Today’s New York Times broke my heart by informing me (can you believe it? — A Newspaper!) that while the electors in the Electoral College will vote tomorrow (Monday, December 19), we won’t actually know the results until January 6. Shit.
UPDATE!
I was wrong. I misunderstood. Perhaps I read the Russian rules.
Trump just now went over the 270 needed to become the 45th (and possibly last) President of the United States.
WE’RE OFFICIALLY SCREWED.
Now back to my original post which is now completely irrelevant:
Still, I want to take just one more opportunity to beg:
Dear Electors:
Please don’t let Donald Trump actually become President of the United States. He’s cray-cray. And could you possibly imagine listening to that 6th grade speaking style for 4 years? Not to mention the fact that he’s already pissed off most of Asia.
Oh and there is that whole bit about Russia interfering with our election.
Google Image
So please, please, vote carefully. Vote as if the future of the world is in your hands. Because it is.
Two occurrences in the same neighborhood really point out the difference between reactions of members of the two different parties.
Vice-President Elect Mike Pence has moved into a short-term rental house in the mostly democratic Chevy Chase neighborhood of DC. When residents realized he was living there, the reaction was this, courtesy of the Washington Post:
Photo courtesy of the Washington Post, (taken by Gary Cameron/Reuters)
They put out rainbow flags.
The other occurrence took place at a restaurant in the same neighborhood, a pizza place called the Comet Ping Pong. As written up in the Washington Post,
A North Carolina man was arrested Sunday after he walked into a popular pizza restaurant in Northwest Washington carrying an assault rifle and fired one or more shots, D.C. police said. The man told police he had come to the restaurant to “self-investigate” a false election-related conspiracy theory involving Hillary Clinton that spread online during her presidential campaign.
This restaurant was the subject of false news accusations that Hillary Clinton was running a child sex ring from the restaurant’s bathrooms. (Who the hell believes such stupidity?) Other than General Mike Flynn, soon to be Donald Trump’s National Security Adviser:
I feel very secure now, don’t you?
Nevertheless, the gunman was arrested, several area businesses went on lock-down.
A D.C. police report made public Monday says Welch had been armed with an AR-15 assault-style rifle. The report also says police seized a Colt .38 caliber handgun and a shotgun. One of those weapons was found inside the restaurant; the other in the suspect’s car.
You heard, no doubt, that President-elect Donald Trump had an unscheduled, impromptu call to President Tsai of Taiwan, causing a potential rift with China because the two countries aren’t as close as the map suggests.
I thought I would provide a form letter to be used whenever we need one. Which, based on the calls he’s already made to leaders in the Philippines, Argentina, Turkey and the UK, we’ll need frequently
______________________________________
Majority of American Voters
Dear World Leader _________:
Please forgive President-elect/President Donald Trump for the diplomatic incident he caused today. We’re afraid that he (check all that apply):
◊ Ignorantly stepped into it because of a lack of knowledge of international relations;
◊ Knew he shouldn’t do it, but there are problems with a construction deal in your country;
◊ Thought nobody would notice;
◊ Didn’t understand that it’s the little things that lead to wars (see “history,” and “Archduke Franz Ferdinand”; or
◊ Explain here: _______________________
Please don’t attack us. You see, we
Sincerely,
Folks in the US stuck with this moron for 4 years
_________________
If this doesn’t work, I fear we’ll all be acting like Bert.
This year I feel incredibly lucky at Thanksgiving. Nobody at my feast will have voted for Donald Trump.
Nobody.
And they will all be relatives.
Didn’t I tell you that I’m lucky? It’s true — I will gladly spend then next two days cooking for them.
But I know that not everybody is as lucky as me. I feel your pain, I really do. One of my brothers voted for Trump, as did a nephew and, I’m pretty sure, a great nephew. But none of them are coming — they don’t usually come so I did not banish them.
It’s hard to talk to folks about this election and why we feel so strongly that the wrong side won.
It’s hard to talk about this election and not place all Trump voters into Hillary’s stupid basket of deplorables.
It’s hard to talk about this election to Trump voters and not slap them upside the head for being stupid, for placing our democracy at risk, for threatening the future of the planet either by a Trump tiff or by his unwillingness to accept that climate change is real and to do something about it.
For those of you who need assistance, I give you this video — with a shout-out to my friend Karen:
Last Wednesday as I drove to work heartbroken over Trump’s victory, John Lennon’s song Imagine came on the radio.
It didn’t improve my mood any. Because I was already imagining plenty.
Earlier today while waiting for a doctor’s appointment, I read a blog from my hometown that posted the Democratic Town Committee’s commitment to not permit bullying, acts of hate or discrimination in town.
Expecting to see universal support for this stance, I was shocked to see the first commenters take a stand, not exactly against, the DTC, but pooh-poohing the need for such a stand.
Naturally, I commented that those commenters obviously hadn’t been paying attention during the campaign. The result was a fairly brief round and round with the commenter, named Dan. As it turned out, Dan was a troll; his comments were removed from the blog along with several damn good ones of mine, I will add.
But he made me think.
When George W. Bush was elected, I worried. I didn’t think he had the brain capacity to be president, and didn’t think he could handle the job. Obviously, I didn’t predict 9/11 or the Iraq war, but I did see in him a bully and a person too easily goaded. I was right. His policies led us into a stupid, unnecessary war. His economic policies led us into a severe, catastrophic economic crisis that only the end of his presidency and Obama’s election prevented from becoming a full-blown economic Depression.
I also thought that Dick Cheney would be a good, calming, fatherly influence. My bad. And his, actually.
With Trump, I am afraid on a deeper level. I’ve expressed those fears many times, so I’ll just say that nothing he has said since his election, and nothing he has done since his election, and nobody he has appointed/is considering appointing has allayed any of my fears. He is an ignorant, hate-filled bully with small fingers who will have access to the nuclear codes in two months.
But you know what? This is where this morning’s troll comes in.
I would love to be wrong.
I would love for each and every Trump voter to work towards proving me that I was crazy to worry.
Prevent bullying/hate crimes/discrimination. Step in at your own risk when necessary. If you say Trump will not increase these things, show me I’m wrong in thinking he will.
Protect social programs. Write to Congress. Let them know that programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security are programs Americans have relied upon for decades. Show me that I’m wrong in thinking that these programs will all be gutted to my and the middle and lower class populations’ detriment.
Protest against any new military actions. If there’s time, that is. If Trump acts in a huff, then, you have my permission to bend over and kiss your own ass goodbye.
Pay attention. Be knowledgeable about current events. Remember who is doing what.
Assess the economic impacts by something other than your own tax returns. What is happening in the housing market, the jobs market. Have their been improvements in infrastructure;
Evaluate the importance of the industries that are succeeding in Trump’s America. Did Trump deliver his promises to restore the coal industry. Manufacturing?
Remember your history. If you believe, as my troll does, that comparisons of Trump’s America to Hitler’s Germany, watch what they do and prevent them from repeating history. (That’s why we study history, isn’t it?)
Show me that the Federal judges appointed at all levels are interested in justice and not in advocating from the bench a la Scalia. Make sure they protect the rights of the folks who can’t stand up for themselves.
Vary your news sources — none of them provide the full story or an unbiased story
Consider the other side’s position — and I will try to do the same
The list of things that concern me, of course, goes on and on.
Make it so that in 4 years, I will look back at the fears I (and so many others) had about Donald Trump’s election and laugh at myself for my foolish fears.
Make me eat crow
I will gladly eat crow. If there are any left given Trump’s plan to gut all sorts of environmental programs and the climate change pact.
FiftyFourandAHalf 
