Triumph of the worst

UPDATE: Toning this down a bit— mainly removing a very unkind assessment of the American electorate— and moving on. My current state of mind is that I'm not going to worry about all the horrible things he's going to do until he actually attempts to do them. I'm priviliged enough to not be as vulnerable as many are.

I'm still not convinced the cast of ding dongs he has assembled are competent enough to acheive the total restructuring of government into the pure kleptocracy/theocracy they envision. And they won't be unopposed. They seem congenitally unable to do anything legally, which get them a lot of attention from state attorneys general, at least. They can certainly do lasting damage and hurt and kill a lot of people.  

I'm also retiring my Twitter ("X") account— there's a big migration away from it right now. If you want to follow me on social media, I'll be on Bluesky, where the vibe is much nicer, less tension-inducing.    

‘recrudescence’ (17th century): the return of something terrible after a time of reprieve.

kak·i·sto·cra·cy

noun

1. Government by the least suitable or competent citizens of a state.

2. A state or society governed by its least suitable or competent citizens.

Quite remarkably and apparently decisively, the United States of America has elected D***** T**** to be the nation's president. Running a virtually incoherent, intensely negative, divisive, openly racist and sexist campaign, that was virtually content-free in how it would improve the lives of Americans. 

What will happen is that he believes he was elected dictator for life, having been giving some form of immunity from prosecution by the Supreme Court he largely appointed. He will have fewer limiting influences, fewer sane, non-corrupt voices around him. He will have the support of a Republican party that largely believes he is destined to rule as a king, if not worships him as a virtual deity. 

...quite sanely, you do not understand what that man has ever done to deserve to be regarded that way. Neither do I. 

But he is old and losing energy. The worst excesses of his administration will be conducted by his underlings, whom he will not have the energy or interest to supervise. We'll see how effective they are at that. 

Hope: We all didn't just vanish over night. T**** and his vice president and their policies are deeply unpopular with about half the United States population. We were not stripped of our political power. There is still a legal system, both federal and local. There is a federal bureaucracy which the new administration will be seeking to dismantle and disempower— we will see how durable it is. The military has been well aware of its constitutional role, and institutionally resistant to committing crimes at the behest of the executive branch. 

There will be another election in two years. He may well try to stay in office beyond his legal term— if he lives that long— but I don't believe he will cancel elections altogether. But Republicans will increase their voter suppression efforts. He is an old man, and is deteriorating mentally and physically. It is unknown whether he could ever be so mentally disabled that the American people would not re-elect him, should he seek an unconstitional third term at age 82.  

The power of his movement is that it encourages corrupt, horrible, criminal people to believe this is their time to rule completely. In their hubris, they commit crimes, which will be resisted at some level, and for which they may eventually be prosecuted. 

The country and the planet has seen worse, darker times. Possibly worse times than these have been the normal state of affairs for most humans, and things did improve. Barbarians don't just breed more barbarians— intelligent civilized people came from them, civilization came out of barbarism. 

Young people came out decisively for Harris— they are the actual future, and they will remember this outrage. 

Doom is not an option— there are people who pose as allies, who really are abusing us emotionally with doom content. Shut them out. The situation sucks, that's all. Remember your love and do your work. 

And who knows, maybe when he is sentenced for his 37 felony convictions later in November, the judge will simply throw him in prison. 

“This is precisely the time when artists go to work. There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal.”

-Toni Morrison