I've figured out what this feels like: The preparations you make, amidst utter terror, when you're in the path of a deadly natural disaster – and there's nothing you can do to stop it. You can only try to prepare, and survive, all the while realizing millions won't. And that you may be one of them.
When I went to sleep on Tuesday night, hours before the election was called, I believed I’d be waking up to a better world. How wrong I was.
I am so ashamed of and angry at my fellow white women, 53% of whom voted for TFG. How do they not understand that voting for a vindictive, fascist, racist, rapist conman will never keep them safe? His statement “I’ll protect the women … whether they like it or not” was the gloat of a predator who knows he can do whatever he wants, regardless of how it affects you. He, and the men who follow him, will treat women like pussies to be grabbed (Nick Fuentes’ vile taunt “Your Body. My Choice.” is already being lobbed with alarming frequency at women … and children), or bodies to be disposed of, like Amber Nicole Thurman, who was allowed to bleed out in a parking lot because doctors were afraid to give her necessary medical care due to TFG’s abortion bans.
Women aren’t the only recipients of threats: almost immediately after the election, Black communities began receiving personalized texts saying "You have been selected to pick cotton at the nearest plantation…” and "You have been selected to be house slave..." TFG's election win has elevated his worst qualities into instructions as far as his followers are concerned, and they will unleash more hatred and misery.
A nationwide abortion ban will be next, along with restrictions or outright bans on contraception. Social Security, Medicare and the ACA will be gutted (I guarantee you have no comprehension of how many people will die as a result; you know far more invisibly disabled or financially vulnerable people than you think!) Every one of the agencies that keeps us safe, instead of providing the protections they were created for, will be turned into profit centers for TFG and his oligarch friends. We will have no warning – or defense – against the next pandemic. Or hurricane. Or foodborne illness.** Oh, and if you think they were joking when they said they want to take away women’s right to vote, you are grievously wrong.
My heart breaks for all the suffering and death that will be visited upon the United States, upon the world, upon the planet as a result of this election. I implore you, if you voted for TFG, take off those rose-colored glasses and examine your prejudices with clear eyes. And if, like me, you voted for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz and progress, kindness, equality and freedom, then find your community, because we are in for a world of pain and we will need to care for each other in order to survive.
As much as you can, try to be kind. Except to those who denied our humanity. In the saddest of ironies, many of them are already having buyer's remorse as they realize they are not safe from the evils TFG will unleash. I have no sympathy for them: they voted to strip our human and civil rights and to decimate the planet; they get to reap what they sowed.
But to those who believe in the inherent humanity of others, please, as much as you can, be kind.
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**For more about what TFG has in store, see my post HERE: