was screwing over the rest of us. And now we’ve had just about a year of his self serving, criminally tainted administration destroying everything in its path. We watch in abject horror, never knowing from one day to the next what they will do that disgusts or dismays us.

So it is no wonder we are angry. We have very good reasons to be paranoid, seething with the knowledge that the very foundation of our country is being undermined from within. And we feel powerless to do a damn thing except seethe and come to places like DU to vent our rage and commiserate. The power to fight back that we felt on the day after Inauguration Day, put on a pussy hat and say HELL NO, has more or less dissipated. We feel demoralized and defeated. And that is not a good place to be.

The good news (and goodness knows we need some of that) is that Mueller is working like a demon to pull this case against tRump and his minions together. It has more sides to it than an octopus has tentacles. It is complicated by design. It is going in 40 directions at once. But Mueller is no fool and the man knows how to delegate. No one person could do it all, so he has Chopped this bugger up and is slowly but surely figuring out their scheme and scams.

So I think we need to dry our tears of frustration, hold our heads high and count on our system to work. It is hard, damn hard with tRump ruining so much, but hang on we must. Find better coping skills. Less drinking hard liquor, more cool water. Less sitting in the recliner, brooding and stewing. More walking, doing something creative and fun. Keep up with what’s going on but not in a compulsive, destructive way. We can do this but it won’t be easy or painless.

I think we still need to turn to our friends and buds here at DU but we need to revamp our interactions so we encourage and embolden each other to do better. And channel some energy back into ourselves so we dig out that pussy hat and let others know we’re mad as hell and not gonna sit back and just take it. Organize, demonstrate and refuse to knuckle under.

We need a mix of spunk, creative outlets and more laughter, less angst. So let us make a pact that we will do better, try not to sink into despair and know that this fight we are in will not last forever. Believe that tRump’s time is coming to an end sooner rather than later. We have to latch on to the positive and move forward and not allow ourselves to become mired in the past.

Hope we all have better days...starting with this one!