Strangely Naked

My thoughts are not clear. I’ve been up since 2:30 a.m. This is the stress and existential anxiety mixed with real worry that I have. My parents visited recently and asked if I would “give President Trump a chance?” In the moment I didn’t have a cohesive response other than, “no.” But after giving it real thought, my answer is, “no.”

A storm rages outside my home. Thunder, lightening, (side thought: wouldn’t it be weird if there wasn’t thunder? Imagine just lightening. Silent electrical death strikes. No counting to see how far away they are, just Zeus’s silent wrath wreaking quiet havoc. Seems to be a metaphor in there.) There are a couple of leaks in our roof, make-shift receptacles are used to collect the insidious dripping. The leaks are in the attic, the space above, slightly removed from the living space. If they are allowed to continue, the havoc they would wreak is unimaginable. The mold it would spawn would affect the health of my family and small, fragile baby. The financial cost would be insurmountable. The displacement would be unfathomable.

Do you see the metaphor? Do I need to make it a simile?

The complacency of the sane majority has lead to the infiltration of a regressive minority. The embodiment of the bully from every 80’s movie has been granted unimaginable power and installed an oligarchy hell bent on profiteering at the expense of the vulnerable. Never forget that everyone is one catastrophic accident or illness away from being destitute.

This fear and anxiety that I now wear constantly like a sweaty costume of terror, isn’t unfounded. In just one day, the ghoulish artificial scarecrow (scare-person, really) has removed all regulations, which are absolutely critical in reigning in the profiteering that lead to all market crashes that disproportionately affect the middle and lower class, while also protecting the environment in a myriad of ways.

Beyond the tangible actions negatively affecting all of humanity (not just the U.S.), but the authoritarianism echoed by an emotionally needy man-baby (stupid Donald-Dad, why didn’t you just give your stupid, gold-obsessed comb-over child a damn hug, ya creep?) deeply affect our collective psyche. There have been a spike in hate crimes; record breaking gun sales; calls to suicide lines are surging; and in the land where the disenfranchised are denied a voice, violence is certain to follow. This is the climate that breeds riots. People without recourse, being denied protection, denied health care and denied basic humanity, where the only source of information, the fourth estate is marginalized and vilified, for these people, there is little recourse.

History is a harsh reminder of what is to come. History reminds us that giving people something, then taking it away from them leads to horrifying results. Good luck to all of us. Help those who need it. Punch white supremacists.

To bring it back to my dad’s original question, me giving a chance to this sentient bag of hate and insecurity is inconsequential. It’s the wrong question to ask because I don’t have the power to dissuade or stop or guide its narcissism. All I can do is what I’ll be doing today, reminding him that the majority still oppose him (he lost by 3 million votes) and that we aren’t content to lay back and allow him to enact his oppressive dreams without people standing up. Hopefully our voices will be heard by people with even a drop of empathy.