It goes without saying that I am horrified and despondent about the election. I don’t even want to type his name. My husband and I have been glued to cable news for hours every day but now we can’t bear to watch. I refused to listen to his acceptance speech – my tiny, pointless protest.
I have no appetite for all the political analysts doing their postmortems. It’s all bullshit.
“The American people want change.” “The American people are sick of the Washington Establishment.” “The American people are angry about being left behind.” “The American people are sending a message.”
Please.
Hillary won the popular vote so we can’t brand all Americans with any of these platitudes.
Many of those who voted for Trump were motivated by knee-jerk hatred of the Clintons, which is mostly a psychosis rather than a reasoned response to their actual behavior in public life.
But mostly, Trump won because Americans want to be entertained, and Donald brought it, every single day!
Americans wanted a reality show on a grand scale because that’s how they spend their evenings, watching bachelors pretend to fall in love, or Kardashians pretend to argue, or Housewives pretend to form rivalries and alliances, or amateur singers competing for stardom.
Americans loved the Trump show, with his orange face and his Liberace hairdo, his wild insults reminding them of when Theresa upended the table! They love his two douchbag sons, his busty blonde daughter, the hint of incest, the exotic foreign trophy wife, the constant drama and craziness.
This show has everything! And it’s just beginning!
How will the Trumps adapt to their new home? It’s like the Beverly Hillbillies but better! Will they put in a stripper pole for Melania? Will they get gold bathroom fixtures?
And the cast of characters like Giuliani, Christie, Gingrich, true villains in contrast to Donald’s clueless, illiterate narcissism and need for attention!
None of this shit is based on any ideas about “policy change” or “economics.” It’s just a show about a kooky rich family moving into the White House.
There is one other side-note to Trump’s popularity and it was expressed perfectly in a tweet by a journalist whose name I can’t remember:
I don’t like being called a kike, but I understand that people are feeling disenfranchised and want change.
So sit back and enjoy your show, but remember that when you turn off the TV, it will still be on.
Very well said. And just like with every President before (ie. GWBush), they will be bored and disappointed after 4-6 years or so, and demand that the channel be changed.
I had my first glimmering that he might actually pull this long con off when I realized – after my fifteen years living overseas and in my little gaytellectual bubble – that he was an enormous television star. So many people – otherwise well-informed sensible people – had no idea, and they’d been living here this whole time.
I shudder for what lies ahead – in the White House (may they be struck in their sleep by the ghosts of Dolley Madison and Mamie Eisenhower) and more generally.
I have to comment – first as a fan of your aesthetic for like 2 years –
but as an American. If you don’t think the Clinton’s were extra dirty, super dangerous and utterly contemptible, you’re mistaken. I did not vote for D, I adhered to far fetched activisms in the end, and continue now, calling for a direct democracy action in DC before the swearing in – but he was the literal lesser of evils. He has invested his money here. Consequently, no TPP broke today. No war with Russia seems probable.
The true critque lies in our failure to flood the streets over the sham primary. The protests you see are fueled by real outrage, misdirected, and bought. Pray for us.
it would be amusing if this potentially four year long shitstorm were contained in the US alone, but unfortunately your elected lunatic has the potential to unleash misery on the rest of the world also. America, get a passport, do some travelling actually outside your own country (yes, there are others), learn some things about your fellow humans and next time, take the election if your leader a bit more fucking seriously. Over & out.
Over & Out – I personally didn’t elect the lunatic but I agree that the American electorate should be less ignorant. Any ideas besides passports?
Ize – Thank you for being a fan! I agree about the primaries and keep bitching about that. The Clintons aren’t saints but The Donald appears to be mentally and emotionally arrested to a degree that I wouldn’t bring him to a family dinner or leave him alone with a 16 year old girl. Our government is fucked up in fundamental ways, yes, but a Clown/Conman is not a viable choice for leader of the free world. I appreciate your activism despite our differences!
Muscato – I want to live in your little gaytellectual bubble, is there room for me??
Thomas – Oh god, four years. I don’t think I’m up to it.
Here are my predictions
There will be not one but several big bombshells about Trump that will cause great consternation and constipation among his fellow republicans within the first six months of office.
He will get bored and/or overwhelmed with the rules and regulations of the office.
His counterparts around the globe will be cool, ruthless and uninterested in his “celebrity”. The Big Ugly American is not welcome.
His henchmen (Gingrich, Christie, Giuliani et al) will tear each other’s eyes out trying to be head pack dog.
Melania will go stir crazy and wish for Slovenia.
Here’s a silver lining: all the fingerpointing, blaming, insults, hatred etc hurled at Obama over the years will now be aimed at Trump, they have no one else to beat up. Have at it boys!!
One more thing, we will miss Nixon compared to this boob.
I’m a huge fan of your writing. I almost never agree with you but I am always thoroughly entertained. I understand your disappointment because I was wrestling with the same dread when I thought Hillary was going to win. My heart is so full of joy since the election that is has made me realize how hopeless and depressed I had been feeling in response to the destruction (trillions of dollars of national debt is a huge problem, and health care is an untenable nightmare) Obama has caused. To say you wouldn’t leave a 16 year old in a room with Trump is absurd. I don’t watch television for all the reasons you’ve listed, and I would wager that the majority of republican voters don’t either. The news is no longer a reliable source of facts, but more of the drama and craziness you refer to. I can’t understand how so many people are so upset over a few stupid comments Donald Trump has made: it is just words. Hillary has actually engaged in corruption. Everyone could successfully argue that words have power, but no one could win an argument that says words have more power than action. Thankfully, we now have some hope that America can be restored to order. And, just think of this, you will have four years, eight if he’s able to accomplish anything, to continue moaning and complaining.
It’s horrific. I don’t know if I’m up for four years of this lunacy, but I have doubts it will last that four years. I can’t really see The Donald being able to follow through on anything.
I’ve been trying to support my friends, most of whom are very very gay. I worry about my patients (I work on an inpatient psychiatric unit with children and adolescents) and what kind of a future they will have. What about my Muslim friends and patients? Immigrants who I work with? I worry about my dad who is on Social Security Disability after working his whole life and went blind in his early 60s due to an eye condition and is getting already penalized for drawing two years early from his work pension — will SSD be taken away from him, too, even though he is legitimately disabled and only has partial sight in one eye?
Already, two of my friends have been harassed for being very visibly, unabashedly out in the open lesbians where I live in Vermont and in a liberal small city in Massachusetts, respectively. I don’t even get it, I’m so far removed from why people hate gay people. Why the fuck are you so invested in their lives? Why does it bother you so much? Are you dealing with your own internalized homophobia? If so, please deal with it.
Trump is disgusting and I truly fear for the future.
But I don’t want to live in fear.
A few days out, I see opportunity in his lack of any sort of actionable policies and the universal disgust on the part of people opposed to him. But we must act, someway, somehow. I’m still sorting it out myself and starting to feel less disassociated and overwhelmed, and more focused, determined, and thoroughly enraged and ready to fight back. I’m hoping fellow progressive leaning folks like myself will be galvanized by this and continue to resist all of this bullshit.
Nailed it.
Thank you for this article. You are an exceptional writer and deserve a wide audience.
Jane Bentley