Today, on the Thursday after the 2024 election, I’m sitting in a coffee shop, shaking with rage. I’m drinking an iced latte eating a croissant and thinking about whether or not the horrors that come out of Donald Trump’s mouth will start to come to fruition in the next few months.
I spent yesterday in bed. Crying periodically. Coming to terms with the fact that we lost and we lost big. I was also coming to terms with the fact that we’ve lost so much more than the presidential election. We’ve lost human decency. We’ve lost critical thinking skills. We’ve lost the ability to listen to what someone says and decide whether or not they mean what they say, based on our own research and their track record.
I feel like my world is irreparably shattered, and I’m only a woman. I’m not a gay man or a trans woman. I am not in a gay marriage that may very quickly come under fire. I am not queer. I am not Black. I am not an immigrant. I am a white woman, who will still have a lot of good things in my life, even if Trump takes action against these other communities. Like he already said he would.
This outcome will factor into everything my husband and I decide about our lives moving forward. Should we buy a house now while we still can? Or save that money for when it gets worse? Should we have children? When I am now more likely to die in the red state of Oklahoma than I would be if women’s reproductive health was not being constantly attacked? These men do not like women. These men (J.D. Vance specifically) think we should be baby machines, and if we are not then we are wrong. Because that’s all a woman is to them. So they will force children to give birth. They will force mothers to bleed and die. Just in case they may save one baby.
I feel like, before this, I had fooled myself into thinking there were still some people out there who may decide not to vote for him. Even people I knew were going to. I thought, well, surely they won’t vote for this horrible man now that they know all these things about him. That was obviously a pipe dream.
The people I went to church with posting “Praise God” as a rapist wins the presidency again makes me physically sick. God is not in this. If that’s the god you are worshipping, I want nothing to do with it.
You have been fooled by the people that say Trump is going to save the economy and lower gas prices and the cost of food. We were going through a pandemic when gas was that low. Trump had absolutely nothing to do with it. Businesses are already prepping to raise prices in the new year because guess who has to pay those tariffs your amazing president wants to enact? Ultimately, you.
Trump inherited Obama’s economy. Biden inherited Trump’s economy that he fumbled and nearly ran into the ground during 2020. We went through a global recession, not just in our country. Throughout Biden’s term, inflation has stabilized. There is not a magic button in the middle of the oval office that says “lower inflation”. But you decided that, instead of doing your research, you were just going to believe one of the biggest liars the world has ever seen. Great job on that.
I don’t want America to crash and burn because I live here and the people I love live here, but I wonder if maybe it needs to so you will finally see. I’m so disappointed in people I love who know this. Who have seen this. And who still voted for him. You stand for hate, and I don’t care what you say your reasoning is. It is simply not good enough.
So, please, if you are upset with me, unfollow me. Block my number. Cut me off so I don’t have to do it first. Human rights are not political differences. I will not disagree with people who believe the groups they do not like are not deserving of rights and happiness, I will simply not have you in my life. I don’t know what this means since nearly my whole family are Trump supporters. But I can’t do it anymore. I can’t pretend it’s okay that they are championing hate and abuse and bigotry and racism. And that reflects back on them. I would not ever want to be in the same room with Donald Trump, and I think it’s become that serious with his supporters as well. Maybe that’s harsh. Maybe I’m just mad. But maybe I have a good reason to be.
Look in the mirror. Ask yourself why you voted for that horrible man. Are your reasons even reasons at all? Or something your husband told you? Something you heard your dad say? Something you saw on Fox News? The democratic party in this election was faceless to me, though I did really grow to appreciate the optimism and hope I felt with Kamala. To me, and to a lot of other people, this election was the side that may not get much done but will most likely not take more rights away, vs. actual Nazis. And you voted for Hitler.
The only good thing? He only has four years, if we can stop him from changing that rule too. And he’s 78, so maybe not even that long.
I’ll continue to post here. My opinions as well as posts loaded with sources. Because I’m not giving up. I have to have hope, or the world is so dark and hateful. To those of you who are afraid: I’m there with you. I understand some of where you’re coming from. There’s a lot to be afraid of. We’ll get through it together.
I hope that Trump is just a complete lunatic liar who doesn’t actually do any of the things he’s said he will. I hope more than anything that Project 2025 is just a little prank. I hope I’m wrong. But if I’m not, I will still be here, trying my best to get you to see and understand that at some point willful ignorance is just stupidity.
Good luck to us all.
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