How I intend to survive this… and you can too.
One of the perils of being politically plugged-in is the personal price exacted for having that kind of knowledge constantly swirling around in one’s head, even while asleep.
A few months ago, a sense of foreboding over the fascist specter of Trump began to settle in on my spirit. Although I was still producing essays on politics and public policy, it became increasingly difficult to hit “publish.” Writing about municipal finance, fiscal and social policies, legislation, and campaign shenanigans seemed unimportant in the face of our looming national crisis.
Aficionados of the television show “The West Wing” may recall the episode in which press secretary C.J. Cregg upbraids her coworkers for obsessing on the minutia while they were teetering on the precipice of utter catastrophe — likening it to Butch and Sundance “peering over the edge of a cliff to the boulder-filled rapids below, thinking you better not jump because you might drown.” Cregg said:
“It’s the fall that’s gonna kill you.”
That’s the fear that had slithered its 
way into the very core of my being — it weighed like a cold, heavy stone on my chest. The electorate was falling for a sociopath, and nothing I said or wrote about was going to change that. Who cares about what PAC spent money on whatever issue, or whichever lawmaker was fighting the scourge or virtue of this public policy or that? If a fascist was about to occupy 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue — none of it mattered any more.
The cold stone grew heavier. I was having palpitations.
Two weeks ago, I went to a walk-in clinic with a headache and over-sized heartbeats. My typically normal blood pressure (120/75) was now at 150/96. They sent me straight to the emergency room. Upon arrival I clocked in at 199/106.
A visit to the special cardiac section of the ER involves many intense-looking people wielding numerous needles, vials, and enough monitors that the patient looks like they’ve just lost a desperate struggle with a tangle of Christmas tree lights.
It’s called a “hypertensive crisis.” Try not to have one. They are often associated with heart attacks and strokes. Mine though, seems to have been associated with the Republican’s toxic nominee.
So, now my worst fear has proven all too real. I was among the 60 million progressive American voters who were shoved over that cliff on Nov. 8, 2016.
But, we didn’t die on the rocks below.
We are hurting badly, yet we will survive to fix this.
I saw a good many of my fellow walking wounded yesterday. They were at the bank, the restaurant where I had lunch, but the most shell-shocked among them were those middle-aged white women, like myself, that I encountered in the aisles of T.J.Maxx. (OK, it’s a weird indulgence of mine — I go there often, really to just wander about looking at random and mindless things, particularly when I need to think. The 20-minute drive to-and-from is also spent reflecting — frequently about the politics of the day.) The home-dec section was bustling with dozens of women picking-up objects, considering them, and putting them back. Their carts were empty — just props to lean on in their confusion and despair. They, like me, were desperately grasping for an elusive sense of normalcy.
I did make a purchase. It’s a ceramic star-shaped knick knack — for me, a talisman intended to heal my broken spirit.
I was assisted at the checkout by a kind man in his early twenties. He inquired of my plans for the sunny day. I replied that was the only good thing about the day — the sunshine, and he hinted with raised brow “Some retail therapy?” Yes.
Also on my daily rounds, I found myself more intensely scrutinizing those individuals who looked suspiciously like Trump voters. No, that’s not mean-spirited to imply someone might possess telltale signs of appearing to be of a particular political persuasion. In the past, while canvassing door-to-door, we used to play a game: Democrat or Republican? Beside the obvious signs like bumper stickers and flags, we’d look for other subtle tells — silk flower wreaths with kitschy placards = Republican, unchecked dandelions and uncoiled garden hoses = Democrat. We had a list that usefully proved accurate once the homeowner opened the door and expressed how they intended to vote.
I contemplated the older gentleman at the table across from mine at lunch — he was a toss-up, until he slung a backpack over his shoulder when he departed.
Surely, I’m not alone in casting an eye of suspicion at fellow citizens, as if in some sci-fi movie, trying to determine if they’re one of us, or the embodiment of evil in human flesh. Okay, with few exceptions, they are not truly sinister, but their poor judgment will assuredly visit a certain hell on this fine nation. And I blame them.
As for those third-party voters — sure, they screwed up. But only millennials get a pass on this one. They’re entitled to a learning curve, and they will certainly do just that — the hard way. I am confident they will rise up and make this a better nation just as every last stupid, angry old white male turns toes up over the next decade.
However, for those Stein/Johnson voters in their middle years — they knowingly enabled the potential destruction of our country over their precious “conscience.” As it turns out, their vote really was one for Trump. Shame on them.
We survived the fall — now it’s time to swim.
Me, I have an important piece to finish writing (and publish) on the looming municipal fiscal debt crisis in Michigan.
There’s a sociopath in the White House – how could a Democrat call Barry that? It’s amazing, every time a Democrat wins the White House, those who voted otherwise accept the results and life goes on. Like the directors over me in my job, I always tell them, “You’ll be gone in two years going up the ladder or fired, I’ll still be here”
When Republicans win, Democrats go bat shit crazy. Pull on your big girl pants and get over it – life goes on, and I can predict with certainty, Trump will be light years better than Barry or Hillary. And if he’s not, he’ll be gone in four years, just like the 10 directors I’ve had.
Anyone that commits crimes just because of an election, you’re the problem, not the people who voted contrary to you.
Please be advised Fascists were Socialists; Benito Mussolini, the father of Fascism, was the editor for the largest Socialist publication in Italy, & he was the leader of the Socialist party for years. Nazi is an acronym for National Socialist German Workers Party. Please note the ‘s’ in Nazi is for Socialist.
Please be so kind as to correct me if I am wrong, but don’t you advocate for Socialism?
The real interesting part is that you cannot see the prejudice in your prejudging half of those who voted as lazy and old fashion stupid, not to mention Fascists. The good folks on the left can prejudge and stereotype folks as this column is guilty of, but not see it as a bad thing? Prejudice and hate are a good thing if it is directed at the group of Americans you want to see persecuted. Got to love the American left who openly practice exactly what they say they oppose, prejudices.
I read this article yesterday and had to let it sink in before commenting on it, as well as some other articles relative to liberal reactions to the election of Donald Trump.
Let us begin with some of the protests ongoing in several of our major cities. Here are some of the things going on there. A man that voted for Trump was beaten by 5 individuals for exercising his constitutional right to vote for the candidate of his choice. Colleges across the land are offering students, of the liberal persuasion, time off to recover from the shock of the last election result. Liberal Protesters are vandalizing and destroying the property of others as a means of expression for having someone elected other than their choice. Others have chronicled by means of a video, defecating in a public place, surrounded by their fellow protesters, using their bare hands to pick up the feces and smearing it on Trump Signs. And you now chronicle your own “hypertensive crisis”. And all the while, you are vilifying those that voted for Donald Trump and wondering how they could be so obtuse because they do not share the values of the Liberal Establishment of America.
Jesus, Mary & Joseph woman, can you not see by what I have just illustrated, why? If that is not enough, let me give you a few more reasons. Some of us still believe in the sovereignty of the United States. Many of us served our country to ensure this sovereignty. We do not want open borders, nor do we believe in globalism. You may differ in those opinions, but in America, we each have a right to how we feel our country should continue its history.
There are also those of us that object to the toppling of regimes far from our shores, in a futile effort to force Democracy on nations that have been fighting tribal and religious wars for hundreds, if not thousands of years. Remember Viet Nam? It is now, Libya, Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria. True, Liberal politicians are not solely responsible for that mess, but surely so, for the expansion of it.
We have fond memories of days when jobs were plentiful and before the Trade Agreements that, to us, may have ben the cause of the loss of that abundant employment. Here again, Liberal policies are not solely responsible for those agreements. But, global policies have been championed by them.
There are those of us that are weary of being forced to respect religious beliefs different than our own and in having to subjugate our beliefs to do so. We wonder at the mindset that puts an individual in jail for fighting chickens and that allows partial birth abortions. And we wonder how such well educated people can suffer such naivety, as to think we can cure or abolish evil threats to our way of life by a hug or concessions.
And finally, I wonder how anyone can wonder at the desperation of a part of our society to grasp at any form of change to the direction in which our country is headed, let alone belittle both that desire and the right of those people to seek that out, just because they don’t see the world as you do. To me, that is the height of hypocrisy to what these liberals preach about freedom, choice and democracy. To me, the discovery that intelligence and education can be mutually exclusive, is apparent.
In closing I want to suggest to you that all will be well. Relax, take a Librium or smoke a doobie. Let this unfold a little and try not to prejudge events into your own heart attack. Try to separate your thinking process from the dogma of political rhetoric, put upon us by the media. And remember, just as with Nixon, impeachment or recall awaits any President that would tend to outrage its society. Try to be as open minded and tolerant of our new president as you are of a religion that believes in honor killing of women or beheads gay individuals. Try to be as accepting of him as you would be of a Liberal candidate that lied to America and sacrificed the lives of its diplomats in Benghazi. Our country and its people will continue to find its way and correct its path, as has been proven over the last 241 years. All it takes is belief in the system that may, at times, allow for a differing view than your own.
Bob Moras,
I would like to shake your hand.
Well done sir!
Thank You. When I first read that article, I thought it was satire. I could not believe anyone could have a near heart attack over an election. But then, I began to read about all the craziness, like college students getting a delay in having to take exams, because of their grief.
John, I fear for this country. If our younger generation can not cope with the result of an election, I pray God that I am gone from here if/when it is their time to run this country. Hopefully, it is only a few of many that is getting media attention.
Again, Thank You for your compliment.
When reading the piece I wasn’t sure if this was a serious or a joke. I wasn’t sure if I should LOL or get my hanky and wipe the tears away. How in the world did the conservatives ever cope with the hiring of Barack Hussein Obama? Why in the world did the conservatives not go out and protest and burn the big cities down? Why are the liberals so angry? So if this was a serious article, put on a Streisand album, grab a little medicinal use weed (help with the blood pressure as well) and relax. It really will not be that bad………………Cheers!
Oh good God, don’t blame middle-aged liberals who were turned off by Clinton. For everything that is important to me–the environment, public education, pacifism, economic inequality–Clinton was a vote against it (even if her positions were “not as bad as Trump”). Baby boomers sure as hell better not think they can deflect blame for their poor choice. Clinton was a losing candidate from the get-go, and I’d decided not to vote for her back in 2012 when she was anointed as the 2016 Democratic candidate. And you know what? I was ready and waiting to vote for her right at the verge of this election, only out of my sheer contempt for the hatred, ignorance, and utter lack of character inherent in the Trump supporters, but then Clinton went silent on Standing Rock. At least I can say to those Trump supporters I voted my conscience. Trump supporters sold their souls. The shame is on them.
I’m glad you came through that OK. I wish you well. It is shocking to see the comments elicited by your article. I try to force myself to be open minded, but it’s a struggle.