Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

When we show up, we win.

Mediocre white men think RFK Jr’s pathetic midlife crisis is inspirational. The bar is set so low for them, it’s subterranean.

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

Every reporter and pundit should have to declare if they ever vacationed with a billionaire.

People are weird.

I like political parties that aren’t owned by foreign adversaries.

These days, even the boring Republicans are nuts.

The words do not have to be perfect.

The fundamental promise of conservatism all over the world is a return to an idealized past that never existed.

Giving up is unforgivable.

Republicans choose power over democracy, every day.

Hey hey, RFK, how many kids did you kill today?

You are either for trump or for democracy. Pick one.

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

Republicans do not pay their debts.

“Loving your country does not mean lying about its history.”

A norm that restrains only one side really is not a norm – it is a trap.

DeSantis transforming Florida into 1930s Germany with gators and theme parks.

Their boy Ron is an empty plastic cup that will never know pudding.

All hail the time of the bunny!

They think we are photo bombing their nice little lives.

The “burn-it-down” people are good with that until they become part of the kindling.

You are here: Home / Politics / Domestic Politics / Thank you, Jackals

Thank you, Jackals

by | 169 Comments

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This has been a tough week. I’m not the first to compare the galloping sense of dread and horror I feel upon the elevation of a racist, sexist, xenophobic demagogue to the White House to the feeling many of us experienced after 9/11: On a visceral level, we know a terrible thing has happened.

Others have compared it to the sense of having lost a loved one, and that fits too. The loved one in this case is the country we thought we knew, which turns out to be a meaner, shittier place than some of us (namely, me) previously acknowledged.

People who are less white, wealthy or straight than I am knew it all along, of course. My kid is gay. On November 9th, I apologized to her for not preparing her more thoroughly to live in a dystopian shithole, because I didn’t see this coming, didn’t think America was capable of replacing Barack Obama with Donald Motherfucking Trump. Biggest downgrade of all time!

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She said, “That’s okay, Mom. I never had your faith anyway.” Well, what do you say to that? Fuckifino.

But through it all, there’s been one bright spot in the shitstorm, and that’s right here, this blog, Balloon Juice. We’ve vented our spleen, bucked each other up, traded ideas on how to cope.

I just wanted to thank you for that, and to let you know I appreciate you. Well, not all of you. There are a few people whom I’d relish seeing roasted on a spit in hell with Demonic Newt Gingrich in a red velvet banana-hanger poking at them with a molten-red hay fork — you know who you are!

But with that exception, thank you. From the bottom of my bruised and battered heart.

Reader Interactions

169Comments

  6. 6.

    Corner Stone

    I just discussed with my son’s mom that thanks to her family, and their fellow travelers across the country, our son was going to grow up through his formative years into adulthood under a Trump administration.
    It is so gross to consider. I already had a full time job countering all the disgusting bullshit and garbage her family tried to put in my son’s head, now I get to fight against the highest elected official in our nation, also too.

  7. 7.

    Calming Influence

    “But through it all, there’s been one bright spot in the shitstorm, and that’s right here, this blog, Balloon Juice. We’ve vented our spleen, bucked each other up, traded ideas on how to cope.”

    What she said. Not sure I’d want to be in the same room with all of you at the same time, But you’re a bright, funny, entertaining, inspiring and fired up group, and I love you all in a kind of spiritual and not at all creepy way. Now lets fix this shit, OK? (And lurkers, if you’ve got any ideas, get in the game so I can love you too.)

  9. 9.

    Percysowner

    @Baud:

    Seriously, BJ is still pretty much my only connection to the outside world. Thanks, guys.

    I’m not even looking at political blogs other than BJ of watching any news TV. I just can’t cope. I’ll get the big news here and try to regroup. Thanks to everyone for giving me a safe haven.

  10. 10.

    Iowa Old Lady

    I’ve been distressed this week as various Juicers say they have to leave for some unnamed period. I can always find interesting discussion here, but beyond that, I would miss some of those people personally. After a while, you get to know about people’s lives and their quirky takes on things. They feel like real friends.

    ETA: Maybe I should start saying Thanks, Trump.

  13. 13.

    Corner Stone

    @Mustang Bobby: She’s not coming through that door.
    That’s a silly notion to hold on to, frankly. I know we need to hold on to something right now, but that simply is not it.

  14. 14.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    Well, not all of you. There are a few people whom I’d relish seeing roasted on a spit in hell with Demonic Newt Gingrich in a red velvet banana-hanger poking at them with a molten-red hay fork — you know who you are!

    Come on Betty, Baud’s not that bad.

  15. 15.

    trollhattan

    @Baud:
    She is a diamond among scrapping hens. And boxers. And thanks, BC, for your passion and especially the laughs. I need laughs, lots and lots of laughs. Will be skipping out on California’s new commercialized marketplace, so humor and ale are my weapons going forward.

  17. 17.

    jk

    Nice to see how classy the Washington Post behaved on Election night.

    Washington Post staffers are expressing concern to top business-side executives at the company after guests at an election night party at the paper’s headquarters were encouraged to remove napkins from a female server’s body.

    “[The] napkin-wearing woman who was being disrobed by guests went beyond inappropriate to offensive to those those of us who resent seeing women continually being reduced to and offered as objects of men’s sexual desires,” read a Friday letter to Publisher Fred Ryan and Vice President for Communications & Events Kris Coratti.

    Post Articles Editor Elizabeth Chang sent the letter on behalf of around 150 male and female staffers. The Huffington Post obtained a copy from a Post source.

    The woman in question was wearing something underneath the napkin dress. But staffers were rankled by the concept, especially as misogyny and sexual harassment were major themes in the 2016 election.

  19. 19.

    Booger

    I had to put our thirteen year- old dog down the Friday before the election, and now it looks like i’ll need some surgery before the end of the year. F*ck 2016 and thanks to all of you for making it less worser.

  20. 20.

    Corner Stone

    There are a few people whom I’d relish seeing roasted on a spit in hell with Demonic Newt Gingrich in a red velvet banana-hanger poking at them with a molten-red hay fork — you know who you are!

    TBF, I feel pretty strongly that a handful of “those” are all the same person.

  21. 21.

    Mary G

    Demonic Newt Gingrich in a red velvet banana-hanger

    Trigger warning was needed, I don’t have enough brain bleach.

  23. 23.

    Exurban Mom

    I appreciate this place sooooo much. I rarely post, but I read every day. This election has thrown me. My amazing 15 year old daughter is observing racist and homophobic speech at her high school, followed by “Trump Train!” She is despondent. So am I. I’ve disengaged from tv/news. I’m listening to more music (Hamilton FTW!). And here is the only place I can be online right now. I trust this place. I can’t say that about much else right now. Thank you Betty and John and all the FPers.

  24. 24.

    Taylor

    OT but Max Ophuls’ The Sorry and the Pity is on TCM. Now. Presumably it will be available on Watch TCM.

    It is about the French resistance against the Nazis in WWII. It is really very good.

    Probably better known as the film that Alvie Singer was obsessed with watching over and over in Annie Hall.

    Interesting that some blame the collapse of France in 1940 on the military preferring Hitler to Leon Blum, then Blum being blamed for the military failures.

  29. 29.

    trollhattan

    The kids are/will be alright*. This had me cutting onions at the keyboard.

    *Provided we watch their backs for the time being.

  31. 31.

    Enhanced Voting Techinques

    You know Betty, when I was your daughter’s age they were hunting gays for sport in San Francisco. Things have changed a lot and it’s really hard to believe Trump can walk that back.

  32. 32.

    Calming Influence

    A suggestion: maybe for a short period, youse guys could up the number of politics-free cute critter, pet news, etc. open threads. (Ms. Influence and I have been bingeing on Animal Planet’s “Too Cute” on demand all week to try and keep our heads straight. Seems silly, but it’s helped a lot :)

  33. 33.

    NotMax

    Thread after thread after thread replete with hand wringing and lamentations. After a while all that gets one is sweaty palms and a sore throat.

    Do good today, do better tomorrow.

  35. 35.

    Zoey2020

    Casablanca remains one of my favorite movies. I never thought it would be relevant. But now that it is, let us form our gambling dens and our passport offices and our Which Watch moments. But quietly. If Bannon stays in power, this entire nation becomes Vichy Paris without a single fucking shot.

  36. 36.

    Roger Moore

    @jk:

    The woman in question was wearing something underneath the napkin dress. But staffers were rankled by the concept, especially as misogyny and sexual harassment were major themes in the 2016 election.

    I guess we can see which way upper management leaned.

  39. 39.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Betty, giving you the keys is one of the best things Cole has done on this blog

    am I too much of a gooey hearted liberal that I see in Tiffany a desperate desire to not be sad?

  40. 40.

    JMG

    I appreciate all of you to the max. Don’t know if it works for everybody, but I got some exercise today (walked 18 holes, and the way I play that’s a lot of cross country) and it definitely made me feel, if not better, much less worse.

  43. 43.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Enhanced Voting Techinques: Trump never seemed to have much interest in attacking gay rights, he had his weird line about a putter, and picked Pence, who is a throwback to the GOP of the Two Pats, but I gather he told CBS last night that he considers it a settled matter, and said something like “I’m fine with it”. I think he’s less interested in that than he was/is in abortion. Not that he’s not gonna pick an anti-Roe justice, but I don’t think he really cares (which I think puts him in line with every GOP Presidential candidate of my lifetime, except Dumbya and Reagan, neither of whom were ever so interested as to spend any political capital on it)

  44. 44.

    JPL

    Rumor has it that Giuliani will be the next Secretary of State and not Bolton. This is good news because..

    This is very bad.

  45. 45.

    tobie

    Betty Cracker, you’ve got a super sharp tongue and a delightful turn of phrase, and it’s always a pleasure to read and learn from your musings. Thanks to you and all the other front pagers for helping us make it through this week. It would have been unbearable without BJ.

  49. 49.

    frosty

    My thanks to all of you as well. I watched the election returns on BJ — never turned on the TV, never hit a news website. I’m flipping back and forth between hope and despair like everyone else here and it’s really helpful to see all these nyms I’ve known for a decade now in the same boat.

    Again, thanks to all of you and the FPers too.

  51. 51.

    Turgidson

    @Mustang Bobby:

    Senator Professor Warren is 67 years old now. 2020 is realistically her last chance to run and even that is probably pushing it, given how much grief HRC just got for trying to power through walking pneumonia for a couple days.

    Not to derail things with a “who should the 2020 Democratic nominee be (if the party is still allowed to exist and compete for the presidency)” forum – too soon – but I’d think the next nominee will sound more like the Warren wing than HRC did (though, she sounded more like that than she’s given credit for too). My shot in the dark at who that might be is Sherrod Brown, assuming he survives his 2018 reelection. White guy, some gravitas, popular with union folk in Ohio, etc. solid progressive populist cred but a bit less in-your-face than Bernie or Warren. Of course, he’s no spring chicken either, and has to want to run.

    Or maybe Kanye. I mean, if Trump can win…

  52. 52.

    ArchTeryx

    For what it’s worth, Betty, you’re one of the folks that has kept me on this blog for as many years as I’ve been here. “Galloping sense of dread” doesn’t begin to describe what I’m feeling for reasons by now I’ve spammed, but better die in good company then die alone.

  54. 54.

    Feebog

    I too want to thank the BJ community for maintaining my sanity this past week. Together we will get through this. Forty eight senators stand between us and the abyss. We need to have their backs, and we need to keep those up for reelection in 2018 in their jobs.

  55. 55.

    MomSense

    @Turgidson:

    The Rock said he’s going to run. I don’t know anything about him but seeing him intimidate il douche would be alright with me.

  56. 56.

    Mnemosyne

    @Taylor:

    Ahem. The director is Marcel Ophuls, who was Max Ophuls’s son. Max was a fiction filmmaker, and his son became a documentarian.

  59. 59.

    Kristine

    I enjoy reading you, Betty. Thanks for hanging around this place.

    I agree that we need an infusion of pet pics/news. Any and all Walter updates appreciated.

  60. 60.

    smintheus

    Kind of chilling to see a star posted in the window behind Trump. He’s getting an early start on his warmongering?

    Anyway, I never had much faith that Americans were better than to elect Trump. I attended a bullying hell-hole of a public school and saw a lot of people make themselves OK with some truly ugly stuff (including nearly all the employees of the school). I’ve always suspected that the veneer of civilization was quite thin in our country.

  61. 61.

    Mnemosyne

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    Pence is SUPER anti-gay though. Anyone hoping for a Trump resignation because Pence is less extreme will be in for a very bad surprise. Trump is an asshole, but he’s not an ideologue.

  62. 62.

    hovercraft

    @Baud:
    Me too, I just found out today that Maggie Hassan won in NH, I didn’t even know it hadn’t been decided till she told me. Them I checked and it pissed me off all over again, there were something like 14k people who voted for her but not for Clinton.

  63. 63.

    J R in WV

    @Booger:

    Sorry to hear about your illness, and the loss of your faithful companion. Taking someone you love the the clinic because they’re suffering is always hard. Then taking the body blow Tuesday night, oh man I know that was hard.

    Get yourself back in shape.

    Betty,

    Thanks for all you do here at B-J – funny chickens, lazy dogs, creeks through the FL swamps, all of that.

    I’m kind of lurking more, like everyone else I’m suffering from a serious OD of Trumpitus. Those folks didn’t even know they need to replace EVERYONE at the White House, the Executive Office buildings… The stupid, the crazy, it burns so bad.

    Lawyers, Guns and Money is also not bad. There’s an odd guy called efgoldman there, or something like that… funny, seems familiar. And some others.

    We’ll get through this. It went faster than 2000 did, which was a long drawn out ordeal, this was quicker, and more, I dunno, toxic maybe.

    You all take it easy!

  64. 64.

    Mnemosyne

    @JPL:

    At least Giuliani hasn’t pre-pissed off all of our allies like Bolton did in the W years. We’ll have to wait for Rudy to piss them off all on his own.

  67. 67.

    geg6

    You guys are my window to the world right now. And to the coming resistance. I couldn’t have gotten through this week without you guys. If we stick together, we’ll get through this. I’m not crying continuously any more, so that’s an improvement and it wouldn’t have happened without this place to hear and get reinforcement from fellow travelers and kindred souls, whether FPers or commenters. I thank you all and beg you to keep up the fight.

  68. 68.

    JJ

    Thanks for this post, BettyCracker and everyone else here. I still wake every morning, remember… and then the chest pain starts. My neurons and synapses though are starting to connect around the facts. I’m sober and this past week has been a sort of Mt. Everest for me.

  71. 71.

    Mnemosyne

    @MomSense:

    The Rock is the multi-racial son of immigrant parents (his mom is Samoan and his dad was Black Canadian). Plus he works for the same Giant Evil Corporation I do. Works for me!

  72. 72.

    Fair Economist

    @JPL:

    Rumor has it that Giuliani will be the next Secretary of State and not Bolton. This is good news because..

    This is very bad.

    No, this is very bad because it is good news.

  73. 73.

    the Conster, la Citoyenne

    This blog has always been my only refuge. Thanks to all the front pagers, and the commenters, who have provided me with the best arguments for or against, depending, which I share on other social media. This blog helps me to think better.

    My teacher daughter, here in deep blue Massachusetts, has taken a stand with her students. She’s on a tear with her mixed class of 8,9 and 10 year olds, who are going to learn that NONE OF THIS IS OK. She’s a force multiplier for good. She gives me hope, because she refuses to roll over.

  77. 77.

    Adria McDowell (formerly LurkerExtraordinaire)

    Okay, legit question: who do you think NYC/NYS hates more, Trump or Giuliani?

    And go!

  78. 78.

    terraformer

    I remember this as one of the sites I came to in my desperate search for others sharing my fear, anger, and amazement of what was going on back in ’03 or so, just before and after Iraq started. There had to be – just had to be – some people, hopefully a large group of some people, who were as bewildered and in disbelief as much as I. Here was one of those places with those people. And here we are again. Another catastrophe, of a different kind sure, but a catastrophe nonetheless. But this time it’s much closer, in reality and in action, much more than in the past. Mad at Iraq as I was then, at least – burn me now, please – it was far, far away. Not an immediate issue to my daily life.

    This is different, the real threat and fear associated with the sense that at least half of everyone you see in public is someone who was pretty much okay with the new WH occupant. That they think it’s okay fills me with no small level of fear for the day-to-day, making me think things I’d never thought before (as a PWP – privileged what person), that there are jamokes nutbags enough to maybe change my life personally, in new and interesting ways. This is one of those times we find out who we really are, and who around us is in one camp or the other. I hate it as much as the next person (in my 50% world, anyway), but this is one of those times we find out what we want this country to be.

  81. 81.

    mainmata

    I am grieving about the announcement of Gwen Ifill’s death from cancer. She was by far my favorite TV reporter/anchor. An honest and yet warm and also tough reporter. God this is just an awful year.

  83. 83.

    hovercraft

    @Iowa Old Lady:

    I’ve been distressed this week as various Juicers say they have to leave for some unnamed period.

    People need to process this in their own way, but I’m sure they will all come back eventually. This is just the first manifestation of the destructive power of the Shitgibbon. As his full wrath and destruction takes hold, we will need this safe haven more and more. This is a place where we can rant and rave, seek and provide comfort, and sometimes just fight it out. It will survive because too many of need it, we will not let it die off. It’s our virtual group therapy group, so we will keep coming back, even if some of us drop out for a while periodically.

  87. 87.

    WaterGirl

    I have no idea how I would be coping without all of you guys. Betty, I was about to say ‘we love you back’ but that made me think of Barack Obama and I started to cry again.

    I’m pretty sure that if we stick together we will make it through. I am certain that if we don’t, we won’t.

  89. 89.

    gogol's wife

    I could not have gotten through the last few days without this community. Thank you, Betty.

    Dark times are ahead and we will need each other.

  92. 92.

    gogol's wife

    @Baud:

    Every time I share some item of news with somebody, they say, “Where did you hear that?” expecting me to say CNN or something. It’s hard to have to say, “Corner Stone said it.”

  93. 93.

    Yoda Dog

    This is also, like Baud said, about my only connection to the outside world. I know my handle looks unfamiliar but I have been following this blog since ’09 and from the bottom of my heart, thank you Betty for being here for all of us.

  94. 94.

    WereBear

    I mean, it is beyond my powers to have crafted this plot scenario without some alien invasion or a brain virus.

    Because the level of stupidity and moral blindness I have run across trying to figure out Trump’s appeal has been mind-blowing.

  97. 97.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    This is a story that has been allowed to fade too far into the background

    Richard M. Nixon ‏@ dick_nixon 21m21 minutes ago
    He put the damn Emergency Management Office in the World Trade Center because it was around the corner from where he kept his girl friend!

    as a gesture of bipartisanship, I would like to thank President Nxon

  101. 101.

    mai naem mobile

    We got some Chinese food the Sunday before the election. My fortune cookie said “Everything has to end some day.’ I was wondering what it was about. I guess it meant a sane USA.

  105. 105.

    mainmata

    BTW, Bolton at least knows State because he’s worked there and later also as Ambassador to the UN. He was spectacularly bad in both roles, of course and is personally truly hideous and obnoxious (there are so many stories). Giuliani on the other hand has become a stupid ham and Mussolini wannabee. As SoS, he would be totally slammed by the State bureaucracy (as well as USAID) with which I work very closely all the time. He would be a joke but the Newt would have been an even bigger joke. The Trump Administration seems intent on making America seem like an international joke.

  106. 106.

    Mophene

    Well now, we’ re going to find out what ” Worse than Bush” is really like. Hint, it’s not Barack Obama, and it sure as hell, would not have been Hillary Clinton. America is crazy as hell, but I love it sorely.

  109. 109.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Peale: My first thought, turning again to Nixon

    Richard M. Nixon ‏@ dick_nixon 5h5 hours ago
    Because Gingrich can be blackmailed.

    but then again, how much less blackmail-able could Giuliani be? I’m sure there are some Christine Lagetanos out there we don’t know about

  110. 110.

    JPL

    @Peale: I assume someone caught him with another woman. That would be the only explanation. It was probably more satisfying than Christie’s bridge affair. just sayin

  116. 116.

    rk

    Today at my job a customer asked me a question which I did not know. So I honestly replied that I didn’t really know as opposed to giving some bullshit answer. She said “if it was Donald Trump you’d be fired”. It wasn’t mean (she was smiling), but all I could respond was “you know what I really wouldn’t care, at least I’d be away from him”. Wish I’d had a smarter retort.

  119. 119.

    gogol's wife

    @rk:

    Groan. I definitely would be fired, because I’d be using the f-word with that bitch. Sorry for the misogynistic language, I guess I’ve been affected by the person at the top too.

  120. 120.

    Tehanu

    Let me quote Kate McKinnon-as-Hillary from last Saturday night: “I’m not giving up and neither should you.” I have to quote her because if I quoted myself, it would just be doom and gloom and giving up hope… so I’m clinging to this and to this blog and the few others — Lawyers, Guns & Money; alicublog; Charlie Pierce at Esquire; slacktivist at Patheos — that inspire me not to give up. Hope that helps you, Betty — you certainly have helped me for many months now, and thank you and all the other regulars here.

    @rk:

    I think your retort was dead on. Just wish I had the guts to confront people like that.

  124. 124.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    the fuck? I thought New Balance was a good liberal company, going back to the days when BuyBlue was a thing

    The Boston GlobeVerified account
    ‏BostonGlobe
    An “alt-right” website for white supremacists is encouraging its followers to buy shoes from New Balance

    Like Cole, they’re about the only shoes that fit my wide feet.

  125. 125.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    I started reading this blog when I lived in Europe and the US seemed like it had become this cartoonish, foreign land. This place helped me make sense of it, gingerly, from a distance, like holding a rabid, diseased specimen at arms length with tongs.

    Yes, you were my tongs.

    Now I’m back in the US, and it’s far more cartoonish, chaotic, and insane here than I even thought. And so is the US!

    Anyway, thanks.

  127. 127.

    Omnes Omnibus

    My nephew is a 15 y/o high school freshman. A popular kid – good student, good athlete, all the fixing. Last week, he saw some white students giving a Latina classmate some shit about going back to Mexico. He walked up to the white kids (he looks like someone who could be on a Waffen SS recruiting poster) and said, “Go fuck yourselves.”

    The best part is that he admitted to me that he didn’t understand why everyone was so proud of him.

  128. 128.

    Mothra

    This has caused real trauma to the kids in our system, and it’s revealed some major parenting fails – for example kids chanting “white power” in a friend’s classroom.

  136. 136.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    @Corner Stone: Unfortunately the’re not immune, several friends and colleagues have been telling me that Marine Le Pen was certain to be in the second round and get 40% this time instead of her father’s 17.8% in 2002, which I witnessed up close and personal — and they were telling me that before Nov 8th. Now, the “she can win” articles have started.

  137. 137.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @gogol’s wife: I followed the link, which I should have done before posting

    The call for fans of The Daily Stormer to support New Balance came after a controversial remark made last week by Matt LeBretton, the shoemaker’s vice president of public affairs, in which he praised Trump.
    LeBretton told the Wall Street Journal that a Trump presidency was a move in the “right direction.” The company later clarified that the comment was in reference to Trump’s opposition of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a proposed international trade agreement shaped by President Barack Obama’s administration that would have benefited New Balance’s competitors.
    New Balance said the company had also supported Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton’s positions on trade that focused on US manufacturing jobs, prior to the election.
    Still, New Balance came under fire — quite literally — as patrons burned their shoes or threw them in the trash in protest of LeBretton’s statement.

  138. 138.

    maryQ

    I went to church on Sunday and it felt like a funeral. My pastor gave a beautiful, mournful sermon. She was doing her level best to hold herself together. Her voice cracked now and again. After the service, my friend, a 70 year old retired engineer, cried in her arms.

    This feels worse than 9/11, though maybe experiences aIfter then clouded my memory. I was an adult then, recently married but no kid, living in a new city far from New York, where I had lived for six years in the 90’s and whose streets I could still see and smell when I closed my eyes. It felt sad and bleak, but in the immediate aftermath, I felt unified with my fellow citizens. That didn’t last too long, before the Bush administration started turning on liberals and began the run-up to the Iraq war. So maybe it was worse than I remember.

    I’m hardly angry. I am very, very sad, a bit afraid. I am trying to go about my days as normal, except that I am very conscious of the need to be especially kind to people, patient with them. And I am trying extra hard to do my job exceptionally well. I work in a public university, very dependent on federal funding. I am very much aware that I may be unemployed in a year or two. But right now I have students who need to see me deeply engaged in my work, being open and sympathetic to them and their needs, finding small pleasure in the acts of kindness that we all seem to be extending toward each other. I am very aware that many of the white people on the custodial staff probably voted for Trump. I have decided that I will not express anger toward them.

    I am not wearing a safety pin, or issuing a statement, or telling anyone that things will be alright. I am simply keeping my door open, my head up, my heart full of compassion, my voice calm and steady. We are a society of laws. My institution has rules and policies that do not tolerate mistreatment. Now, more than ever, I will be sure that I know these policies, and I follow them. I will BE a safe space. I will be a light in the darkness.

    This summer I learned that my child has a cardiomyopathy. She is fine now, but someday she will likely go into heart failure and she will need a transplant. Or she won’t-I have no way of knowing. A few months ago, I was full of fear and sadness, envisioning a horrible future. Eventually, I got used to my new reality, and I decided that since she is very healthy now, I cant mourn for the imagined future. She needs a normal mother as she navigates a fairly normal adolescence. Someday she may need me to be exceptionally strong as she navigates a situation that is anything but normal. Or, she will continue to be fine. I don’t know, I cant predict. But I cant cry now. I cant fall apart. I have to be strong in case things get difficult. And I don’t want to miss all the love I can have right now.

    This feels like that.

    We cant see the future. The worst may happen. Or it may not. But we have to stay firmly rooted in the now, and be present for those in need. Anger keep us from being a safe haven. Sadness, if we let it in but don’t let it overwhelm us, opens our hearts and lets us imagine life from someone else’s vantage point.

    I do not know whether we will survive this. But I don’t think we will if anger and despair take over.

    Hope is not optimism. Hope is not wishing. Hope is not papering over the truth. Hope is looking looking honestly at the task before us, acknowledging the possibility of failure, and pushing through anyway. Because the alternative is unacceptable.

  141. 141.

    Travels with Charley

    Like others have said, balloon juice has been my lifeline this week. More, it has inspired me, in so many ways! Thank you all ?

  143. 143.

    Deborah

    @Taylor: Nah. General Gamelin couldn’t communicate effectively with the troops and then basically lost his nerve. The French thought the Maginot Line would protect them, but it had a hole in the Ardennes (thick forested region; thought the Germans couldn’t get through).. They weren’t prepared for blitzkrieg and a mobile war.

  145. 145.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Corner Stone:

    I just discussed with my son’s mom that thanks to her family, and their fellow travelers across the country, our son was going to grow up through his formative years into adulthood under a Trump administration.
    It is so gross to consider.

    Don’t let it be forgot
    That once there was a spot
    For one long shitty moment
    That was known as Trump-a-lot.

  146. 146.

    jenn

    FYI – there is something useful we all can be doing.

    Commenter Perfect Tommy shared that there is one more Senate seat up for election on December 10 in Louisiana. Let’s all help get the Senate one more Democrat!

  147. 147.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Booger:

    So sorry for all of that. Heartfelt condolences on your dog, and all best to you with your upcoming surgery. As you already know, this is an extraordinarily supportive place, and I hope you get whatever comfort and strength you require from this group of unruly, snarling jackals.

  149. 149.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @jenn: We have a commenter named Perfect Tommy? One of my favorite movie characters. “Perfect Tommy, give her your jacket.” “Why do I have giver her my jacket?” “Because you’re perfect.” “Good point.”

  152. 152.

    Suzanne

    I love you guys. Even the ones of you that annoy me, I kind of like. I have ended and will continue to need this place.

    Anyone heard from different church lady? I hope she’s okay.

  155. 155.

    S. holland

    @Exurban Mom: from a long time lurker I second everything you’ve said!! Betty, I love you and all the rest of the BJ posters.. all of you especially John for so many reasons….I can’t bear the news…yours is the only website I love…you give me hope, anger at what we see, and most of all right now a few laughs….I thank you all so much!

  159. 159.

    Matt McIrvin

    @rk: She was probably right about Donald Trump, but that’s his problem. If I ask somebody a question and they don’t know the answer, I want them to tell me they don’t know.

  160. 160.

    OGLiberal

    Lackawanna County, PA. Reliably blue, like really reliably blue. Casey/Biden country. Hillary’s dad is from there. Our vacation trailer (please, nothing exorbitant, cost less than our used SUV, which we have only because of two kids, a big dog, a cat and many trips to PA – plus, it’s the only vehicle we have) Obama won it with 63% of the vote in 2012. In 2016, Clinton won, with 50.2%. I’ve been there most of the time between these two elections. Things are not good there. It’s very sad with very little industry and not much professional work opportunities outside of being a doctor or lawyer or something like that. Was coal country but that was a very long time ago – this ain’t WV. Biggest work opportunities are retail, entertainment (casinos, ski resorts, water parks, other touristy stuff) and those big warehouses where trucks drop stuff off and other trucks pick it up and bring to local stores. I commute to my NYC job from there when I’m there and so do a lot of other people, even thought it’s two hours away. It’s a crazy mix of urban/heavy density suburban (Scranton and the rest of the Wyoming Valley) and rural. Very, very, very white. Did I say that it was white?

    But that difference between 2012 and 2016 is telling because the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton metro area is the third largest metro area in PA outside of Philly and Pittsburgh. We have mountains and ski slopes and lots of farms here but still quite populated. Wilkes-Barre is in Luzerne County, which Clinton lost this year, only getting 39% of the vote. Obama got 52%. So the gap in each was the same, although she still won Lackawanna. Luzerne quite white as well but 4-5% less white than Lackawanna.

    What went on here. Turns out that unlike elsewhere, in Lackawanna County, turnout increased in 2016….about 100K in 2016 v. about 96K in 2012. In 2012, Romney supporters were about 35K while in 2016 Trump supporters were 48K. In 2012 Obama supporters were 61K while in 2016 Clinton supporters were 52K. So did those white people in Lackawanna switch to the black dude from the white dude? Was the fact that Clinton was a woman more important than race. Or did more Dems stay home and more GOPers some out in 2016 v. 2012. Turnout was higher in 2016 so this isn’t about turnout….could be about overall turnout. I can’t find county level exit polls so hard to go further than this. But here were huge swings in the Pocono counties. Lackawanna County most urban and most white so easiest to discount rural influence or minorities staying home. What happened? She wins Lackawanna, Luzerne and Monroe anywhere near the numbers Obama did and she wins PA. She didn’t win Luzerne and while she won the other two she didn’t come close to Obama numbers.

  162. 162.

    Aleta

    I had a good day yesterday, among almost 200 grieving but determined people and friends, and then we ate and sang. One bad story about someone’s niece being screamed at and ridiculed by T supporters.

    And then a very bad day today, first stuck in a dentist chair while a hygienist, without reason or warning, railed on and on for 40 minutes about why people hate Clinton.

    I changed the subject, tried listening, then ignored her and read the paper, then answered a few things calmly, nothing worked. She was practically undone, would not stop. Feeling guilty or defensive? She said she had voted for H, but “they were both bad.” “Everyone in the military hates her.” And then it was on to the ACA. Finally I told her I didn’t believe insurance rates or taxes were going to go down under Trump either, because XYZ, and she ran out of the room.

    Then the dentist came in and told me I was clenching my jaw.

    Then I went downtown and walked past a policeman on a bridge trying to remove a dog from the stream bed below. Perhaps the dog drowned but It looked like the dog had been thrown off. So many stories of cruelty this week, and my mind fell apart. I’m trying hard but it’s not enough.

  165. 165.

    OGLiberal

    @maryQ: “I’m hardly angry. I am very, very sad, a bit afraid.” Feel the same way. In 2004 I felt very angry. In 2008, I cried when the results were announced. This year, just very sad. Afraid as well but I feel the sadness will decrease and fear will increase as the days go by. Both my kids have medical conditions that never, even go away. We’ve been lucky that my 9-year old, so far, has been non-symptomatic. But my son has been on very, very expensive Crohn’s treament for about three years now. My company’s plan covers most of the costs but if I lost my job it would cost a lot more. Without Obamacare I probably couldn’t get coverage for either. So if I couldn’t get another full time job, instead of doing the well pain consultant gig thing,lmart it would be better for me to stock shelves at Walmart and get the kids covered under Medicaid/S-CHIP…if it still exists.

    I had a biological child and adopted another and both have incurable but not fatal conditions that will cost hundreds and hundreds of thousands in medical cost just through their childhood/young adult hood. Who knows what their lifetime costs will be. This is through no fault of their own or ours – they came this way…it’s not environmental or anything avoidable beyond not having them.

    Trump says he likes the guaranteed issue and on parents plan until 26 and community ratings and no lifetime limit stuff. If you don’t have single payer, how do you keep this stuff with private insurers without the stuff your supporters hate – the mandate, the subsidies, etc?

    I’m going to become a single issue voter because too many selfish Americans don’t care about the plight of hard-working, responsible, folks like me who have never benefited from government help but like the security of know it’s there if I need it and don’t care if some brown folks are currently being helped by it.

  166. 166.

    OGLiberal

    @Mnemosyne: I brought up the fact that Ryan will get the incurious Trump to sign off on a bunch of his pet issues then turn on him when popularity drops and join with Dems to impeach to my wife and now she’s terrified of President Pence. She’s actually rooting for Trump not to get impeached….kind of like how in the shit show I actually preferred Trump over Cruz because if one of them one the whole thing – and one did – I’d prefer Trump to Cruz. Now, if Trump fills Nino’s empty SCOTUS seat with Cruz in a Jared/Uday/Qusay ploy to remove Cruz as a 2020 threat (I think the spawn think future – DT doesn’t think past the next few hours and not even sure he cares about or wants re-electoin) that will be a bad thing and I think Cruz will jump on it and will be Scalia-level effective and good. (not good as in good for the country but good at the job of being a wingnut juror – it’s his destiny)

  167. 167.

    OGLiberal

    @NotMax: I-84 very nearby but never on it. Drive over it often. Most interstates up here very pretty, especially this time of year. We just love it.

  168. 168.

    Gretchen

    Yeah, you folks are the only people who have kept me going this last week. I assume that a day will come somethime that I don’t wake up crying, but it hasn’t happened yet.

  169. 169.

    maryQ

    @OGLiberal: Thanks for sharing. I will think of you and your children. I do think that at some point, it will become clear to the not-very-bright people who run our government that taking health insurance away from people is very unpopular. So they will take “Obamacare” away from people, because Scary Black Man, and give them a tremendous plan, that will look an awful lot like Obamacare to anyone with two neurons that can fire at the same time, but most everyone else will lap it up. Which is fine. The goal was always to cover everyone, not to build a monument to oneself.

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