The Day After

Image:  Facebook

I can't believe we're here again. Another capable woman defeated by the same male turnip.

It looked likely Trump was going to win when I went to bed last night. Not surprisingly, I had a helluva time falling asleep. And then staying asleep. His smugly—that's a combination of smug and ugly—face kept intruding. So I'm not in tiptop form this morning. But a few things come to mind.

For many Americans, like me, Trump represented an existential threat to American democracy. It's now clear that for many other Americans the existential threat they felt was to themselves. In other words, it was the economy, stupid. Inflation roared during the Biden term and it didn't during the Trump term. That's an incredibly simplistic take, but that in itself suits a lot of voters.

Throw in sexism, racism, transphobia and homophobia. Add a large dose of un-Christian Christians. Drop in an appalling mess in the Middle East. And don't forget Trump super-selfishly putting the kibosh on an immigration deal, and the fact that the benefits of the Infrastructure Law haven't been felt yet.

So now we're faced with the specter of four more years of the man who would be dictator. As he surrounds himself with toadies, prepare yourself for Steve Bannon as press secretary. Stephen Miller as chief of staff. Kid Rock as secretary of state.

Our rage and bafflement are real. The temptation in these early days is to turn on each other, but that won't help in any way. I suggest instead that we all acknowledge the pain and how bitterly disappointed we are in our fellow Americans who chose this criminal narcissist with a shriveled heart and a conniving mind as the way forward.

And we must take care of ourselves. The very phrase makes me feel namby-pamby, but it's the truth. We're no good to ourselves or others if we deteriorate under this considerable strain. I, for one, plan to go to the gym this afternoon. I'll probably break into tears while on the treadmill . . . but that could also be because I hate the treadmill.

Election Day 2024

Image:  Facebook

I'm cautiously optimistic.

I assume the New York Yankees were, too.

Election Day Eve

Image by Azmi Talib from Pixabay

I can think of a hundred reasons why Donald Trump shouldn't be president. And that's without benefit of caffeine.

But for my queer-centric purposes, I'm zeroing in on just one reason here on this day before Election Day: the appalling transphobia of Trump and his fellow travelers.

The "PBS NewsHour" put my stomach in knots over the weekend by reporting that, between Oct 7 and Oct 20, the Trump campaign and allied groups dedicated over 40 percent of their enormous advertising budget to anti-trans ads.

That's an amazing figure. In the final days of the election, Republicans believe the winning strategy is to demonize the most vulnerable part of the queer community. If this were a debate class, they'd all flunk for such an irrelevant closing argument. (If they hadn't already flunked for the way Trump treats microphones.)

Since the main issues in this election are the economy, immigration and abortion, noted a "NewsHour" host, why the anti-trans push in the closing stages? A transgender journalist replied that "the purpose of a fear campaign is to distract you from issues that you normally care about by making you so afraid of a group of people, of somebody like me, for instance, that you're willing to throw everything else away because you're scared."

It strikes me that Trump could cover all the bases by running just a single ad attacking a transgender poor immigrant who aborted a kindergartner.

It wasn't at all long ago that Republicans fear-mongered around gay rights and same-sex marriage for political gain. Now transgender folks are their victim of choice. Who in the LGBTQIA+ community will be next? It's hard to imagine conservatives getting whipped into a froth over genderfluid asexuals.

The bottom line is which will happen first: They run out of fear or we run out of letters?

Watch Till the End

 

Of Course They Are

 

Halloween Frights

Image by Bany_MM from Pixabay

It's Halloween, and the terror is real.

Here in the greater Seattle area, I walked into a post office yesterday morning to find only two customers ahead of me. Great, I thought, this won't take long. The first woman was spending the money to send a ballot Priority Mail, I guessed to a child in college. That's commitment.

The second customer appeared to be a grandmother, with grandchild in tow. She all but made the clerk swear by the United States Postal Service creed that her ballot would arrive in Arizona by Election Day.

This is a liberal region, and I presumed both of these ballots would be cast for Kamala Harris. With Arizona'a swing-state status, I fervently hoped the grandmother's ballot would arrive on time, and I brooded over the potential consequences of all the swing states . . . and by the time I got out of there I couldn't have told you my own zip code.

Yesterday evening I attended a "Pre-Election Spiritual Retreat" at my church. The ministers offered poetry, breathing exercises and words of wisdom designed to help us retain emotional equilibrium over the days ahead.

I tried to be receptive. But I know perfectly well that my best shot at staying sane during this obscenely tense period is to don a costume right now that allows someone 61 to pass for 12, rush out into the neighborhood and procure enough 3 Musketeers and Hershey Bars to last me till Thanksgiving.

This Week's Quote

Image by Yvette W from Pixabay

I think a lot of gay people who are not dealing with their homosexuality get into right-wing politics.

Armistead Maupin

Source:  The Book of Gay & Lesbian Quotations