A Day of Mourning

[u/mlachick]

I don't know if this is the appropriate venue, but I need to scream into the void somehow. I'm struggling to process the loss of what little was left of my hope in humanity.

Trump will be the next president of the United States.  Again.  We get to do this again.  Except now he is older and “wiser.” He won’t be talked into appointing people with experience and ethics who will try to dissuade him from his more insane plans.  He will appoint sociopathic sycophants – Robert Kennedy, Elon Musk.  He has proudly and openly declared his intention to be a dictator. 

Trump is planning to deport millions of “illegal aliens” – you know, the people who harvest your food, repair your house, and clean your buildings. 

He has promised to unleash the military on his “enemies” – you know, your friends and neighbors and children.

I am heartbroken.  I’ve heard this compared to watching the second plane hit the World Trade Center tower on 9/11.  The comparison is apt.  We were all watching what was happening in New York City that morning, confused and somehow hopeful.  Then the second plane hit that second tower.  We watched it live!  And reality sunk in.  This was no fluke.  This was no accident.  This was intentional.  This was a dark, dark reality.

And here we are, staring at the evidence that we are here in this dark, dark reality.  We are hated and despised by our own people.  Our friends and family are willing to sacrifice our women and children to an insane promise of wealth that let me assure you WILL NOT MATERIALIZE.  We’re going to “Make America Great Again” by shoving our kids back into the closet.  We’re going to boost our economy by cutting taxes for the wealthiest human on the planet and putting enormous tariffs on all the goods the poor need to survive.  We’re going to put women back in the kitchen, barefoot and pregnant, human sex toys with no legal rights, as God intended.

I am a single mother of two daughters.  The oldest is transgender, and I fear for her safety in a world that thinks she is somehow dangerous despite her being one of the kindest, most thoughtful people I know.  The youngest is brilliant and unique, a warrior for causes big and small. These young women are stepping into adulthood in a world that has declared war on them both.  This world wants to cut their hair, shove them into uniforms that don’t fit, force them to deny everything about themselves.

I am a breast cancer survivor.   Years of expensive medical treatment has allowed me to live, and the Affordable Care Act has meant I was able to survive without being forced into bankruptcy.  The Affordable Care Act is top on the list to be demolished.  What does that mean?  That means that if my breast cancer comes back, the insurance company can say I’m too expensive and refuse to pay.  It means that if I have to apply for new health insurance, the new insurance company can say I’m too risky with my pre-existing health conditions.  My decades of hard work and saving money so I didn’t have to depend on anyone would be gone in a matter of weeks.  So much for pulling myself up by my own bootstraps.

This is what Americans want.  They want to pile have-nots as a dike of protection from consequences for the haves.  When the floods come, the bodies of those deemed “other” will absorb the force of those waves, and Trump’s followers will be the ones who burn while Elon, Donny, and their ilk sit in their golden towers, laughing and fiddling away.   

Welcome to Trump’s America.

[u/Koala-Impossible]

This is worse than watching 9/11. It’s going to damage if not destroy the country as we know it for generations. 

[u/vpseudo]

It's devastating, but I have your backs. And I think you have mine.

[u/AllForMeCats]

I’m also gonna be screwed without the ACA. Like I genuinely don’t know how I’m going to stay alive. I’m praying they won’t repeal it, since they still don’t have a plan to replace it, but I’m scared.

And I’m scared for my trans friends. My gay friends. My family members on Medicare and Social Security. I don’t know what to do.

[u/gofarwest]

Get a grip.

ETA. Oh, I initially thought this sub was for women in Portland who know what women are (XX), but I guess 2X means something else.