I finished my bottle of Laphroaig 10 on election night :⁠-⁠\

Twist: They’re alive. And they’re angry. Choose your weapon.

Sweet potatoes. Something about them made me gag. Every Thanksgiving a heaping pile of them would wind up on my plate and I’d have to power though or else face the wrath of my grandmother.

Nowadays I love them. Dunno when the switch happened.

USB-C has changed the entire game. It’s a completely different game now. It’s like Yahtzee vs Uno. Or like Call of Duty vs Microsoft Flight Simulator. Remember playing freeze tag or dodgeball? Well it’s not like that anymore. Now it’s like playing soccer.

#dontputyourdickinthat

Frankly, this take is profoundly arrogant and indicative of why the Democrats lost to Trump (again, arguably again-again).

This implies that the Democrats could not have possibly done any better, or at least submits to the idea that there is nothing meaningful to be learned from this failure. It projects onto the general electorate a deterministic outlook, that they were always going to vote for Trump no matter what as a way to shield the Democrats and ourselves from accountability.

This is a difficult time time for all of us. We are looking down the barrel of another Trump presidency, one that promises to be a significant tragedy in the history of our nation. It hurts to know what’s coming and people are resigning themselves to complacency in order to ease the pain.

But if we want to stand a chance the next time around, we need to understand that the Democrats played a role in their own demise. We need to demand better, not make excuses for them and perpetuate the mediocrity that has been the Democratic platform over the last decade. We can’t just hope for another deadly crisis to get us out of this one.

Most of these accomplishments, while they do benefit the middle class, are largely invisible to the average American who’s not perpetually following politics.

Student loan forgiveness only directly affects people who go to college, an increasingly less popular/accessible career path amongst the working class. It also has restrictions and has been facing legal challenges, both of which limit its effectiveness.

Lower prescription drug costs are only really visible to people who are taking prescription drugs long-term and doesn’t prevent the healthcare system from bankrupting you in countless other ways.

The Affordable Care Act is arguably the single most significant accomplishment for the Democratic party in my millennial lifetime and if it survives to the next election cycle it will be old enough to vote in it.

As for the rest, improving infrastructure moves too slowly for people to notice in the short-term and despite the efforts to slow them we are still facing record increases to the cost of living and job insecurity.

The working class is getting desperate, people are worried about how they’re going to keep up with rising grocery prices or whether they’ll get laid off from their job when they’re living paycheck to paycheck. If you don’t own a home yet you’re likely questioning whether homeownership will ever be within reach while your landlord increases your rent for no apparent reason other than greed.

In a relative sense to the struggles the working class has been facing coming out of the pandemic, the Democrats have thrown them bones, told them the economy is great, in fact it’s the best in the world when you know for a fact you were better off before the pandemic.

Do we know tariffs and mass deportations aren’t going to make anything better? Do we know things are likely to get a lot worse? Are we the average American? The results of the election prove that we aren’t.

I would argue that he most definitely is a champion for radical change and that’s why he won. “Drain the swamp”, “Dictator on day one”, " He says it like it is" are all things that deviate dramatically from the status quo of political etiquette. Trump is willing to break political norms to get what he wants and evidently voters think his interests align with their own.

Obviously, this isn’t the kind of radical change you or I are hoping for but it certainly is radical. Meanwhile, the Dems are playing it safe in an attempt to appeal broadly and not upset too many people. And we’ve seen for the last decade that gets us at best legislation which has been gutted to the point where it does effectively nothing for the majority of Americans.

I certainly do judge any Trump voter as being either terribly naive or a truly bad person. However, broadcasting that message is going to change nothing and only serves as copium for the anti-Trump crowd.

What is going to sway people who have voted for Trump in the past and are not completely lost to the cult of personality is being a champion for radical change that benefits the middle class. The Harris platform evidently did not go far enough to convince enough voters they would see any meaningful change. Nor did the Clinton or Biden platforms, Biden was only lucky enough that his policies were effectively irrelevant in contest with Trump’s disastrous mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic response.

We can’t hope for another deadly crisis to get us out of this one.

It wasn’t a great plan

You’re entitled to be mad at the voters for forsaking their fellow citizens as well as the citizens of Ukraine and Palestine. But that doesn’t change the fact that, “not a great plan” wasn’t good enough for voters to turn out for the Democrats. Voters are inevitably going to vote for whatever they perceive as being in their own self interests. It’s up to the political parties to align with what the voters want and the Democrats have continuously failed to do that.

The people are tired of the Dems presenting them with weak bullshit solutions to their very real problems and being told to get on board because the alternative is worse. The cost of living in America is drowning the middle class and the Dems keep throwing us water wings.

I don’t agree that Trump’s policies are the answer but I can understand desperate people looking anywhere for some relief.

The Democratic party is stuck on this idealistic platform of unity and appealing broadly to the American people. The Left, however, recognizes the fact that the Right has forsaken unity and is more than willing to irradiate the Left in pursuit of its own goals.

I don’t think body hair is particularly sexy but I do think the choice to wear it with confidence is

Wow… “Purses” is not what my dyslexic, morning brain read and it gave this meme a whole different spin.

As an American:

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

inhales

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

Ah, your comment reads to me like you were emphasizing “only” day one, implying that he would relinquish that power the following day. Happy to hear you elaborate on what you meant.

Ah, so we’re only going to be subject to the whims of a fascist dictator for the first 24 hours? What a relief! And it’s a good thing he’s got a track record for voluntarily and peacefully giving up power, or else I might suspect he wouldn’t think twice about holding on to that power until his dying breath. /s

You’re right, the other side of the coin that I forgot to mention is, “Trumpism wins and turns America into a fascist dictatorship”.

Sadly, the local police/FBI likely aren’t going to do shit for you and will only increase the risk of you getting found out by the people you’re living with. I’d wait until you’re out to contact them.

Your non-crazy relatives seem like your best bet, provided they’re willing to put themselves between you and your potentially violent acquaintances should it come to that. Be honest with them.

Otherwise, people have suggested abuse hotlines and organizations, that’s probably a good place to start. If I were in your situation and I had nowhere else to turn, I’d probably reach out to the church I went to when I grew up. I’m no longer Christian but the church I went to was exceptionally open minded and left leaning and I would trust the leaders to understand and help me how they could. Maybe you know of or could ask around about a place like that in your region? I would avoid anything within your town if possible since word is likely to get back to the people you’re currently living with.

Really sorry you’re in this situation. I’m all the way on the west coast but I have a network of resources in central IL if you end up there. Reach out if you can think of more ways I can help.

This has been the norm since 2016. Until the GOP unilaterally rejects Trumpism, this will be how it is every four years.