Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

A Senator Walker would also be an insult to reason, rationality, and decency.

A Senator Walker would be an insult to the state and the nation.

After roe, women are no longer free.

I like you, you’re my kind of trouble.

Despite his magical powers, I don’t think Trump is thinking this through, to be honest.

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

Consistently wrong since 2002

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

Republicans do not pay their debts.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

I really should read my own blog.

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

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

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

I did not have this on my fuck 2022 bingo card.

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

They’re not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

T R E 4 5 O N

The republican caucus is already covering themselves with something, and it’s not glory.

You are here: Home / We’ll Go Dancing in the Dark, Walking Through Park

We’ll Go Dancing in the Dark, Walking Through Park

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I swear to Allah it hasn’t even been a year with Trump as President and it already feels like he served longer than Obama. I’m not kidding you, it feels like TRUMP has been President for-FUCKING-EVER.

Katha Pollitt had a widely shared column that I totally agree with:

Unlike my friend’s, my life has changed a lot in the year since Trump was elected. Not materially, except for the fact that my stepson and daughter-in-law moved to Canada partly because, as non-citizens, they worried for their futures here in the US. I mean psychologically. I sometimes feel like I’m a different person now. I’m fidgety and irritable and have trouble concentrating. For months after the election, I could hardly read, except for books about Roman history, which turns out to be full of Trumps: fantastically rich sociopaths obsessed with crushing their enemies.

My work seems trivial: Given what we are facing, what difference does one more Nation column make? I might as well be an ancient Egyptian scribe logging production figures for cat mummies. In the old days, the days before Trump, it bothered me that so many people loved things I thought were stupid. Now I just think, Go ahead, enjoy yourself. Maybe your Batman DVDs will comfort you when we’re wandering around in the ashen hellscape of whatever apocalypse Trump will bring down upon us.

I know I have some form of PTSD or somee shit. It’s affecting my blogging, for sure. I see stuff I want to write about and I get halfway through thinking about what I say and before I have even written a word I’m seething with rage and I just say fuck it. I see that fucking slimy merkin Paul Ryan giving his smirking response to something and I just want to rip through the tv screen and scream “WHAT THE HELL IS FUCKING WRONG WITH YOU YOU FUCKING TRAITOR” and shake him by upside down by the ankles until his colon comes out his big goofy ears that beady eyed shit.

Now they’re defending pedophilia. These people are insane.

I just want Obama and a sense of normal back. That’s it.

Come back, Shane.

Reader Interactions

153Comments

  1. 1.

    dmsilev

    Seeing that photo, sigh.

    Also, I was curious and looked it up. Trump is the first President since before the Civil War not to have any pets.

  2. 2.

    Jeffro

    There are worse earworms to have on a Saturday afternoon…thanks, Cole!

    It sure seems harder to focus these days. I’m finding that my irritability has come down somewhat over the past six months, though.

  5. 5.

    Davey C

    I don’t see how any human being can be as awful as Donald Trump is. It’s unreal. There is simply no way to be properly cynical enough about him and his GOP enablers.

  6. 6.

    Hungry Joe

    When I see pictures of the Obamas I get the oddest feeling — like, did I dream all that? Were they really there? Did we actually have it that good for that long?

  7. 7.

    Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.)

    I was also thinking last night, how hard do you think it would be to just buy off Alabama to never send anybody to Congress again? What if we just gave them $100,000,000,000 a year to stop sending anybody to Congress? It seems like that would be a good deal. Maybe we could get Mississippi, Louisiana and Arkansas to go along with it, too.

  8. 8.

    Suzanne

    Just seeing that photo makes me melancholy.
    They’re so beautiful.
    I hope that they are super-happy and loving their post-White House lives.

  11. 11.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Suzanne: My son was doing some research at one of the Harvard libraries last week. Said he saw Malia walking out as he was walking in; seemed like just another student.

  14. 14.

    Mustang Bobby

    I stopped listening to NPR’s news programs on November 9. For a long time I stopped watching TV news, preferring reruns on cable, Netflix, and grateful for a TiVo to record shows that I choose, not just what’s there. When I drive I have on WDNA, South Florida’s public radio station for serious jazz; their hourly newscasts are from the BBC and don’t lead off with news of Trump. I admit to some form of PTSD in my blogging; it’s more cynical and sardonic, and while I’ve tried to avoid feeding trolls on the internet and Facebook, it’s a temptation that is a sweet trap.

    I’m slowly recovering now that the Dems have made some progress and the Russia investigation is causing the GOP agita, but I still worry about the future of the nation, the world, and what we’re leaving for them. So seeing the picture of the Obamas is both painful and a balm; I miss them and the hope terribly, but I hope we can get that back.

  16. 16.

    Mary G

    I follow @ObamaPlusKids on Twitter, which is pictures of 44 with babies, in schoolrooms, reading to Girl Scouts. It makes me sing Big Yellow Taxi, “you don’t know what you’ve got til it’s gone,” but it reminds me of what’s possible.

  18. 18.

    Duane

    Come back home, President Obama. We’ll be good to you this time, we swear. We were wrong to treat you that way. We miss you, and we love you.

    Signed,
    A remorseful country that realizes what they had

  19. 19.

    Yarrow

    Trump is the result of the long, long decline of the Republican party into a tribal bubble of anti-science, Christianist religious beliefs, and fact-free policies. As I posted yesterday, Alabama Republicans went on the record saying they’re rather have Putin or they’d rather have Satan as their next Senator than vote for a Democrat.

    I think we had to hit this point to have any chance of changing things. It can go two ways. We can get past this with effort and changed behavior or we can crumble and die as a country.

  20. 20.

    Mike in NC

    The reason we’re all feeling Trump fatigue in 2017 is because the Fat Bastard has been all over the media since the 1970s (at least), and they care a lot more about their ratings and profits than the state of our democracy.

    To get a feeling for where Trump will take us, go see “Blade Runner 2049”.

  21. 21.

    Baud

    @Yarrow:

    I think we had to hit this point to have any chance of changing things. It can go two ways. We can get past this with effort and changed behavior or we can crumble and die as a country.

    Agree.

  22. 22.

    japa21

    @Hungry Joe: I know what you mean. There are times I just shake my head and ask how a country that elected Obama twice could turn around and elect Trump, even if he did lose the popular vote.

  26. 26.

    SenyorDave

    I see that fucking slimy merkin Paul Ryan giving his smirking response to something and I just want to rip through the tv screen and scream “WHAT THE HELL IS FUCKING WRONG WITH YOU YOU FUCKING TRAITOR” and shake him by upside down by the ankles until his colon comes out his big goofy ears that beady eyed shit.

    THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS

    Also, can someone get Jill Stein for an interview and ask her one effin question? Please, Jill, explain how there was no difference between voting for Hillary and that malignant, traitorous POS (or as my 88 y.o. mother put it a few weeks ago, el fucking moron). Educate us, Jill, and, for example, tell the tens of thousands Nicaraguans who have been living here legally in the US and now have until Jan, 2019 to get out how it didn’t make any difference!

  33. 33.

    eemom

    For weeks after that nightmare November 8 2016, I couldn’t see President Obama on the teevee without crying.

    Yes, it does seem like this hellscape has been our reality for many multiples of 8 years.

    But last Tuesday offered a glimmer of hope. If we can take back Congress next year…..

  34. 34.

    Yarrow

    @Baud: I think we’re going to need some sort of Truth and Reconciliation commission type thing to sort out how we allowed a foreign enemy state to have so much influence over our election and government. We will need ethical people to stand up and say that what happened is wrong and against what this country stands for. Country over party.

    I keep up with the NeverTrump Republicans because, just like white people are the ones who can effectively get through to white people about racism, Republicans are the ones who can get through to other Republicans about what has happened. They won’t listen to Democrats but they might listen to Republicans. I support their efforts even if I don’t support their political beliefs. Right now it’s all hands on deck to fight against what has happened.

  35. 35.

    Spinoza Is My Co-Pilot

    I’m with John Cole 100% here. And Katha Pollitt. Makes me a doom’n’gloom defeatist, I know.

    Got a beautiful and precious week-old granddaughter who slept peacefully in my arms for 3 hours yesterday evening, and I know it’s likely that the world she (and her 2-1/2 year old sister, who I adore) will live in as adults will be significantly worse than today. Not certain, just likely.

    I’ll still do what I can to fight against that while I can, primarily by continuing to volunteer in Democratic campaigns as I’ve done since ’68 (yes, calls and emails in the meantime, too). Not sure what else I can do that’ll have any effect beyond my very limited reach.

    I do believe we have to win — and win big — in 2018, 2020, 2022… or the ashen hellscape will arrive much sooner than many want to contemplate. Fascists have taken effective control of America at the national level (many state levels, too, of course). They stay in power for much longer and the damage will not just be great but essentially irreversible in many important aspects.

    That’s how I see it. You have a more sanguine view and see mine as too depressing and unhelpful and just plain wrong? Good for you, truly. I hope you’re right and I’m dead wrong.

  36. 36.

    Baud

    @Yarrow: I don’t follow the Never Trumpers. If they can do some good, great. But my hunch is that they will mostly take credit for our efforts. Happy to be proven wrong.

  37. 37.

    Yarrow

    @SenyorDave:

    Also, can someone get Jill Stein for an interview and ask her one effin question? Please, Jill, explain how there was no difference between voting for Hillary and that malignant, traitorous POS (or as my 88 y.o. mother put it a few weeks ago, el fucking moron). Educate us, Jill, and, for example, tell the tens of thousands Nicaraguans who have been living here legally in the US and now have until Jan, 2019 to get out how it didn’t make any difference!

    Jill Stein will never answer any of those questions. She was paid handsomely by Russia to mess with the 2016 election and she will continue to muddy the waters on any issue, which is what her owners want her to do. She’s a traitor. I think it’s best to ignore her and let Bob Mueller sort out what happens to her.

  38. 38.

    Betty Cracker

    A “Trump Year” is one trip around the sun that feels like eight. The office ages most presidents. Trump ages the citizens.

  42. 42.

    JPL

    @eemom: After the inauguration when the Obama’s were on vacation, my son stopped by and I started to scream that he needed to come back and save us. My son calmly told me he couldn’t be president again. I cried.

    Same son took me to home depot to buy 6x6x8 for a retaining wall. He wanted to try to fit more in my car than I thought safe, and I very loudly screamed no. His face was shocked and he said mom we can’t yell in stores. That’s when I turned off the news.

  43. 43.

    TS

    @JPL:

    Trey Gowdy targeting James Comey in new Clinton probe

    They just can’t govern – they can only oppose – everything they do is aimed at filling the base with hate.

  47. 47.

    Svensker

    I see that fucking slimy merkin Paul Ryan giving his smirking response to something and I just want to rip through the tv screen and scream “WHAT THE HELL IS FUCKING WRONG WITH YOU YOU FUCKING TRAITOR” and shake him by upside down by the ankles until his colon comes out his big goofy ears that beady eyed shit.

    No, honestly, how do you feel about him?

    I’ll be right there to shoot BBs at his colon when it comes out his goofy ears if you’ll do the shaking.

  51. 51.

    Corner Stone

    @Baud: All the Never Trumpers are still against all the things we are for, policy and decency wise. They just hate Trump for saying out loud all the things that got them paid for saying quietly for the last 30 years. When this in your face tranche of Trumpism is on the decline they will viciously attack any and every D candidate for every elected seat. There is money to be made in racism and bigotry.

  52. 52.

    Spinoza Is My Co-Pilot

    @Baud: Damn, I hope so, would bode well for 2018. Hadn’t thought control of the House would be in play, now it just might. That’s encouraging.

    Senate’s the superhuman climb — way more Democratic seats up than Republican, and in a lot of red states whose Republican electorate is still all-in on Trump and overall fascist control. Much-better-than-usual Democratic turnout, coupled with significant Independent swing to our candidates, will be required to not just make Senate inroads, but to even maintain our current Senate numbers. Could happen, hard slog, but worth the effort.

  55. 55.

    Corner Stone

    The other thing Never Trumpers do that I absolutely hate is when they hint darkly at ominous events that are *right around the corner*. No, really. They are *almost about to come to light*. But I can’t say anymore right now. When you see it though…

  56. 56.

    mike in dc

    To the last, I grapple with thee; From Hell’s heart, I stab at thee; For hate’s sake, I spit my last breath at thee.

    –me since the election last year

  57. 57.

    Humdog

    Hey, John,
    I think most of us would appreciate reading the couple of sentences you are able to bang out on a new rant, then a string of curse words, followed by a picture of one of your brood. We probably already know about the outrage but we’d get the catharsis of your curses and the calm of a pet pic. ; )

  58. 58.

    Another Scott

    @JPL: I got it a few days ago but haven’t opened the shrinkwrap.

    It’s a big, heavy thing. I’m looking forward to savoring it.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  59. 59.

    Starfish

    I feel like general productivity has fallen due to the stress caused by this administration. Other people have also complained about this. I usually read 20 to 25 books a year, and I think I am sitting on book 18 this year.

  60. 60.

    MattF

    @Yarrow: The NeverTrumpers are a mixed bag. They’ve (mostly) been excommunicated, but they’ve (mostly) not become Democrats. And there aren’t really that many of them.

  61. 61.

    Mike in Pasadena

    I am an old white guy, but the Obamas were the first time I felt good when I saw photos of the first family.

  62. 62.

    Percysowner

    @Yarrow:

    I think we had to hit this point to have any chance of changing things. It can go two ways. We can get past this with effort and changed behavior or we can crumble and die as a country.

    Please don’t ever say that in front of Susan Sarandon or Jill Stein? Even if true, I don’t want them to gloat about how they were right to work against Hillary, because if will finally bring about change.

  63. 63.

    Spinoza Is My Co-Pilot

    @JPL: Yeah, it’s been a while (maybe even back to the W years, the fake “war on Christmas” has been a thing for some time) but I remember reading the question on some lefty blog — perhaps this one — “when did Merry Christmas become the new Fuck You?”. Because the rightwing certainly shoved that in our faces with spittle-flecked rage, didn’t they?

  64. 64.

    Jeanne

    @JPL: I got Souza’s book this week. Also sent a copy to my sister, who was having an especially Trump-trauma kind of a week. My copy is tear stained and so is hers. I recommend it, though! If nothing else, it’s a reminder of a better country than the one we’ve got now.

  66. 66.

    Baud

    @Percysowner: They are among the people we have to get past with effort and changed behavior. They may gloat, but we’re not going to stop fighting because of that.

  67. 67.

    MattF

    @Starfish: I’m still reading a lot, but turned to SciFi/Fantasy. Read lots of SFF for about a year. Now, since last week, I’ve started a big history book and it’s interesting, but it’s also quite a slog.

  69. 69.

    MomSense

    Right there with you, Cole. I see Paul Ryan’s face and think it would look better at the end of a pike. He’s a total fraud. He hides his sociopathy with math that doesn’t add up.

    I’d like him to spend all his time with his family.

  71. 71.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Starfish: I am having trouble reading new books – out of fear that something horrible might happen in it. So, lots of re-reading since the election.

  73. 73.

    Betty Cracker

    BOOM!

  76. 76.

    AkaDad

    Just before Trump was selected Resident, my mom was diagnosed with Dementia. So for many months I had to stop watching and reading anything political, because I was getting too depressed.

    The good news is that we finally found medication that works so well that she is basically back to normal and now seeing women banding together and speaking out against sexual predators and also seeing people getting politically active and fighting back I’m cautiously optomistic and no longer depressed.

  77. 77.

    Mnemosyne

    I honestly don’t know how you Juicers who live in red states do it. If I didn’t live in a deep-blue area of a blue state, I would have lost my fucking mind by now

  79. 79.

    BBA

    What bothers me the most about it is how nothing matters. We could get the pee tape on national television tomorrow, Trump could hand over our entire nuclear arsenal to Putin and throw in a few aircraft carriers for kicks, and yes, he could shoot a man dead in the middle of 5th Ave, and Ryan will keep smirking, McConnell will keep droning about partisanship, and impeachment will get nowhere.

    Honest to god, I’m half expecting Congress to refuse to certify the 2020 election results when (let’s say) Keith Ellison wins in a landslide, on account of His Orangeness claims it was “rigged” and “fake news.” Which means it’s one-state-one-vote, thanks to the accursed founders’ most idiotic and pointless clause of the Constitution, and Trump is reappointed over the will of the people. Because nothing matters anymore.

  80. 80.

    Kathleen

    @Mike in Pasadena: “Bitchin”. Brings a smile and nice memories of college years in Portland (I came from Minnesota to Oregon and never heard the term before). I think it’s enjoyed a quasi-revival amongst the hipster types in the past couple of years.

  81. 81.

    Dr. Ronnie James, D.O.

    No joke: after 9 14-hour overnight shifts in the hospital, I was a bit delirious and just randomly started singing that song at the top of my lungs on my drive home, which led to an extended dive into the video oeuvre of Little River Band (Dad was a big yacht rocker back in the day): Reminiscing, Lady, Lonesome Loser…it makes you wonder how a band like that was ever successful. Things were different back then, that’s for sure.

  82. 82.

    Yarrow

    @Brachiator:

    Orange is the new … Orange?

    In this case orange is the new fuck you, you’re a traitor to your country. Architect that, Kremlin Barbie.

  84. 84.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Mnemosyne:

    I honestly don’t know how you Juicers who live in red states do it. If I didn’t live in a deep-blue area of a blue state, I would have lost my fucking mind by now

    It’s painful, and it’s been a long time since I voted for a candidate who won. But I tell myself that my vote for the D here is more important than another D vote in CA or MA and one day we will flip the state. I may be totally wrong, but I tell myself that to stay sane.

    ETA: it’s also hard knowing that most of my neighbors are giant fucking assholes, no matter how nice they are at social gatherings. The Jon Ossoff campaign helped a lot, though, in showing us decent people that we are not as alone as we thought.

  85. 85.

    Yarrow

    @MomSense:

    Right there with you, Cole. I see Paul Ryan’s face and think it would look better at the end of a pike. He’s a total fraud. He hides his sociopathy with math that doesn’t add up.

    I’d like him to spend all his time with his family.

    I’d like him to spend all his time in federal prison.

  88. 88.

    SFAW

    @Betty Cracker:

    All her comments will do will get the RWNJ shrieking monkeys after her, DOXing her, talking about her granite countertops, etc.

    And I have a question re: Roy Moore: WTF is it with the Stetson (if that’s what it is) that he keeps wearing? Does he think he’s a fucking cowboy or a JR Ewing wannabe? Either way, I don’t recall too many cowpokes doing cattle drives from Huntsville to Mobile, but what do I know?

    Yet another pretend-tough-guy with an (R) after his name.

  97. 97.

    NotMax

    @debbie

    It’s when he plays dress-up at home outfitted in only the hat and chaps while sweatily caressing the widdle gun that’s really troubling…

  105. 105.

    Amaranthine RBG

    @SFAW:

    Cowboy hats are, unfortunately, a thing in the South.

    Also a thing with nutjobs in general – see that sheriff in Milwaukeee.

  106. 106.

    Ohio Mom

    @JPL: I have always just smiled and say something along the lines of, “Oh, YOU have a Merry Christmas, I’m Jewish.” Because if has always irked me that someone makes such a huge assumption about me, and in the process, erases part of who I am.

    I’m never changing that.

    As for the topic of this post, I’ve definitely become more resentful this year — I feel I’ve done my part and these fuckers keep fucking things up. But part of me is also out-of-character cautiously optimistic.

    I am certain things will turn around, though I am not always convinced I will live to see that — and I most likely have several more decades ahead of me.

  107. 107.

    Mnemosyne

    @debbie:

    It’s sad to have to think of it this way, but I was glad my dad was already gone by 2016 (he passed at the beginning of 2013). I think he would have hated Trump, but he would have hated Hillary even more and he watched a LOT of Fox News. ?

    If you want company at the holidays, I hope you’re able to find it. I know that ef goldman and his family have long held holiday dinners for “orphans,” though I don’t know if they’ll manage it this year since he’s been ill.

  108. 108.

    BBA

    @Mnemosyne: I’d go with the traditional “חַג שָׂמֵחַ” but since most people don’t speak Hebrew, I instead say the closest English equivalent, which is… wait for it… “Happy Holidays.”

  109. 109.

    Starfish

    Are you guys seeing the jerks who are saying that the people criticizing politicians offering their “thoughts and prayers” are monsters attacking Christianity?

  111. 111.

    AkaDad

    @Mike in Pasadena:

    Thanks. The medication she is taking is Risperidone. It completely stopped her delusions and paranoia. It’s not FDA approved for dementia, but it works and that’s what matters.

    @Mnemosyne:

    I haven’t posted anything in a year so I’m rusty. I thought for sure it was obvious.

  113. 113.

    Jeanne

    @debbie: This! Nothing says tiny penis more than a big hanging belt with a … disappointingly small shooter. Add in the big boy hat and you’ve got some serious over-compensation.

  115. 115.

    SFAW

    I was reading Lindsay Beyerstein’s twitter feed (or whatever the right term is), and saw an interesting tweet from a “Ryan Grim”:

    “So this rising star lawyer, Roy Moore, in his 30s, suddenly bolts for Australia for a year.

    I bet we’ll find out why.”

    I guess there may even be a legitimate reason, but given who it is, and given that “people” of his ilk are basically evil bastards, I’m betting there isn’t.

  116. 116.

    Duane

    @Omnes Omnibus:If that image of Moore isn’t enough, NotMax can show you how many maggots, bugs, rats, etc. the FDA considers safe in your food. Should help with the cravings.

  117. 117.

    DaveInOz

    @JPL: and mine. Pete Souza has been Troller-in-Chief on Instagram too – it’s been a ray of light in these dark times.

  121. 121.

    Turgidson

    @Baud:

    And most of them desperately want to find any reason at all to hop back on the GOP train, and will jump at the chance to declare them fully healed from their illness the second The Granny Starver or Mitch McAsshole do anything within 6 area codes of courageous.

    And plenty of them still probably won’t vote or endorse Democratic even at this desperate hour. Because they’re always “even worse.” Always.

  122. 122.

    SFAW

    @Mnemosyne:

    I’m guessing it was something that required him to pay child support for the next 18 years after that.

    Or something to keep him from having to pay child support, ever. Although that doesn’t take a year.

  124. 124.

    Starfish

    @MattF: I started the year with books on North Korea, and I am reading a Science Fiction/Fantasy book now. I usually love this genre, but I am like “Who cares how this magical world works” now.

    @Omnes Omnibus: This is a good plan.

  125. 125.

    Starfish

    Does anyone remember the good old days before Republicans were defending hebephiles? They were concerned with whether or not the Obama girls were wearing dresses that were a little too short in this picture.

  129. 129.

    bobbo

    I got off Twitter and I feel much, much better. It has actually left me the mental space to start on some new creative projects. I rewound to about 2015 and get my news the old-fashioned way: Balloon-Juice, Eschaton, TPM, WaPo, LawyersGunsandMoney, NYMag, New Republic, NYT, LAT, and a new one – crooked.com.

  130. 130.

    Mnemosyne

    @Starfish:

    Does anyone remember the good old days before Republicans were defending hebephiles? They were concerned with whether or not the Obama girls were wearing dresses that were a little too short in this picture.

    Actually, it all ties in together. The same creeps who were claiming that little girls and young teenagers wearing short dresses made them “sexy” are the same people claiming that what Moore did was A-OK. Because they don’t think it’s wrong for adults to sexualize children and underage teens.

  131. 131.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @dmsilev:

    Trump is the first President since before the Civil War not to have any pets.

    Nonsense. He has a perfectly cromulent lizard in his amygdala and any number of flying monkeys coming out of his butt.

  132. 132.

    burnspbesq

    @Yarrow:

    they’d rather have Satan as their next Senator than vote for a Democrat.

    What folks seem to be forgetting is that Doug Jones isn’t just any Democrat. He’s a Democrat who sent white men to prison for killing back children. For an appalling number of Alabamans, that’s far more evil than molesting a 14-year-old girl.

  133. 133.

    geg6

    PTSD is about right. I’ve been in that state since the Access Hollywood tape and went even deeper into it Election night. As a rape survivor, I know I’m not alone in that. Still not completely back to normal. But the Women’s March, the March for Science and, especially, Tuesday have given me the ability to keep plugging away. Got a call from the DSCC today and talked a bit with the phone banker and threw a little cash their way. That helps me, too. I’ll be working the phones and walking the streets for Bob Casey next year. That will help a lot. Other than that, I stay home and just try to get through this unreality we’re all living. I don’t know what else to do.

  134. 134.

    Ruckus

    @MattF:
    In my worst shrived up days, I will never look as bad as drumpf. If I get even close you have permission to smother me and put me in a box.

  136. 136.

    SFAW

    @Corner Stone:

    Why would he go anywhere? Why not just send the girl away for the needed bit?

    Maybe she wasn’t old enough to travel without adult “supervision”? [Joking aside, you have a good point.]

  137. 137.

    Barry

    @Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.): “I was also thinking last night, how hard do you think it would be to just buy off Alabama to never send anybody to Congress again? What if we just gave them $100,000,000,000 a year to stop sending anybody to Congress? It seems like that would be a good deal. Maybe we could get Mississippi, Louisiana and Arkansas to go along with it, too.”

    +5 Swords of Flaming Righteousness sound much better.

    BTW, it’s noted (by Jonah Goldberg, at The National Review!) that the Alabama GOP officials, who know Moore the best, went immediately to ‘I don’t care if he did it…’, while the national GOP was still at the ‘if there is proof…’ stage.

    The Alabama GOP knows or believes that Moore is a pedophile.

  138. 138.

    Chet Murthy

    @Mnemosyne: Oh yeah, Mnem. I marvel at this every day. Every few hours. Every time I realize that BC lives in FL, Blogfather in WV, and on and on. Oh lordy, if I lived there ….. and my amazement is even moreso for people of color who live there.

    But then, as my sister once reminded me, women live in that war zone every day, in every place, notwithstanding how blue it is. B/c there are creeps everywhere, and (no “seems” about it) the distribution doesn’t seem to be any better in blue areas than red ones.

    So maybe I should be surprised instead that a cishet male like me can be so coddled, as to find it amazing. sigh.

  139. 139.

    J R in WV

    @debbie:

    I call my brother on his birthday, and he calls me on my birthday.

    Wife’s sisters went bugfuck crazy about us years ago – we saw the younger sister at an Aunt’s funeral, I didn’t speak to her, wife may have said hello, best wishes, walked away. Younger sister needs medication, older sister is just mean, drove her own kids away nearly.

    Now our family is the people we live next to here in the hollow. Some cousins I still talk to from time to time. One lives 2000 miles away, the other calls me once a year or so. I don’t love people because of their blood or genes. I love people because of how they act and believe.

    All that said, I do miss having a big family on the summer holidays, when there would be a big BBQ. I’m so not a christian, the way those cultish bastards support evil, in complete opposition to their bleeding holy book! So we have a mid-winter solstice gathering next door instead.

  140. 140.

    Mnemosyne

    @SFAW:

    Can’t send the girl away if her parents don’t want to do it. Plus, even if the girl does get sent away, you still skip town and stay away until well after she returns to make sure there’s no way to connect the two of you.

  141. 141.

    Mnemosyne

    @SFAW:

    Also, even parents who might have been okay with you dating their teenage daughter are going to be pretty pissed if you impregnate that same daughter and don’t marry her. It’s hard to force a shotgun wedding when the groom lights out for Australia.

  142. 142.

    Chet Murthy

    @Humdog: One of my closest (former) friends is a Trumper,. I used to tell him that I was Boswell to his Johnson. I loved him so much in that way that a guy looking for someone to emulate, can love another guy. And he’s a Trumper.

    It hurts to this day. I remember it … *every* *day*. And so, *every* *day* I think of sending him email to remind him what he did. B/c it hurts that much, that he did it. And I’ll never forgive him. But I was Boswell to his Johnson, so the pain will never go away, either.

    It’s not the same as finding out your father is a Trumpist. But … well, I sympathize completely. It hurts, b/c you cared for and trusted and believed in those people, and their absence leaves an empty place that you can’t fill.

  144. 144.

    Bonnie

    When I start getting as Cole described or as I call it Trump Annoyance Syndrome (TAS), I drag out my DVD of “Bridge of Spies” starring Tom Hanks and Mark Rylance. Tom Hanks’ character asks the spy on several occasions, “Aren’t you worried?” “Aren’t you concerned?”, the spy (Mark Rylance) replies quietly, “Would it help?” It reminds me that when I get sometimes downright hysterical about president*, that the hysteria will not and does not help. I calm down for a while until the TAS hits again; and, drag out the DVD and watch the movie again. I figure this will remain my coping mechanism until 2020 or before if by some extreme good luck for America Trump is removed from office. And, yes, I do miss no drama Obama and his lovely family.

  146. 146.

    catclub

    @Mustang Bobby:

    their hourly newscasts are from the BBC and don’t lead off with news of Trump.

    good for you. But all the US news stations do. This is how trump wins the attention wars.

  147. 147.

    kindness

    The atmosphere Trump brings to all of us is additional stress. Unneeded & unnecessary stress because everything about the administration is horribly wrong, upside down and with no purpose other than Trump’s stupid idea of macho. Christ that guy has to have the smallest dick ever.

  149. 149.

    No One You Know

    Adding this post to things I’m grateful for today.

    I feel dumber and crazier than a year ago, and I’m going through European history prior to 1600 to keep some distance.

    And painting. There’s another world. This one got unsafe very quickly…Or maybe it was always like this. And I unaware.

  152. 152.

    moonbat

    May be a comforting thought to some, but I am starting to think — especially after Tuesday’s results — that the daily, relentless irritation offered by Trump and all his works is going to work in favor of progressive causes. If he had just kept his mouth shut while he destroys the republic from the inside, he might have gotten away with a lot more, but he is such an attention whore that he has the opposition in a constant state of near-rage level agitation. We’ve got to work off that energy somewhere and the polls seem like a good place to do it. I predict a record D turnout in 2018 and the much prophesied “bloodbath” will happen no matter what the Rs do in the interim. Mainly because the idiot in chief cannot keep his small hands off the Twitter machine.

    Also I miss the Obamas so much it HURTS. I am grateful they don’t have to take the constant abuse which was a feature of his presidency, but I selfishly want him back so much — just so I can spend part of my day NOT worrying about what my government is planning to do to deliberately mess things up.

  153. 153.

    bluefish

    Living through the Trumpian nightmare has shattered my concept of time. Highly distracted. Wouldn’t be too surprised to start time travelling any day now. On the plus side, my house is better organized. One looks to exert control over what one can, I guess. It’s weird and disorienting to live with or under a Prez. who appears so intent on destroying our country. Does he hate the USA? I fear he really, truly does. In the meantime, with the house on fire, tax reform! Sheriff of Nottingham style. We love you We hate you We love you We hate you. I’m very glad I’m sober.

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