Sarah, I will always be eternally grateful for you refusing to lie about what the problems are that got us into this mess. The finger pointing over last night is so exasperating, but seeing your threads from 2021 on the institutional failures helps me feel sane in moments like this. I really hope we live to see better days at some point. Thank you!
I hope folks stop pointing fingers at each other and start pointing at the powerful actors who conspired -- and I do not use that word lightly -- to create this disaster. It is vital to protect the most vulnerable Americans first and foremost. But everyone but a tiny elite is going to be hurt in the end. And the thing is, they want us -- they NEED us -- to believe it was our own idea instead of a long--term plan dependent upon courts and crime to succeed. We cannot submit to that delusion. Help the vulnerable and blame the powerful. As I wrote in those essays -- this was not an election but a reinstallation.
Yours was the first voice I wanted to hear from today. Really thinking about your concern that information archives are disappearing. Protecting libraries and books is going to be vital. Thank you for your honesty.
Well I think some finger-pointing is very necessary.
it didn't exactly help that Kamala was so weak on policy. And it was of course absolute madness not to hold the Jan 6 crowd to account and pretend all was well. And that of course made it utterly implausible to run on "justice" four years later. Which is of course why the Dems had to replace "He's a massive traitor!" with "These GOPpers are all so _weird!1" (in a thick valley girl accent.)
Correct me if I'm wrong but NOBODY believed any more that they would eventually hold these people accountable. At any rate, nobody who cared enough about politics to actually go vote.
Kamala ran on 1) The right to abortion and 2) being neither Trump nor Biden, neither of which is any help with the issues most Americans have to contend with on a daily basis. I got a whiff of the Hillary mindset very early on and of course, letting Trump off the hook for Jan 6, indeed de-facto pardoning the Jan 6 crowd - that is EMBLEMATIC of the Hillary 2016 mindset. The whole idea is to run against a bogeyman so terrible that people just HAVE to vote for her. Well, turns out for the second time they absolutely do NOT have to vote for her. Not even if the candidate is much, much more sympathetic than Hillary and not even if the candidate actually does campaign in all the swing states.
I mean it was not even close. They did not even HAVE to steal it.
There were dozens of bomb threats at polling places. The person in charge of the mail -- it is IMO VERY likely that he got rid of many, maybe 10's of thousands. That's why we wanted him out. In PA, there were t.-supporters lining the sidewalks for EARLY voting, to intimidate. Now I hear that desantis kicked out polls wachers. This was no a free and fair election. They did steal it.
The 3rd time they've done so and yet where have the consequences been?
There should be outrage from Dems irt this and they should be turning the anger of drumpf supporters on the gop. The gop have been doing this long before drumpf (the Supreme Court Coup of 2000). They did this before I was even born (Iran Contra).
But what price have they ever paid? Bill Barr is walking free, Trump is, Bush, Cheney, Condi Rice. People need to stop restricting their ideas to electoralism and be prepared to do more than vote. That solves barely anything, especially if you don't know if it was a fair outcome.
The criminal conspiracy is not just transnational, it is *bipartisan.* Sarah has been trying to tell you just that for a good ten years now at least. And _still_ to no avail it seems. I have been banned from Twitter but I read a lot of YT comment sections and there still seems to be zero blame for Biden or the Dems when he de-facto issued a blanket PARDON to all Jan 6 ringleaders and top-level organizers. Just by way of his DoJ appointments. Even Samantha Bee let herself be gaslit on the Daily Beast podcast the other day that Bannon and Navarro actually had been held accountable for Jan 6 when both spent only a few months in prison at best - and it was NOT for the Jan 6 insurrection but for refusing to TESTIFY in the House Committee! I mean what do you say to that?!
I keep facepalming while listening to these people!
Pelosi shares many rich megadonors with Trump. There are public registers for this, everybody could check it in seconds. There's a video clip of her defending the right of Congresspeople to do insider trading on the stock market. Hakeem Jefferies and Chuck Shumer would rather let the obvious grifter "George Santos" get elected in their state of New York than one of their own party's Progressives.
Mitch McConnell pitched Merrick Garland to Trump as FBI director before Biden made him his Attorney General. Honestly I think Garland was actually a lot _worse_ than Trump's current pick *Matt Gaetz.* At least with that slimebag, you know where you're at. And Trump's actual FBI director Christopher Wray *remains in office.* Biden left him in office even though he just let Jan 6 happen. Which everybody saw coming weeks in advance at the time just by browsing twitter every other day. Biden did not even bother to remove (let alone indict) Trump's Postmaster General Louis DeJoy who sabotaged the pandemicelection and got masses of Americans needlessly infected with Covid just by shutting down post offices. That man actually *got lots of Americans killed* that way and yet remained in office all through Biden's term.
Matt Gaetz, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Louie Gohmert, Mo Brooks, Andy Biggs, Scott Perry, Peter Navarro, Mike Johnson etc. - the most severe consequences for any of them were the disbarments of Giuliani in NY and DC. That's all. Zero jail time for any of them, most of them are sitting in Congress. Those that left, did so of their own volition. After committing numerous acts of treason *and all but confessing to them.* And now lots of them (and worse) are headed for cushy cabinet positions. Thanks for nothing, Democratic Party of America!
Those who continue to believe that the man with the launch codes is unable to get the Jan 6 ringleaders arrested and thrown in prison LONG before the next election rolls around, are just as BRAINWASHED as any Qanon freak.
_You're in a cult when_
- the leader is always right, even when he isn't.
- criticism of the leader or questioning the leader is considered _persecution._
- _anything_ the leader does is justified, no matter how harmful, dishonorable or despiccable it may be.
- the leader is the _only_ source of truth, everybody else is lying.
- disciples must be devoted to the leader and *_never question him.*_
And let me leave you with one of Sarah's juiciest quotes. I don't know what Trump era episode of the Gaslit Nation podcast it came from specifically but it is etched into my brain and will stay there until dementia finally catches up:
"Those precious few among the Dems that are trying to do something about the ongoing, slow-moving coup, are trying to do everything by the book, or at least they are pretending to do so. But you cannot go by the book if, like right now, *the book is burning,* or if the book is *the fucking Necronomicon!"*
Doing things by the book or as I call it, hiding behind norms while the other side break laws, isn't the flex that the cheerleaders think it is.
Also, surrendering to injustice doesn't make one a bigger person, it makes you a coward.
The fact that people blame Mitch McConnell for this when Presidents Biden and Obama could have easily stood up to him publicly sickens me.
In 2016, President Obama refused to tell the public about Russia putting its thumb on the scale (or to do anything about it because McConnell would have called him partisan). Obama should have responded by telling the truth and saying, "yes, as President, I'm partisan by my duty to protect the Constitution from enemies foreign or domestic. The Senate Leader would prefer me not to inform you of this, but that would mean being neutral when my people are under threat."
Biden did nothing to protect this election in the slightest.
Care to share any numbers that I haven't seen? Never mind policy - many voters were not even aware Harris was RUNNING, it caused a Google spike of people looking up since when BIDEN dropped out of the race on election day.
you said she didnt run on policy. I said she did. now you say it doesnt matter- -because i tried to clarify something for you. sounds about right. you can easily look up the popular vote numbers, which are not even done being counted yet. I would do it, but it seems like you are throwing down a gauntlet rather than asking for actual nos.
I know I should read your book -- seriously -- but help me summarize to my friends (who are pointing fingers), who were the powerful actors: putin, garland - -and biden?
You were right and like others, I had this overwhelming feeling of dread leading up to this but it still feels very heavy. Not so much that the institutions did not protect us but that our neighbors and fellow citizens chose this way. Today I feel neither brave nor kind.
You aren’t alone in understanding the organized crime which is always there. Humans operate that way, but the Dems have been completely wiped out this election because they only wanted to talk about abortion and not about the machine behind Trump because with out the grifter Theocratic anarcho capitalists, Trump would have been a footnote in history. Now Biden and the 4 year chance we had to turn this around will be a footnote in history.
Will the American people miss democracy? We shall see
Besides January 6, I just remembered today how he hid those classified documents at Mar-A-Lago, and our system just swept that under the rug as well. The signs were there all along, and it’s so sad.
We re-read your essay in Le Correspondent before the election (it's archived on our cpu desktop) and your essays have prepared us so we are not shocked, but God help us all!
Indeed. And thank you for archiving that essay. I remember when they tried to delete it; I'm glad it's still up (and most of it is reprinted in HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT too.) My best to you.
Sarah - you were the first person I thought of this morning. How sad I am that you’ve read the room so well for all these years. Americans are such gullible sheep believing the lies from this terrible man. Stay safe. We continue to need your insight.
I woke up wondering if you had any updates to your essay “We’re heading into dark times. This is how to be your own light in the Age of Trump” from 2016.
Folks should reread it since clearly it didn’t take the first time.
Kidding — sort of. I’m extremely grateful that so many read and still appreciate that essay. I hope they understand that the institutions that betray us span party lines. I’ve been trying to explain that for years, and there was an unwillingness to believe it until today. Now folks are feeling like I did in March 2021, when I figured out that Trump’s reinstallation was coming and that the Democrats and the justice system were not going to attempt to stop it (there’s a 2021 thread of mine on that going viral.) It was a horrible realization, and I sincerely feel bad for people just catching on. That’s why I’ve been writing so much on morality. You can control that. You can control who you are and how you treat people. And I’ve been writing on imagination, because you’ve got to keep your mind and your heart open even in the worst of circumstances; only then will you find a way out.
They are not only educated but fortunate enough to have a good income, health care and adequate housing. The system worked for them but what of the millions of others in a precarious state?
Yes! Imagination is so very important! My father had the same sick and dangerous psychology as Trump. My childhood was awful. But because I had a television in my bedroom, I could escape into the world of imagination. Through the TV shows and movies I watched, I could see an alternative future, even if it was fantasy. That is what saved me from becoming a monster like my father. I was shown that his was not the only view of the world. This is what I am working to do for others now nearly 70 years later. I’ve written more about my plans in a separate comment.
I've already started seeing comments among my FB friends that they "have to believe" Dems are "working behind the scenes" and "getting legislation in place to push through" in the lameduck session to salvage the results of this election, they're just keeping it close to the vest to not tip the opposition off.
Mueller is coming!! Garland is crossing Ts and dotting Is!!! Again? Trust the plan??? SERIOUSLY???? I'm ready to run screaming into the wilderness.
And yesterday during the concession speech, she announced the peaceful transition thereby legitimizing Trump. And these friends of mine think Dems are fighting behind the scenes? Have I got news for you! Will they ever face the fact that the system is working as intended?
They’re delusional, falling for the same trick again and again. That’s the amazing part to me. That and them not realizing the trick is the flip side to the counterfeit coin of qanon. It’s the same people running the show!
Is it falling for the same trick or something far worse?
Imo it's the latter. These people know that people are desperate for hope, grifting off of it and boiling the frog. I keep hearing about Joe Biden's decency & integrity when he's neither decent nor moral. Drumpf unintentionally tells the truth at times (something ended you sharpened my focus on irt his compliments for Pelosi and Garland). I think he was telling the truth when he said Biden wanted him to win.
1. Biden never kept his word about nor running for reelection.
2. Biden let the gop hyenas & garland have their way with his son yet nothing was ever done about kushner (I know, Jamie Gorelick).
3. Biden never fired Garland
4. Biden gave musk even more contracts despite knowing he's in league with putin.
5. Biden didn't try to force a ceasefire.
Yes, kamala made mistakes, should have been more of a Dem and ran against the GOP, not just drumpf(he was a Democrat when Bush/Cheney were committing War Crimes). But the accountability should be on Biden & Pelosi.
He said when he won that he would be a "bridge candidate" to the next generation. But I think he has a savior complex and thinks "he alone can fix it" - sounds familiar!
Oh, hmm, I did not recall that, but probably bec it was 4 yrs ago. I dont think that even if Harris had more time in her campaign, it would have made a difference.
how do you deal with friends like these -- any advice? The denial is deep, tho understandable. I can't listen to their denial anymore. What do you say to them? There seems to be no convincing them of the truth.
I've tried... it's like talking to a brick wall. They engage and reply to all their other friends who are similiarly flailing and grasping at straws but totally ignore my honest questions about establishment Dems talking about the peaceful transition - "is he a threat to democracy or isn't he? Is he a dictator or isn't he? Why aren't the Dems showing any kind of urgency but instead handing the keys to the kingdom over to him"?
I know people don't like to admit they've been willing marks to a con and instead double-down and that's what they've said about MAGA, but that quirk of human psychology is bipartisan. The way they're panicking all over their socials is kind of embarrassing...yes, it's an emergency and at this point there needs to be some level-headed thinking in order to organize but I'm not seeing it.
All during Harris' campaign i did not understand why she was not saying how she was going to implement her policies. Maybe that is standard during campaigning, i dont know. Maybe she didnt want to forearm the opposition by saying she would do things by executive order- that was my hope. Or that she would ignore the supreme court.... as it has been said, "who's going to enforce" their orders? There is also a loophole, i once read, that the court's opinion is only advisory and doesnt have to be followed by the exec branch. But the Dems dont seem willing to use ANYthing.
Michael cohen was the only one -on mainstream tv- i heard say repeatedly, "the system did not hold, I was in solitary, twice, on some made-up thing" and scotus rejected his lawsuit, over it. Now suddenly he's done a 180 and saying it will be ok. I'm guessing he wasnt able to leave the country as he'd said he would -- or maybe just not yet. He looks the saddest i've ever seen him, and i dont blame him.
Thank you for your thoughts and writings. My grandparents lived through Europe in the 1930s and beyond. 20 years under Mussolini. I started giving useless warnings in 2015 - too many echoes of things I had grown up knowing. Hardly anyone listened. You have been a reliable source for all these years.
I am always grateful to you but especially on this day. All we have is our dignity and our discernment and I think (no hyperbole) your writing in the last decade has helped my eye on that ball, on the assholes who do not care about any of us, and away from fellow average people. Sober truths ain't easy but they are always preferable to delusional lies.
We got here because lies and more lies were allowed to stand for too long. The greedy media decided to make bank on propping up a liar and a con man. The justice was too weak. It was inevitable that we would be here, now we will watch buyer remorse unfold, and democracy is on its last breath in America. I think I’m buying a van and travel around the parts of America I haven’t been to, before they are gone.
Like Mike Tyson said, everyone has a plan til they get punched in the face.
I don't have a plan either and I study this for a living. That's because in a lot of ways, the situation is fluid, and in terrible ways, the situation is unyielding. What we can control is how we treat each other and how we treat ourselves. It's OK to cry or scream or whatever you need to do. There are many with you. When you're shattered, sometimes you gotta rest and take the lay of the land before you can put yourself back together.
Take a walk. I cannot go outside my apt door, without what will now be severe glares and even threats from my neighbors. Once outside the building the risk will rice to actual violence in my racially mixed neighborhood. And no one here defends anyone else. And I try to defend myself or someone else, the police will be called on me, the police will lie (at best -- you know the worst), and I will be in jail. This has happened to me, I am not imaging. I cant "go for a walk." I cant even walk to my car, without mace in my hand.
As discussed yesterday, now / sometime soon would be a great time to get started on your YA writing career. Some wise words for the next generation, who will need them.
Sarah, I will always be eternally grateful for you refusing to lie about what the problems are that got us into this mess. The finger pointing over last night is so exasperating, but seeing your threads from 2021 on the institutional failures helps me feel sane in moments like this. I really hope we live to see better days at some point. Thank you!
I hope folks stop pointing fingers at each other and start pointing at the powerful actors who conspired -- and I do not use that word lightly -- to create this disaster. It is vital to protect the most vulnerable Americans first and foremost. But everyone but a tiny elite is going to be hurt in the end. And the thing is, they want us -- they NEED us -- to believe it was our own idea instead of a long--term plan dependent upon courts and crime to succeed. We cannot submit to that delusion. Help the vulnerable and blame the powerful. As I wrote in those essays -- this was not an election but a reinstallation.
Yours was the first voice I wanted to hear from today. Really thinking about your concern that information archives are disappearing. Protecting libraries and books is going to be vital. Thank you for your honesty.
Thank you!
Well I think some finger-pointing is very necessary.
it didn't exactly help that Kamala was so weak on policy. And it was of course absolute madness not to hold the Jan 6 crowd to account and pretend all was well. And that of course made it utterly implausible to run on "justice" four years later. Which is of course why the Dems had to replace "He's a massive traitor!" with "These GOPpers are all so _weird!1" (in a thick valley girl accent.)
Correct me if I'm wrong but NOBODY believed any more that they would eventually hold these people accountable. At any rate, nobody who cared enough about politics to actually go vote.
Kamala ran on 1) The right to abortion and 2) being neither Trump nor Biden, neither of which is any help with the issues most Americans have to contend with on a daily basis. I got a whiff of the Hillary mindset very early on and of course, letting Trump off the hook for Jan 6, indeed de-facto pardoning the Jan 6 crowd - that is EMBLEMATIC of the Hillary 2016 mindset. The whole idea is to run against a bogeyman so terrible that people just HAVE to vote for her. Well, turns out for the second time they absolutely do NOT have to vote for her. Not even if the candidate is much, much more sympathetic than Hillary and not even if the candidate actually does campaign in all the swing states.
I mean it was not even close. They did not even HAVE to steal it.
There were dozens of bomb threats at polling places. The person in charge of the mail -- it is IMO VERY likely that he got rid of many, maybe 10's of thousands. That's why we wanted him out. In PA, there were t.-supporters lining the sidewalks for EARLY voting, to intimidate. Now I hear that desantis kicked out polls wachers. This was no a free and fair election. They did steal it.
The 3rd time they've done so and yet where have the consequences been?
There should be outrage from Dems irt this and they should be turning the anger of drumpf supporters on the gop. The gop have been doing this long before drumpf (the Supreme Court Coup of 2000). They did this before I was even born (Iran Contra).
But what price have they ever paid? Bill Barr is walking free, Trump is, Bush, Cheney, Condi Rice. People need to stop restricting their ideas to electoralism and be prepared to do more than vote. That solves barely anything, especially if you don't know if it was a fair outcome.
The criminal conspiracy is not just transnational, it is *bipartisan.* Sarah has been trying to tell you just that for a good ten years now at least. And _still_ to no avail it seems. I have been banned from Twitter but I read a lot of YT comment sections and there still seems to be zero blame for Biden or the Dems when he de-facto issued a blanket PARDON to all Jan 6 ringleaders and top-level organizers. Just by way of his DoJ appointments. Even Samantha Bee let herself be gaslit on the Daily Beast podcast the other day that Bannon and Navarro actually had been held accountable for Jan 6 when both spent only a few months in prison at best - and it was NOT for the Jan 6 insurrection but for refusing to TESTIFY in the House Committee! I mean what do you say to that?!
I keep facepalming while listening to these people!
https://youtu.be/kcqNZWlzvY8?si=9Gf-Ca68HM51yfIg
Pelosi shares many rich megadonors with Trump. There are public registers for this, everybody could check it in seconds. There's a video clip of her defending the right of Congresspeople to do insider trading on the stock market. Hakeem Jefferies and Chuck Shumer would rather let the obvious grifter "George Santos" get elected in their state of New York than one of their own party's Progressives.
Mitch McConnell pitched Merrick Garland to Trump as FBI director before Biden made him his Attorney General. Honestly I think Garland was actually a lot _worse_ than Trump's current pick *Matt Gaetz.* At least with that slimebag, you know where you're at. And Trump's actual FBI director Christopher Wray *remains in office.* Biden left him in office even though he just let Jan 6 happen. Which everybody saw coming weeks in advance at the time just by browsing twitter every other day. Biden did not even bother to remove (let alone indict) Trump's Postmaster General Louis DeJoy who sabotaged the pandemicelection and got masses of Americans needlessly infected with Covid just by shutting down post offices. That man actually *got lots of Americans killed* that way and yet remained in office all through Biden's term.
Matt Gaetz, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Louie Gohmert, Mo Brooks, Andy Biggs, Scott Perry, Peter Navarro, Mike Johnson etc. - the most severe consequences for any of them were the disbarments of Giuliani in NY and DC. That's all. Zero jail time for any of them, most of them are sitting in Congress. Those that left, did so of their own volition. After committing numerous acts of treason *and all but confessing to them.* And now lots of them (and worse) are headed for cushy cabinet positions. Thanks for nothing, Democratic Party of America!
Those who continue to believe that the man with the launch codes is unable to get the Jan 6 ringleaders arrested and thrown in prison LONG before the next election rolls around, are just as BRAINWASHED as any Qanon freak.
_You're in a cult when_
- the leader is always right, even when he isn't.
- criticism of the leader or questioning the leader is considered _persecution._
- _anything_ the leader does is justified, no matter how harmful, dishonorable or despiccable it may be.
- the leader is the _only_ source of truth, everybody else is lying.
- disciples must be devoted to the leader and *_never question him.*_
And let me leave you with one of Sarah's juiciest quotes. I don't know what Trump era episode of the Gaslit Nation podcast it came from specifically but it is etched into my brain and will stay there until dementia finally catches up:
"Those precious few among the Dems that are trying to do something about the ongoing, slow-moving coup, are trying to do everything by the book, or at least they are pretending to do so. But you cannot go by the book if, like right now, *the book is burning,* or if the book is *the fucking Necronomicon!"*
Doing things by the book or as I call it, hiding behind norms while the other side break laws, isn't the flex that the cheerleaders think it is.
Also, surrendering to injustice doesn't make one a bigger person, it makes you a coward.
The fact that people blame Mitch McConnell for this when Presidents Biden and Obama could have easily stood up to him publicly sickens me.
In 2016, President Obama refused to tell the public about Russia putting its thumb on the scale (or to do anything about it because McConnell would have called him partisan). Obama should have responded by telling the truth and saying, "yes, as President, I'm partisan by my duty to protect the Constitution from enemies foreign or domestic. The Senate Leader would prefer me not to inform you of this, but that would mean being neutral when my people are under threat."
Biden did nothing to protect this election in the slightest.
Actually is was close, in the popular vote, we are finding out. Harris ran on plenty of policy.
Care to share any numbers that I haven't seen? Never mind policy - many voters were not even aware Harris was RUNNING, it caused a Google spike of people looking up since when BIDEN dropped out of the race on election day.
you said she didnt run on policy. I said she did. now you say it doesnt matter- -because i tried to clarify something for you. sounds about right. you can easily look up the popular vote numbers, which are not even done being counted yet. I would do it, but it seems like you are throwing down a gauntlet rather than asking for actual nos.
Intuitively I knew over time it was a major problem brewing with The Reagans' Campaign and underhanded Deal Making to stop 2nd Term Pres Carter.
Few in my 3 Circles were willing to discuss what I suspected when Nancy & Ronnie were running for CA Gov and afterwards.
Thank You
Thom Z Cady, 80ish
I know I should read your book -- seriously -- but help me summarize to my friends (who are pointing fingers), who were the powerful actors: putin, garland - -and biden?
You were right and like others, I had this overwhelming feeling of dread leading up to this but it still feels very heavy. Not so much that the institutions did not protect us but that our neighbors and fellow citizens chose this way. Today I feel neither brave nor kind.
Hugs and love. I understand.
You aren’t alone in understanding the organized crime which is always there. Humans operate that way, but the Dems have been completely wiped out this election because they only wanted to talk about abortion and not about the machine behind Trump because with out the grifter Theocratic anarcho capitalists, Trump would have been a footnote in history. Now Biden and the 4 year chance we had to turn this around will be a footnote in history.
Will the American people miss democracy? We shall see
Besides January 6, I just remembered today how he hid those classified documents at Mar-A-Lago, and our system just swept that under the rug as well. The signs were there all along, and it’s so sad.
We re-read your essay in Le Correspondent before the election (it's archived on our cpu desktop) and your essays have prepared us so we are not shocked, but God help us all!
Indeed. And thank you for archiving that essay. I remember when they tried to delete it; I'm glad it's still up (and most of it is reprinted in HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT too.) My best to you.
Just upgraded to paid. Thank you, Sarah, for your hard-nosed clarity. Your wisdom is necessary.
Thanks!
I have read your books, but I still had hope. Thank you for all you have done. I have no words right now. I am shattered and scared.
I just couldn’t stop thinking about all you have said to us last night .! You were so right.! I wanted to have hope.! 😞
Sarah - you were the first person I thought of this morning. How sad I am that you’ve read the room so well for all these years. Americans are such gullible sheep believing the lies from this terrible man. Stay safe. We continue to need your insight.
Thank you for your voice, your writing and your bravery. Wishing you and your family peace and safety.
Thanks — you too!
I woke up wondering if you had any updates to your essay “We’re heading into dark times. This is how to be your own light in the Age of Trump” from 2016.
Folks should reread it since clearly it didn’t take the first time.
Kidding — sort of. I’m extremely grateful that so many read and still appreciate that essay. I hope they understand that the institutions that betray us span party lines. I’ve been trying to explain that for years, and there was an unwillingness to believe it until today. Now folks are feeling like I did in March 2021, when I figured out that Trump’s reinstallation was coming and that the Democrats and the justice system were not going to attempt to stop it (there’s a 2021 thread of mine on that going viral.) It was a horrible realization, and I sincerely feel bad for people just catching on. That’s why I’ve been writing so much on morality. You can control that. You can control who you are and how you treat people. And I’ve been writing on imagination, because you’ve got to keep your mind and your heart open even in the worst of circumstances; only then will you find a way out.
We can’t let these political parties limit our imagination on what a better world be. It will cost us everything. But we have each other.
The very wealthy have their two political parties; the rest of us need one.
I can't believe how many educated people still believe in fairy tales after all they've witnessed.
They are not only educated but fortunate enough to have a good income, health care and adequate housing. The system worked for them but what of the millions of others in a precarious state?
Yes! Imagination is so very important! My father had the same sick and dangerous psychology as Trump. My childhood was awful. But because I had a television in my bedroom, I could escape into the world of imagination. Through the TV shows and movies I watched, I could see an alternative future, even if it was fantasy. That is what saved me from becoming a monster like my father. I was shown that his was not the only view of the world. This is what I am working to do for others now nearly 70 years later. I’ve written more about my plans in a separate comment.
Where can I find that essay now?
Summer, here – https://thecorrespondent.com/5696/were-heading-into-dark-times-this-is-how-to-be-your-own-light-in-the-age-of-trump (also linked in Sarah's post)
I've already started seeing comments among my FB friends that they "have to believe" Dems are "working behind the scenes" and "getting legislation in place to push through" in the lameduck session to salvage the results of this election, they're just keeping it close to the vest to not tip the opposition off.
Mueller is coming!! Garland is crossing Ts and dotting Is!!! Again? Trust the plan??? SERIOUSLY???? I'm ready to run screaming into the wilderness.
And yesterday during the concession speech, she announced the peaceful transition thereby legitimizing Trump. And these friends of mine think Dems are fighting behind the scenes? Have I got news for you! Will they ever face the fact that the system is working as intended?
They’re delusional, falling for the same trick again and again. That’s the amazing part to me. That and them not realizing the trick is the flip side to the counterfeit coin of qanon. It’s the same people running the show!
Is it falling for the same trick or something far worse?
Imo it's the latter. These people know that people are desperate for hope, grifting off of it and boiling the frog. I keep hearing about Joe Biden's decency & integrity when he's neither decent nor moral. Drumpf unintentionally tells the truth at times (something ended you sharpened my focus on irt his compliments for Pelosi and Garland). I think he was telling the truth when he said Biden wanted him to win.
1. Biden never kept his word about nor running for reelection.
2. Biden let the gop hyenas & garland have their way with his son yet nothing was ever done about kushner (I know, Jamie Gorelick).
3. Biden never fired Garland
4. Biden gave musk even more contracts despite knowing he's in league with putin.
5. Biden didn't try to force a ceasefire.
Yes, kamala made mistakes, should have been more of a Dem and ran against the GOP, not just drumpf(he was a Democrat when Bush/Cheney were committing War Crimes). But the accountability should be on Biden & Pelosi.
Had biden said he was not going to run for reelection? I dont remember that.
He did in 2021 iirc
He said when he won that he would be a "bridge candidate" to the next generation. But I think he has a savior complex and thinks "he alone can fix it" - sounds familiar!
Oh, hmm, I did not recall that, but probably bec it was 4 yrs ago. I dont think that even if Harris had more time in her campaign, it would have made a difference.
how do you deal with friends like these -- any advice? The denial is deep, tho understandable. I can't listen to their denial anymore. What do you say to them? There seems to be no convincing them of the truth.
I've tried... it's like talking to a brick wall. They engage and reply to all their other friends who are similiarly flailing and grasping at straws but totally ignore my honest questions about establishment Dems talking about the peaceful transition - "is he a threat to democracy or isn't he? Is he a dictator or isn't he? Why aren't the Dems showing any kind of urgency but instead handing the keys to the kingdom over to him"?
I know people don't like to admit they've been willing marks to a con and instead double-down and that's what they've said about MAGA, but that quirk of human psychology is bipartisan. The way they're panicking all over their socials is kind of embarrassing...yes, it's an emergency and at this point there needs to be some level-headed thinking in order to organize but I'm not seeing it.
All during Harris' campaign i did not understand why she was not saying how she was going to implement her policies. Maybe that is standard during campaigning, i dont know. Maybe she didnt want to forearm the opposition by saying she would do things by executive order- that was my hope. Or that she would ignore the supreme court.... as it has been said, "who's going to enforce" their orders? There is also a loophole, i once read, that the court's opinion is only advisory and doesnt have to be followed by the exec branch. But the Dems dont seem willing to use ANYthing.
Thank you for responding, it makes me feel less alone.
Michael cohen was the only one -on mainstream tv- i heard say repeatedly, "the system did not hold, I was in solitary, twice, on some made-up thing" and scotus rejected his lawsuit, over it. Now suddenly he's done a 180 and saying it will be ok. I'm guessing he wasnt able to leave the country as he'd said he would -- or maybe just not yet. He looks the saddest i've ever seen him, and i dont blame him.
Thank you for your thoughts and writings. My grandparents lived through Europe in the 1930s and beyond. 20 years under Mussolini. I started giving useless warnings in 2015 - too many echoes of things I had grown up knowing. Hardly anyone listened. You have been a reliable source for all these years.
I am always grateful to you but especially on this day. All we have is our dignity and our discernment and I think (no hyperbole) your writing in the last decade has helped my eye on that ball, on the assholes who do not care about any of us, and away from fellow average people. Sober truths ain't easy but they are always preferable to delusional lies.
Thank you -- and thank you for reading
We got here because lies and more lies were allowed to stand for too long. The greedy media decided to make bank on propping up a liar and a con man. The justice was too weak. It was inevitable that we would be here, now we will watch buyer remorse unfold, and democracy is on its last breath in America. I think I’m buying a van and travel around the parts of America I haven’t been to, before they are gone.
I'm shattered this morning. I thought I had a plan. I have no plan.
Like Mike Tyson said, everyone has a plan til they get punched in the face.
I don't have a plan either and I study this for a living. That's because in a lot of ways, the situation is fluid, and in terrible ways, the situation is unyielding. What we can control is how we treat each other and how we treat ourselves. It's OK to cry or scream or whatever you need to do. There are many with you. When you're shattered, sometimes you gotta rest and take the lay of the land before you can put yourself back together.
You were right. You've always been right.
I'm with you. Take a walk. Look at something pretty. As the late, great Pat Summitt advised, "Left foot, right foot, breathe."
Take a walk. I cannot go outside my apt door, without what will now be severe glares and even threats from my neighbors. Once outside the building the risk will rice to actual violence in my racially mixed neighborhood. And no one here defends anyone else. And I try to defend myself or someone else, the police will be called on me, the police will lie (at best -- you know the worst), and I will be in jail. This has happened to me, I am not imaging. I cant "go for a walk." I cant even walk to my car, without mace in my hand.
As discussed yesterday, now / sometime soon would be a great time to get started on your YA writing career. Some wise words for the next generation, who will need them.