So. Trump talked of deescalation. I kknew better, but I felt a glimmer of hope that maybe he would do something that appeared to be deescalating. While I personally was gleeful about Bovino leaving (because I loathe him so much), I knew it was not going to make that much of a difference.
I was not wrong. Homan came in talking the same shit, though he wrapped it up in slightly less grotesque language (though still awful). And yet, they are pushing hard, still. Not only were Don Lemon and another journalist, Georgia Forte arrested for reporting on a protest of a local church (and two others were arrested as well), but the ICE raids are still going strong.
Today was another general strike day accross the country. Content creators are fundraising for local immigration rapid response teams as well. The exhaustion is bone-deep. There are some white liberals who say that we cannot afford/that it’s a luxury to be exhausted/fearful. They are not wrong, but they are also not right.
We have to do what we can, yes, but for some of us, that takes more effort than others. And some of us are closer to the danger than others.
Here’s the thing. Is this different than anything we’ve seen before? The brazen lawlessness is. But. The acts of violence against US citizens? No, that is not new. It’s just that it’s been easy for most Americans to ignore because 1. the vast majority of the people being acted upon have been black and brown; and 2. they didn’t literally see it with their eyes.
I have written a ton about how the ease with which people can videotape on their phones these days makes it harder to lie about what the feds are doing. Lord knows, they keep trying, but most people are not swayed by their lies.
And yet, for every inch of progress it looks like we’ve made gets immediately drowned out by the hundred other nasty, illegal things this federal administration has done and continues to do. In the video I included below, Ta-Nehisi Coates says (I’m paraphrasing a bit, and I think he was quoting Russ Feingold): Against someone who is just determined to become a tyrant….you can’t really design a system that is foolproof.
It’s something I’ve talked about ad nauseam with friends. Our system is far less than perfect, and we’ve had growing pains in our entire existence. However, at the very least, we could believe that the president wanted what was best for the country. No matter how inept and horrible that vision was; it was sincere.
And, for the most part, they worked mostly within the law. Mostly. Now, though? All bets are off. Nothing is sacred; nothing is safe. I am literally living in an occupied state. Our federal administrators are actual white supremacists, or at the very least, white supremacist-adjacent. I am not one to toss out that phrase, but that shoe fits all too fucking well.
Stepping back a minute from the local, he wanted to invade Greenland! Which he called Iceland several times! Trump wants to be a dictator, which he has said many times. His people are a collection of troglodytes, true believers, complete liars, and incompetents.
Here’s the main thing about Trump–there is no slight too small that he will not go to ridiculous lengths to avenge. He is driven by it–that and power. And his legacy (as a distinct third, I think).
I’m so very tired. My sleep, which has been terrible for most of my life, got better when I had my medical crisis. Like, a million times better. I slept a solid (and very tight) eight hours. This lasted a year or so. Then, my sleep started creeping towards really terrible again. I still managed to get seven or eight hours, but just back to my normal times.
Now, with everything that’s going on, I’ve been sleeping six hours, maybe seven in chunks. It got so bad that one day, I slept through my alarm because my body really needed it.
Huh. In reading the last post I wrote, I ended by saying I was going to write about something if I remembered what it was. And, no. I did not remember. It was going to be something I would argue, which could be one of many issues.
Here’s what it probably was. I was talkking about how I can understand people not paying that much attention to the news. But. This president was president before. He did not get much done the last time around, mostly beecause he really did not want the job. So he did as little as possible. This time, he’s got a bug up his butt about dominating as much as he possibly can.
It’s frustrating, though. I do not follow politics the way I once did. When Obama was president, I was really involved in politics. I wrote for a political blog–abortion was my main beat. I was good, too. Writing is my thing, and I used heavy sarcasm as my political writing crutch.
I got burned out sometime during his second term, and then after that, I lost all interest. But I still kept up with the news–at least the big things that happened. I know people are busy. I know people have things going on in their lives. But to not know–scratch that. I can’t expect people to understand the shit I do. Am I saying that I’m smarter than they are? In some ways. Specificallly, politics. I’m good at that.
I was talkking to K, and I was saying that either of us would be better at president than the current one. That’s not a high bar to clear, though. I would say that roughly ninety percent of people woulld be a better president than this president. Ironically, I would not include the VP as one of those people.
I’m not going to go on a long diatribe about JD Vance at this point, but at some point, maybe. In fact, I’m tired. I’m very tired. I’m done for tonight.