The point about “they seem to be trying to put things in place before Trump dies” resonates with me VERY strongly because I think they know he’s the pin that holds it together. I also do not think Trump is very well physically, and I don’t think he’s going to make it all four years. And that’s not me being “yay” that’s me just being pragmatic.
Same here. Not one of us truly knows who a person is unless and until they become a person with POWER. Even more than wealth, power can destroy what we thought were honorable people.
I think Trump is the catalyst where MAGA disintegrates shortly after he's gone. The cult of personality. No onee is following Vance or Musk, Junior or anyone else. It dies with him.
Trump definitely has the cult going for him, given his charisma with his base. But I’m very worried that even if he’s gone, everything will be in such tatters that they’ll install whoever they please and further crack down on everybody. Like Putin isn’t swoon-worthy, but a dictator for life at this point.
The way you dish out your clear-eyed analysis along with a side of humanity not only takes my breath away, but grows my resolve to not let those motherfuckers take my joy. Thank you, Sarah.
Sarah, I just want to thank you for the depth of your commentary and for your great ability to formulate analyses of this very troubling situation. Even when your writing pulls the scales from my eyes, I am consoled by a sense that you present a comprehensive version of the truth.
"When I dig, I find rocks that are so special, it’s hard to believe they were there all along, with everyone stepping right over them. People are like that too. We’re all better than we seem and hurting more than we show."
<Patricia: I don’t understand what the end game is of blowing up the economy. Who is going to build their stuff if we are all ruined?
SK: Robots and slaves. They will call the slaves “prisoners”, and they will include many people incarcerated for no reason. Keep an eye on the private prison industry.>
My students and I just read Parable of the Sower in my climate grief class. We noted current references to this eerie dystopian novel from 1993 in the context of recent catastrophes like the LA fires.
Butler’s apocalyptic America is one where slavery is reinscribed by the oligarchic overlords, shadow figures hiding in compounds while the rest of the survivors literally kill each other for scraps in hell.
The kernel of hope in Butler’s and others’ speculative fictions is that, when it’s all burned down, something new and life-giving can emerge. You embody that hope with your writing.
Thank you! And yes it's uncanny the way Octavia Butler's work resonates now. She's so intelligent that it's not surprising she was able to anticipate this future, but the specificity of it (particularly the LA fires and the dates) is unnerving.
As part of research for my YA book, I’m reading about how artists responded to the military dictatorship in Brazil, in the 70s and 80s. Very illuminating, and somewhat comforting…I know it sounds strange to say that, but just, we don’t have to reinvent the wheel here.
I do not have those skills, but thought I would share my own Substack "Fiction's Prophecy" here. I only post every couple of weeks, but welcome new subscribers.
I’ve been warning about what would happen (and now is) once trump was back in office since the month after Jan 6th proved no one was going to hold him or his corrupt administration accountable for their illegal actions. I tried warning people up to and all through the first go-ground. None of what Sarah said here is a surprise. And yet…I feel laid to waste after reading this. My ptsd is screaming at me, tightening its grip…
Not at all. Anyone with a shred of humanity can empathize with those who are already directly affected by this mess. It’s truly frightening and infuriating.
Hell No! I have days when it is really hard to get out of bed. If I didn't have two kids that needed me to have my shit together - I would have taken of to a cabin in the woods where I could just stare onto nature and let my central nervous system relax. You are not alone!
It's all very hard to process and I say this as someone who has been warning and writing about it for over a decade -- it's still impossible to become "used to it" since the implications are direct and horrifying. Honestly, I'd worry about my conscience if I ever get "used to it". That said, it's fine to take a break, turn off the news, go do something you love instead. Don't ever feel bad about that. It's necessary.
Thank you to Cortney, Katarina & Sarah for your replies. I very much appreciate them.
I’ve lived with a great deal of stress all my life due to a brutal childhood steeped in an evilangelical cult & white supremacy, then years in the military which was an great fit for me except for the constant MST. (I wanted to stay in for 40, had to leave at 10 due to the MST.) My child was born with multiple disabilities and I had to learn early how to advocate for him. Then, due to military injuries (from being a paratrooper, from assaults, from on the job mishaps) I ended up having 65+ surgeries, the last one right after the election.
The day of the election my son and I spoke about trump’s win and how it would affect him. He was extremely worried, justifiably, about losing the social programs that enabled him to have a life and medical care. trump bragged all along about taking away Medicaid, SSI, SNAP and cutting off government housing assistance. The day before the election my son saw the video where trump asked “why can’t they just die?” referring to those with disabilities. I talked with him repeatedly, assuring him that we would figure something out. But, when it was obvious trump had won, my son’s stress level caused several breakthrough seizures. The last one killed him.
I knew what was coming with trump ending up back in the White House. I thought I was prepared (as much as possible). But, with the spine surgery, which a hateful, misogynistic NP at the VA kept denying - over 14 months - that I needed even as several discs in my spine kept rupturing, then my son’s death tied directly to all the greed and hatred spewed by trump et al and now looking at my own impending homelessness once my veteran’s disability is reduced or taken in full, it’s so, so much. And this is just my life. It’s horrible that so many are already out of a job and medical care. So many more are going to be. Jobs, income, medical care, social services - it’s all being stolen from us - gleefully, hatefully. This is going to get much worse for all but the thieves themselves. It’s so difficult to watch the entire country soaking in what I had fought against and escaped (white supremacy, hatred, deliberate fear-mongering, evilangelicalism) - watching all that ugliness be celebrated.
I do step away. Thanks to my childhood & a few military experiences I have c-ptsd. It sucks but I’ve had the training, the therapy. I know the drill, how to cope, how to take care of myself. But the moment we are in now…. I wonder, will those of us targeted pull together to help each other through this, will enough remember their humanity and fight to keep it? Right now, I see flickers of goodness (like here) but I just don’t know. And it sounds all “snowflake-y” to say this, but it hurts that I can’t answer that with a resounding Yes!
Thanks for “listening”. And again, thank you for the replies and the so appreciated encouragement and sharing of your own worries.
oof thank you for sharing. i am so sorry your son did. the stress is so hard and harder on those with any disabilities. too many are in denial about what is to come.
I tried to reassure him but he countered that with “and when they take your veteran’s compensation? how will you help me when you’re homeless too?” He had me there but I still tried to reassure him. The stress was too much.
I agree. Since America has never fallen to fascism or been stripped apart - many people refuse - even as it all is dismantled more each day - to face it yet.
I’m rewatching Stargate SG-1. Definitely taking walks - well, more like slow meanderings as I’m healing from spine surgery. Being outdoors is healing. Nature is my cathedral, where I find comfort and strength.
“They want to control meaning itself; they want to regulate our ability to find meaning in our life and to know our own past. But it’s more akin to what Pol Pot wanted than to the Bolsheviks”
I have been reading Eugene Gendlin’s “Experiencing and the Creation of Meaning”
You have said a number of times that the public “does not deserve” what has happened and is happening to them. Yes we do. We were willing to live in a dream world while the most serious encroachments upon liberty and justice were documented by people like yourself. We were willing to watch generations of systematic racial discrimination from the comfy confines of this same dream world, never allowing ourselves to realize that these forces could not forever be restricted to black people. Many of the white people clamoring to their elected representatives today cannot believe that the president has not kept his promise to limit the effects of his policies to black people and hispanics. Don’t deserve it? America has been asking for it. The consequence of our moral relativity couldn’t have produced any other outcome.
Thanks for another great Q&A Sarah. I am in Europe so I am also trying to map the consequences as we see the current attempted carve up of Europe by the new axis powers (Russia-USA-Israel). Really helps to get your take as I try to make sense of it all. Sadly it seems European leaders have been, at best, asleep at the wheel if not on board with a Vichy European administration on behalf of these monsters. We see some flickers of life (new Chancellor Merz stating we need military independence from the US) but far too few and much too slowly for my liking. To paraphrase Churchill on Vichy France - has Europe "been poisoned by intrigue before [we] were struck down by violence..rotted from within before they were smitten from without."
I have to read all the answers again, read and listen to your books more, since I am late to the party of understanding exactly how the Democrats have let this all happen. But even if I'm in my mid seventies, I'm not too old to learn from brilliant young thinkers, and writers like yourself.
I really like your advice to get involved in your local community, and try making good things happen on a small scale. And to support others who do the same, not just send $ to politicians..
yes, you are correct, that is what she said. I also remember reading that she was not a member of any political party, so I assume that also means she would not recommend sending $$ to groups trying to get Democrats elected to congress, for example.
This is the plan all along. Paul Krugman and others correctly point out how these "coins" don't have a use case yet as they persist with powerful backers now in government that use case will emerge. It's how they will target and pillage people who built their wealth through hard work and prudent management.
"We may have driven past the point of no return, but at least we got a carpool going." Nobody writes like you.
Thank you!
The point about “they seem to be trying to put things in place before Trump dies” resonates with me VERY strongly because I think they know he’s the pin that holds it together. I also do not think Trump is very well physically, and I don’t think he’s going to make it all four years. And that’s not me being “yay” that’s me just being pragmatic.
Agreed. But JD Vance scares the living crap out of me, given his tech bro ties.
Same here. Not one of us truly knows who a person is unless and until they become a person with POWER. Even more than wealth, power can destroy what we thought were honorable people.
More frightening to me is his Opus Dei dogwhistles. He wants a new Crusades.
I think Trump is the catalyst where MAGA disintegrates shortly after he's gone. The cult of personality. No onee is following Vance or Musk, Junior or anyone else. It dies with him.
Trump definitely has the cult going for him, given his charisma with his base. But I’m very worried that even if he’s gone, everything will be in such tatters that they’ll install whoever they please and further crack down on everybody. Like Putin isn’t swoon-worthy, but a dictator for life at this point.
Vance is much, much worse. He is a human shield.
The way you dish out your clear-eyed analysis along with a side of humanity not only takes my breath away, but grows my resolve to not let those motherfuckers take my joy. Thank you, Sarah.
Sarah, I just want to thank you for the depth of your commentary and for your great ability to formulate analyses of this very troubling situation. Even when your writing pulls the scales from my eyes, I am consoled by a sense that you present a comprehensive version of the truth.
Thank you!
I’m so agree and have alerted my friends
"When I dig, I find rocks that are so special, it’s hard to believe they were there all along, with everyone stepping right over them. People are like that too. We’re all better than we seem and hurting more than we show."
so true
<Patricia: I don’t understand what the end game is of blowing up the economy. Who is going to build their stuff if we are all ruined?
SK: Robots and slaves. They will call the slaves “prisoners”, and they will include many people incarcerated for no reason. Keep an eye on the private prison industry.>
My students and I just read Parable of the Sower in my climate grief class. We noted current references to this eerie dystopian novel from 1993 in the context of recent catastrophes like the LA fires.
Butler’s apocalyptic America is one where slavery is reinscribed by the oligarchic overlords, shadow figures hiding in compounds while the rest of the survivors literally kill each other for scraps in hell.
The kernel of hope in Butler’s and others’ speculative fictions is that, when it’s all burned down, something new and life-giving can emerge. You embody that hope with your writing.
Thank you! And yes it's uncanny the way Octavia Butler's work resonates now. She's so intelligent that it's not surprising she was able to anticipate this future, but the specificity of it (particularly the LA fires and the dates) is unnerving.
I fucking love you
As part of research for my YA book, I’m reading about how artists responded to the military dictatorship in Brazil, in the 70s and 80s. Very illuminating, and somewhat comforting…I know it sounds strange to say that, but just, we don’t have to reinvent the wheel here.
I would love to see a sub-Substack of Sarah’s readers who are also writers and artists sharing work. There are so many interesting people here.
I'd love to see that too!
Hopefully someone with that skill set will suggest a way. 😁
I’d want to be part of something like that - how to make it happen?
I followed you. It’s a start!
I do not have those skills, but thought I would share my own Substack "Fiction's Prophecy" here. I only post every couple of weeks, but welcome new subscribers.
https://jill699.substack.com/p/the-sale-of-a-sea-drop-by-drop
Warm wishes to all others who love Sarah's combination of beautiful writing and clear analysis.
Nice! Thank you 😊
Subscribed! Here’s mine! https://open.substack.com/pub/ronnarussell
Done. We launched in the same month!
Sounds interesting!
I’ve been warning about what would happen (and now is) once trump was back in office since the month after Jan 6th proved no one was going to hold him or his corrupt administration accountable for their illegal actions. I tried warning people up to and all through the first go-ground. None of what Sarah said here is a surprise. And yet…I feel laid to waste after reading this. My ptsd is screaming at me, tightening its grip…
Am I the only one having this reaction?
Not at all. Anyone with a shred of humanity can empathize with those who are already directly affected by this mess. It’s truly frightening and infuriating.
Hell No! I have days when it is really hard to get out of bed. If I didn't have two kids that needed me to have my shit together - I would have taken of to a cabin in the woods where I could just stare onto nature and let my central nervous system relax. You are not alone!
It's all very hard to process and I say this as someone who has been warning and writing about it for over a decade -- it's still impossible to become "used to it" since the implications are direct and horrifying. Honestly, I'd worry about my conscience if I ever get "used to it". That said, it's fine to take a break, turn off the news, go do something you love instead. Don't ever feel bad about that. It's necessary.
Thank you to Cortney, Katarina & Sarah for your replies. I very much appreciate them.
I’ve lived with a great deal of stress all my life due to a brutal childhood steeped in an evilangelical cult & white supremacy, then years in the military which was an great fit for me except for the constant MST. (I wanted to stay in for 40, had to leave at 10 due to the MST.) My child was born with multiple disabilities and I had to learn early how to advocate for him. Then, due to military injuries (from being a paratrooper, from assaults, from on the job mishaps) I ended up having 65+ surgeries, the last one right after the election.
The day of the election my son and I spoke about trump’s win and how it would affect him. He was extremely worried, justifiably, about losing the social programs that enabled him to have a life and medical care. trump bragged all along about taking away Medicaid, SSI, SNAP and cutting off government housing assistance. The day before the election my son saw the video where trump asked “why can’t they just die?” referring to those with disabilities. I talked with him repeatedly, assuring him that we would figure something out. But, when it was obvious trump had won, my son’s stress level caused several breakthrough seizures. The last one killed him.
I knew what was coming with trump ending up back in the White House. I thought I was prepared (as much as possible). But, with the spine surgery, which a hateful, misogynistic NP at the VA kept denying - over 14 months - that I needed even as several discs in my spine kept rupturing, then my son’s death tied directly to all the greed and hatred spewed by trump et al and now looking at my own impending homelessness once my veteran’s disability is reduced or taken in full, it’s so, so much. And this is just my life. It’s horrible that so many are already out of a job and medical care. So many more are going to be. Jobs, income, medical care, social services - it’s all being stolen from us - gleefully, hatefully. This is going to get much worse for all but the thieves themselves. It’s so difficult to watch the entire country soaking in what I had fought against and escaped (white supremacy, hatred, deliberate fear-mongering, evilangelicalism) - watching all that ugliness be celebrated.
I do step away. Thanks to my childhood & a few military experiences I have c-ptsd. It sucks but I’ve had the training, the therapy. I know the drill, how to cope, how to take care of myself. But the moment we are in now…. I wonder, will those of us targeted pull together to help each other through this, will enough remember their humanity and fight to keep it? Right now, I see flickers of goodness (like here) but I just don’t know. And it sounds all “snowflake-y” to say this, but it hurts that I can’t answer that with a resounding Yes!
Thanks for “listening”. And again, thank you for the replies and the so appreciated encouragement and sharing of your own worries.
I am so very sorry for all you've endured, especially the death of your son.
Thank you kindly.
oof thank you for sharing. i am so sorry your son did. the stress is so hard and harder on those with any disabilities. too many are in denial about what is to come.
I tried to reassure him but he countered that with “and when they take your veteran’s compensation? how will you help me when you’re homeless too?” He had me there but I still tried to reassure him. The stress was too much.
I agree. Since America has never fallen to fascism or been stripped apart - many people refuse - even as it all is dismantled more each day - to face it yet.
and horrible typo did=died. i think so many think it n never happen here
Walks, baths and get lost in fiction. Just binged all four seasons of Killing Eve this week.
I’m rewatching Stargate SG-1. Definitely taking walks - well, more like slow meanderings as I’m healing from spine surgery. Being outdoors is healing. Nature is my cathedral, where I find comfort and strength.
Merlin ID app for birding helps, and I too know spine-limited meanderings. Deep breaths.
ASMR helps me fall asleep, too.
Thank you for the ideas. I was looking at the Bird Buddy feeder. If it doesn’t upload anywhere except my phone it might be fun & relaxing.
Wishing you well.
“They want to control meaning itself; they want to regulate our ability to find meaning in our life and to know our own past. But it’s more akin to what Pol Pot wanted than to the Bolsheviks”
I have been reading Eugene Gendlin’s “Experiencing and the Creation of Meaning”
Wow
Love your answers to good questions! Just subscribed (paid)!
Thank you -- I really appreciate it!
Not as much as I appreciate you! 💚
Me too!
You have said a number of times that the public “does not deserve” what has happened and is happening to them. Yes we do. We were willing to live in a dream world while the most serious encroachments upon liberty and justice were documented by people like yourself. We were willing to watch generations of systematic racial discrimination from the comfy confines of this same dream world, never allowing ourselves to realize that these forces could not forever be restricted to black people. Many of the white people clamoring to their elected representatives today cannot believe that the president has not kept his promise to limit the effects of his policies to black people and hispanics. Don’t deserve it? America has been asking for it. The consequence of our moral relativity couldn’t have produced any other outcome.
I have no sympathy for maga either.
Thanks for another great Q&A Sarah. I am in Europe so I am also trying to map the consequences as we see the current attempted carve up of Europe by the new axis powers (Russia-USA-Israel). Really helps to get your take as I try to make sense of it all. Sadly it seems European leaders have been, at best, asleep at the wheel if not on board with a Vichy European administration on behalf of these monsters. We see some flickers of life (new Chancellor Merz stating we need military independence from the US) but far too few and much too slowly for my liking. To paraphrase Churchill on Vichy France - has Europe "been poisoned by intrigue before [we] were struck down by violence..rotted from within before they were smitten from without."
I have to read all the answers again, read and listen to your books more, since I am late to the party of understanding exactly how the Democrats have let this all happen. But even if I'm in my mid seventies, I'm not too old to learn from brilliant young thinkers, and writers like yourself.
I really like your advice to get involved in your local community, and try making good things happen on a small scale. And to support others who do the same, not just send $ to politicians..
If I’m not wrong I think she wrote NOT to send politicians money and I so agreed when I read that. Do community gatherings and take your daily walk.
yes, you are correct, that is what she said. I also remember reading that she was not a member of any political party, so I assume that also means she would not recommend sending $$ to groups trying to get Democrats elected to congress, for example.
Glad a few people liked my comment. Just made a list of the good local things I'm trying to do. Will post on my Upriver Readings.
‘’Digital currency and mass surveillance”. 👏👏👏👏👏👏
This is the plan all along. Paul Krugman and others correctly point out how these "coins" don't have a use case yet as they persist with powerful backers now in government that use case will emerge. It's how they will target and pillage people who built their wealth through hard work and prudent management.
Sarah, thank you for being my most important voice in the wilderness. I’m grateful.