Thoughts

On more resistance

People have lives and jobs and families. Your underground resistance movement is fucking cringeworthy and a massive waste of time.

Why can’t you accept this as a victory for the anti-establishment? I realise you’re too far into it now to turn back but you really are looking at Trump’s win the wrong way.

 

If you think this is a victory for the anti-establishment, then you don’t understand how the system is built. Trump is a racist, misogynistic, hyper-privileged white male billionaire-by-birth — he is the living embodiment of the establishment.

We all have lives and jobs and families, many of which are now in peril because this grotesque monster conned his way into the highest office in the land. If you think it’s a waste of time to resist his rise to power, then by all means, return to your knitting and try not to cringe yourself to death, because the rest of us have our lives and families and jobs to protect.

(And for those of you who don’t have such shitty attitudes, stay tuned. I’m doing my best to organize something very real.)

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279 thoughts on “On more resistance

  1. Nonya says:

    fearmongering much? There will be more elections. Hillary wasn’t any better. She was a “racist, misogynistic, hyper-privileged white [fe]male billionaire-by-birth” ya know?

    • definitely not batman says:

      You two are ignorant on a scale so galactic they’ll need to dedicate a branch of astrophysics to try and understand it.

      • Nonya says:

        And you are too self-righteous to even realize how out of tune you are with whats happening in the world. Have you read anything other than mainstream media platforms? Looked at the news from the outside world? Have you seen what’s happening in Europe? Get out of your “safe space” and engage in a little reality. Coddled minds of American youth is a detriment to society.

      • GI says:

        It will take time, but let’s say a year from now – you will realise that you were bitching and moaning and crying over nothing.

        The Coq readership is made up mostly of nervous wrecks so I understand you’re susceptible to believing the worst case scenario, but I promise you that whatever you’re imagining with Trump as President, WON’T happen.

        • SuicidalVoter says:

          Put some skin in the game. What are the consequences of your being wrong. Are you proposing you just say, “my bad?” The EPA will be completely gutted from top to bottom…”my bad?” Will you buy us all bottled water?

          The supreme court will be owned by banks and evangelicals. “my bad?” Will you fly women to Canada for abortions?

          Police brutality will increase. “my bad?” Will you take a baton to your skull?

          What will you lose? You’re a fucking privileged white male asshole who gets to pretend that “things ain’t so bad.”

          • GI says:

            Shut the fuck up you emotional idiot. I’ll say “my bad” and that’s that, I don’t owe you anything.

          • SuicidalVoter says:

            It’s not that you “owe” me anything you garbage spewing nostradamus. It’s that your words mean nothing and you’ve got no credible currency to back them. You’re an empty loudmouth who wants to stick their head in the sand and pretend that everything is going to be okay. Maybe you do it because you’re too lazy to look into why people are this upset. Or maybe you’re just so ignorant and unintelligent that you can’t put it together. My bet is that you’re a closet racist homophobe who wants to pretend to be woke and superior.

            The real beauty is that you can pretend that “whatever you’re imagining” won’t happen because it wasn’t quantified. So please, feel free to wrap yourself in your comforting binky of race and privilege and tell us all it will be fine; just shut the fuck up around here.

          • Stephen says:

            @GI — And when Trump does something that affects people in a way even you can feel, will you only say “My bad”? Or will you stand up and lend a helping hand?

            Our “resistance” will be about lending that hand. It will be about doing everything we can to minimize the very real damage that will happen because of a Trump presidency and his victory’s endorsement of the worst hatred imaginable. It will be about making sure gay people are not forced back into the closet (or into “conversion” “therapy”), making sure trans people can live openly as themselves, making sure all minorities — religious, gender, sexual, racial — are as free from violence and retaliation as possible.

            Good is not something you are, it is something you do. So what are you going to do?

          • VeryIrritable says:

            One more thing, motherfucker. There is nothing wrong with being emotional. It’s especially useful with it aligns with perfect integrity and knowing right from wrong; and being motivated to do right. You’re a symptom of grotesque america. Shame is dead for you. It isn’t “political correctness” that is angering us, it’s common decency and empathy. So you need to grow some depth of character before you even try to open your mouth around here.

          • Jessica Sen says:

            Emotions are the body’s physical response to thoughts. They are an efficient indicator of our identity. The problem is not being emotional. The problem is in controlling your emotions to the point where you respond instead of react to any given situation.

            I’ll give an example. Cold anger is different from hot anger. Hot anger acts in haste. Cold anger takes two hot minutes and then you decide how exactly you want to express your anger. It may come out the same way, but you are in control and you are making a logical choice.

            How to practice non-reaction? Be still and not react to anything at all for a while. Notice that it does not cause attrition to your inherent self-worth. When you are ready, you will speak.

        • Emily says:

          In a year from now, as climate change steadily increases it’s grip on our fragile ecosystem, I will still be terrifyingly aware of the fact that morons in charge of one country are fucking the world and the future for human beings. You think we’ve got a problem with displaced people right now… well, it’s just the beginning.

    • Stephen says:

      Fearmongering implies the lack of a true, direct threat.

      Donald Trump is a threat. He has the Presidency; his running mate owns the VP seat; the Republicans now have control of the Senate, the House of Representatives, a majority of State Houses, and a majority of Governorships; and the Presidency/Senate combo means Trump gets to appoint Supreme Court justices without any real holdups or delays.

      Think about every major step of social progress we’ve made in the past sixty years — and imagine them all undone within the next four because of Trump and the GOP. Same-sex marriage, the rest of the Voting Rights Act, the Affordable Care Act (for better or worse), minimum wage raises, anti-discrimination protections…all of those and more are on the table here.

      This is not a fevered nightmare. This is not some shitty Hollywood script. This is reality, and you might want to acknowledge it. Then you might want to start asking yourself whether you accept what they plan to do to this country.

      And if you don’t accept it: You might want to start figuring out how you want to resist.

      • Nonya says:

        We have a democratic system with checks and balances for a reason. This is plain fearmongering. There is no current threat. America has not ended. I think we will live and learn to get along. Further dividing Americans is not what is needed. Immigration is a problem for a lot of the world right now. Its simple fact. Brexit happened for a reason. Angela Merkel herself has said how much the refugee crisis has been an issue they let go on for too long. Many countries may never come back from what has been done to their social systems from the strain and burden of the crisis that has been unloaded on them. There is a lot more to be worried about.

        • Stephen says:

          “We have a democratic system with checks and balances for a reason.” — Yes, and as of Inauguration Day, the GOP will hold control of two out of the three major branches of the federal government. (I imagine Trump’s first SCOTUS nomination, which would give conservatives control of the judiciary branch, will come within the first 100 days.)

          You might say, “But the GOP doesn’t like Trump!” Doesn’t matter. He’ll still end up passing a lot of laws that’ll be written and approved by the GOP. He’ll still name conservative justices to SCOTUS. And he’ll help roll back social progress like…well…you know that whole “LGBT civil rights” idea that the Religious Right hates? Pence is rabidly anti-gay (he once supported, and might still support, radical anti-gay “conversion” “therapy”). Trump has all but indicated he plans to sign the First Amendment Defense Act (in short: legalized anti-gay religious discrimination goes nationwide). And a conservative SCOTUS might very well jump at the chance to undo the Obergefell decision (say bye-bye to same-sex marriage).

          Democrats won’t have the political power to stop this. They can filibuster, sure, but the Republicans will do whatever they can now to kill the filibuster. “Checks and balances” mean nothing when one party holds the scales.

          So now we, the general public, must be that “check”. The responsibility of making sure the GOP knows how much damage it does (and will do) falls upon us. If you don’t want to handle that responsibility, that’s your decision. But I’ve made mine.

          I choose to be a resistance to everything the GOP and their new headmaster stands for.

        • E says:

          1.) most economists agree that immigration actually stimulates the economy. The influx of refugees into Germany has actually helped fill a gap being left as a result of the decline in birth rate. You are not from Europe or the UK so you’ve never been to a UK hospital – it’s mostly (very competent + hard working) immigrants/children of immigrants making up the staff.
          2.) the “strained social systems” you’re referring to (NHS, benefits system) had massive flaws in them which has caused them to bleed money/get congested. these issues were not caused by immigrants, but by government
          3.) a man who has said he doesn’t believe in the nuclear triad and is super pally with putin (look at trump’s approval ratings in russia) has just been given nuclear codes. his vice president (who we know from the leaked kasich emails is probably going to be “the most powerful vice president in history” ) thinks you can electrocute gay people until they’re straight and that it’s okay to force a woman who has an abortion to hold a funeral for the fetus. neither of these people believe in global warming. if you don’t think there’s a reason to be scared then you’re incredibly foolish.

        • SuicidalVoter says:

          For decades the banks and corporatacracy have been chipping away at those checks and balances. The flood gates have opened. The exact thing that middle america didn’t want is going to happen in full on bloody nightmare scale. Every single liberty you have will now be bought and sold as big business makes the insider deals of which they would accuse Hillary.

          • VeryIrritable says:

            Okay, some of that was hyperbolic AF…but I was still trashed and drugged up. The best we can hope for now is such an incredible level of incompetency that nothing gets done.

            The white supremacists have already taken it as a sign that they can misbehave, and that shit has to stop.

        • SuicidalVoter says:

          Knock knock moron…they own the house and senate and soon the supreme court…what fucking check or balance is left?

        • VeryIrritable says:

          Exactly what check and balance stops eruptions of racism with violent ends?
          http://www.usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/2016-11-10/after-donald-trumps-election-racist-outbursts-in-us

          trump being elected wasn’t just a mechanical malfunction that can be corrected. It was a symbolic victory for white supremacy and declaration that unacceptable beliefs aren’t just “okay” or “disagreement”, they are celebrated.

          To think that this is only about some office to be held is missing the point completely. This doesn’t just turn back the clock for human rights, it throws it on the ground, breaks it, and then some drunken fratboy takes a shit on it.

          checks and balances…fuck off

        • wrkrb says:

          The problem is Nonya that you and your ilk do not say anthing to address OUR very legitimate concerns and resultingly it creates the impression that you a) don’t consider them concerns or b) that you’re actually hostile to what we seek to protect. From my observation your reassurance is so heavily flavored insults that it reflects you’re not here to engage respectfully.

    • G says:

      I disagree heavily with the racist and misogynistic points but you know you’re just flat-out wrong regarding Hillary being a “billionaire-by-birth,” right?

    • K says:

      It must be nice to be the right shade of beige; the right sex; and the right sexuality in order for you to feel safe and cozy with this outcome. I’m glad you don’t have to feel any discomfort or concern for your safety, or feel as if there are any threats to your rights — some of which have been just recently gained for minority and marginalized groups. For others, however, we feel threatened when a clown gets in our faces and says, clearly, they’re going to strip our rights at the first opportunity.

      Go you; good on you for winning that lottery of luck that you don’t have to feel this way.

        • Andi says:

          If you really think that people being unhappy at the amount of rights that you get without having to work for them means that you’re being vilified, then you haven’t been paying attention. We don’t want to take away any of your rights, we just want to be able to marry who we want, live as we please and not be bothered by a bunch of right-wing religious freaks. The fact that we have to justify any of this to you is kind of depressing. But yes, you’re right, the white, christian male is under attack! You poor things.

          • GI says:

            Why do you think you have to justify any of that to me? That goes to show you tar every white male with the same brush. A white guy can’t say anything these days without being told he’s mansplaining or to check his privilege

          • Andi says:

            Dunno why it isn’t letting me respond to you after yours, but here goes

            The only people who others tell to check their privilege are the ones who go around spouting off ridiculous, hatemongering bullshit and then try to say that they’re the ones who are getting the short end of the stick. I certainly don’t paint every white male with the same brush, because most of my white male friends have a fucking clue and aren’t appalling dickheads like yourself.

        • Stephen says:

          I am a white male, and I’m sick and tired of it.

          …oh, I don’t mean the villifying. That’s legit and deserved and goddamn if we don’t need more of it now that white people (men and women alike) helped push Trump into the White House.

          I’m talking about the feeling that white people, as an American demographic, don’t deserve villifying. That we can’t criticize white people without calls of “reverse racism” or “being unfair to Middle America”.

          FUCK MIDDLE AMERICA. They put in charge of this country a political party steeped in pulling America back to the 1950s when the gays and the blacks “knew their place”. They elected an openly bigoted con man with a history of fraud and discrimination to lead the country for the next four years. And for what? Big promises about jobs and the economy he might not be able to keep? The privilege of being able to openly march in the streets with KKK hoods on and feel proud of it?

          I’m all for empathy and trying to understand other people and all that hippie bullshit, but there comes a time when there can be no bridging of a divide. So the white people who would rather see this country die than become anything other than a White Straight Christian Male “safe space” can go get fucked.

          I’ll be over here figuring out what I can do to help those who want to save this country from becoming a flaming crater.

          • Andi says:

            Thanks for this, it’s brilliant! Though I’m betting our friend GI will just call you a whiny pussy baby or something similarly eloquent.

          • VeryIrritable says:

            “Fuck middle america!”

            Man, as much as I would love to get behind this, it’s not right. What we need is “Placate middle america!” or even better “Sedate middle america!”

            The problem here is that the news knows that it can win advertising dollars by poking this animal in its cage. So middle america will never be calm, or cool even though it’s shown it can be collected; and harvested.

            None of these places will turn blue until they are states dominated by large cities with significant education.

            But yeah, in the mean time, fuck the KKK. Fuck old white dudes that watch Fox [sorry dad.]

        • Rainbowpony says:

          Too fucking bad people pointing out that you benefit unfairly in this system makes you feel bad about yourself. You are wrong, not the people pointing it out. STOP punishing others for your sad sack feelings. That is exactly what this election is about : privileged white men whining “I feel bad about myself, and it’s all your fault,” when it’s nobodies fault but their own.

        • K says:

          There we go; that’s the bitterness and gently quivering fragility of your ego that chose such a clownish candidate. You needed a loudmouthed bully to help you feel like you’re taking back your spots as crown prince, in a special place seated above women and people of color. That’s so predictable. If you were interested in equality, I’d be sorry that your pussy hurts so badly about it; but if you actually believed that women and people of color deserved your same rights and privileges, your pussy wouldn’t ache so much. I hope the Donald grabs it for you.

          In a small, minuscule way, I can find some delight that Trump won, if only because that means you’re genuinely fearful that your place in society is slipping. That’s good. You should be.

  2. Jacob says:

    Again, Canada stands by. I’ll quit the comments now but we’re seriously ready for another secret railroad at this point.

    Love you guys. Stay strong.

      • Jacob says:

        Fucking good! Seriously!

        I’m starting to think this will be Confederacy again (sorry if I’m fucking your history up) except this time the north is Canada & the rest of America’s fearful.

        Whether it happens on or off your soil, I’m gonna reiterate we’re very willing to accept emigrants of any background from America–at least on a civil level, to the tune of 100’s of people on my Facebook alone saying so. I’m watching some of my family contact government and request Safe Status which is a Canadian bylaw permitting you to house small families and other asylum seekers with government assistance.

        We don’t make money of that btw, so it’s not like we can profit from doing so even if we try.

        There are thousands of articles in every province right now encouraging new, old, and native U.S. citizens to either come North for now or to escape any dangerous situations which may arise as a result of Trump & his following.

        Canada sucks, too. We’re not maple fudge angels. But right now we’re not lead by Trump, so as a country which (awfully) prides itself on being ‘open’–now is our chance to prove it!

        Even if you don’t speak English, half of Canada doesn’t. Come here if where you live is dangerous.

        • J Lynn says:

          I love the cold, actually, so Canada wouldn’t be too bad for me. I love my country, but I also love Toronto and would love to see Montreal. Also Alice Munro, Margaret Atwood and all you smarty Do-Rights.

          But I think you have to have a lot of $ in the bank to invest, or some specialized skill not found among citizens, or come on a student visa? Or marry one?

          Am I wrong on that? Is it really actually easy?

          • Gaybeard says:

            It’s really easy if you’re American. After the Harper Conservatives we’re working with a hybrid admissions process that’s partially what you listed, as well as some other methods of immigration including family reunification and private sponsorship which pre-exist the last government.

            The main criterion for immigration above everything else is your chance at successful integration. As a highly educated working-age English speaker from a culturally similar country your application is almost guaranteed to be approved and might even be expedited. Your easiest route here would be applying for a work visa, extending it, and applying for permanent residence in the meantime.

            If you wanted to organize a move more quickly you’d have to be privately sponsored by someone who’s willing to take on the burden of supporting you financially for up to five years if getting a job goes tits up. That way the state doesn’t foot the bill and discourages you from just sponsoring people willy nilly.

            Since the Liberals came to power they’ve uncapped the already high rate of immigration (~270,00/year) and last year was an all time record immigration high of 320,000, about 1% of the total population. Citizenship eligibility only takes four years and more than 80% of immigrants to Canada end up earning citizenship.

            If you’re actually serious about this let me know and we can get in touch.

          • Radio says:

            Eh, it can be pretty difficult even if you’re highly educated. My friend went to grad school in Canada, and then he had to come back after he got his degree, and he’s been trying to move there permanently ever since. He hasn’t been successful.

  3. GI says:

    Coq, why is Trump a threat to your life, job and family? Let me hear it. If your only response is ‘nuclear weapons’, then that’s absurd and all you’re doing is fearmongering

    • The Coquette says:

      Life: Trump wants to end Obamacare. Due to a preexisting health condition, I cannot get health insurance if Obamacare is repealed. If I lose my health insurance, I will literally die.

      Job: Get ready for massive worldwide recession triggered by the economic uncertainty of having a bankrupt-happy ass-clown slapping his clumsy dick upside US trade policy. This ain’t just my job at risk. It’s everybody’s.

      Family: Although I am a US citizen, not everyone in my family is. Trump’s xenophobic immigration policy is a direct threat to the stability of my family system and could ruin the lives of people that I love.

      And not for nothing, but it’s not fearmongering to be concerned about the fact that a narcissistic man-child will have command and control of the world’s most devastating weapons, nuclear or otherwise.

      There. You heard it. Now go shove it up your ass.

        • geegee says:

          Been researching EU immigration for the past 24 hours nonstop. Unfortunately, most EU countries don’t want our preexisting health issues either. Having one is a quick way to get disqualified during the visa process (unless you can demonstrate you have a metric fuckton of cash and amazing STEM skills to balance out your cost).

          For anyone without large amounts of cash, immigration without relatives is quite difficult to put it lightly. The poor (who will get most fucked) and even just the middle class aren’t likely to get out.

      • Gaybeard says:

        I know you’re a patriot so I won’t insult you by suggesting you move but if you intend to make helping people move part of your resistance thing, then get in touch with me and we can start working on putting up an infrastructure for getting people who need access to healthcare, marriage equality, and protection from homophobia to Canada.

      • GI says:

        All worst case scenario paranoia that will never happen. You’ll see. I thought you were smarter than to believe anything a politician says while they’re campaigning.

        • Stephen says:

          “All worst case scenario paranoia that will never happen.” — ’tis better to hope for the best but plan for the worst. And given just how much control Trump, his cabinet, and the GOP will have over state and federal governments…well, there are a hell of a lot of people doing a hell of a lot of planning for a reason.

      • Radio says:

        Supposedly Trump is talking about compromising on healthcare since the election. He’s at least said that he want’s to keep the part where insurance companies can’t discriminate against pre-existing conditions. Who knows what’ll actually happen, but it’s a moment of comfort.

    • Nonya says:

      Thank you. I am starting to feel like I’m living in some weird alternate reality, where once the republicans were the fear mongering conspiracy theorists, and now were hearing it from the left. How the tables turn… America is a democracy. And the democracy voted. Are you speaking of upending our democratic system? Isn’t that what everyone was worried about Trump doing? I am sensing a lot of hypocrisy. It doesn’t it make it any better when you do it? WE WILL HAVE MORE ELECTIONS. Chill the fuck out.

      • KittyNinja says:

        “I am having an emotional response.”
        “YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED THAT EMOTIONAL RESPONSE IT DOESN’T MAKE SENSE YOU STUPID CHILD HA!”
        “…well, ok.”

        Like, I get you want people to chill out, but how about you chill with the stupid babies talk and let people process it on their schedule. You’re engaging to make yourself feel right about your opinion, but you could take some of your advice and let the babies scream.

        But wait, how can you be right if you don’t let people know? 😮

      • Johnnie says:

        When a fascist is elected through a democracy, we should be questioning that democracy.

        (The electoral college is not a fucking democracy.)

        How sure are you that the closeted high schooler living in Iowa will make it to the next election? How about the pregnant rape victim who could have a toddler on her hands by that time? What about the innocent mexican family who works jobs nobody else is going to fucking work? Or the muslim family who will be extradited for their beliefs? Should they chill the fuck out?

        • Stephen says:

          Technically, America is a democratic republic. But yeah, fuck the Electoral College (which has some really racist roots if you go looking into its history, surprise surprise). Whoever gets the majority of the national vote should be the winner.

    • WhoAmI says:

      There already are numerical estimations of the number of people who will get expelled / die / be mistreated if (!) and when Trump rises to power. These estimations really don’t look bright for anybody belonging to any kind of minority (which is : actually the most part of the US population).
      I mean sure, if you don’t know anybody gay or black or never befriend women then you’ll be just fine.

      • Nonya says:

        There have been minorties living peaceful with Americans for a long time now. I have not seen any change in American minds. There are a lot of good people here who only want the best for their country. That doesn’t include hate and bigotry.

        • Rainbowpony says:

          Minorities living peacefully with americans.

          I guess minorities aren’t American to you, right?

          White america living peacefully with minority americans? Tell that to every person of color that has been harassed by the police.
          Trump just gave those white Americans the license to lean into their power a racism.

        • Stephen says:

          “There have been minorties living peaceful with Americans for a long time now.” — You…you might want to take a minute to figure out exactly what’s wrong with this sentence.

        • Grouch says:

          “There are a lot of good people here who only want the best for their country. ”

          *”Almost half of us voted for Hillary”

          There, fixed that for you.

      • Nonya says:

        Estimations? Where in the world do you get this information? There are estimations and facts you can swing to compliment either side of an argument.

        Moral of the story, it happened, its over, hold it together, and move on. Until the next election! Maybe America will have a female president they can really be proud of. Gender politics is apparently the new trending american politic. The oppression olympics are strong here.

        • Stephen says:

          “The oppression olympics are strong here.”

          Mike Pence supported, and may still support, anti-gay “conversion” “therapy”. Donald Trump has made his positions on various minority groups known during his campaign. A conservative-leaning Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act. Republican-controlled state legislators enabled voting restrictions meant to disenfranchise minorities and the poor (and that’s on top of GOP-favorable gerrymandering). The GOP platform all but feels like “straight white male supremacy now” propaganda in its intent and language.

          The Republicans will hold control over the federal government come Inauguration Day. Their goal will be to please its voting base — which is largely straight white males — so they’ll turn out for the midterms in two years and help keep the political status quo of January 2017 intact until Inauguration Day 2021. If that means gutting civil rights protections for every minority in the country — every protection based on race, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, and religion — the GOP will do that because the political power to ruin lives matters more than the lives they stand to ruin with their power.

        • WhoAmI says:

          My point is : we already know lots of people are gonna suffer because of this. In your very own country. Because Trump was elected and Hillary wasn’t.
          Because Trump was elected, more people will lose their job. More people will lose their physical and mental health. More people will be expelled from the country. More people will be beaten up. More people will be put in jail. More people will die. Starting from now (yes, it’s already happening) and for the next four years.

          It is a fact. A known fact.
          If you want to close your eyes and pretend like none of this is real, this is not the place to do so.

    • fuck you says:

      You are too fucking stupid to breathe. Both CQ and others in this thread have already answered you. Now go choke on your ignorance. Seriously, fucking die.

      • Nonya says:

        ok, again, you have not made a valid point, but you humble and inclusive people have managed to hurl insults. Interesting?

        • bees! says:

          There are plenty of valid points being made, you just haven’t cared to read/absorb them. One of those valid points is that a close reading of your own statement “There have been minorities living peaceful with Americans for a long time now” tells us a whole lot about you, chiefly that you don’t consider minorities to be Americans, which is pretty fucking insulting if you ask me.

        • fuck you says:

          Let me explain something to you. The only person who hurled an insult at you was me. It’s a testament to your lack of critical thinking skills that even though one singular person wrote the comment, you felt it necessary to group me in with “you people”.

          Who is “you people”? Because I have no desire to be inclusive. You are a vapid, useless shit monster gorging yourself on ignorance and demagougery. I’ve had to read your turd commentary throughout this entire thread, and all your silly ass has done is condescend to and invalidate people far more intelligent than you who are mourning something very real and very terrible.

          You can choke. You can die. You are fucking useless.

    • Alex says:

      My mother survived breast cancer, but still requires regular screenings.
      My dad had a heart attack 2 years ago and is still on medication.
      My brother is taking anti-depressants and sees a therapist.

      All of this is covered by their health insurance, purchased through the marketplace.

      Repealing Obamacare is a direct threat to my family and millions of others.

    • ansuz says:
    • Jen says:

      I dunno, I’m pretty frightened for people’s safety when I see swastika graffiti that popped up various places last night. That’s not normal here. This isn’t a fucking game.

      • wrkrb says:

        where are you? the Trump office in my neighborhood closed shop overnight. This morning the only reminders that it used to be housed in that space were the purple ‘No’s painted on its face.

    • WhoAmI says:

      I’m gay. I’m queer. I have mental health issues. I’m a student.
      I have black family.
      My grandmother is mixed, my stepbrother and sister too and none of them are white-passing.
      I have a genetical disease.
      My mother have heart issues.
      My grandmother is fighting an incurable infection.
      My mother is lower class, and so am I.
      My cousin is unemployed and went back to studying at the age of 33.
      Etc.

      For all of those reasons, I’m glad we don’t live in the US.
      Because clearly all of these under a Trump presidency will be VERY bad for your life.

  4. Regina says:

    Thank you for starting this. I can’t think of anything much more American than organizing people to fight for their beliefs. I will help anyway I can.

  5. H says:

    I will do everything I can, Coke; I’m trying to figure out what major life shift I can make to avoid being silent in the face of a Trump presidency. I really thought she would win. I’m so sad that our country couldn’t elect a woman president, even when she was so enormously qualified, strong, and so much on our side.

  6. klara says:

    Will someone please explain to me why the poor working-class white Americans think that Trump will fight for them? Do Americans really even know what social democracy is? How many elections will it take for Americans to realize that the trickle-down theory doesn’t work for the 95% of the population? Where and how is Trump going to bring back the jobs for the uneducated Americans? The days of attaining the “middle-class” life with manufacturing jobs are gone because those manufacturing jobs don’t exist any more due to the technological advances. Ugh!
    I have never ever been so glad to be Canadian until today.

    • J Lynn says:

      It’s mostly white supremacy, with a side dish of misogyny. Racism prevents social democracy in America because roughly half of whites are afraid that non-whites will get “free stuff.”

      There is NO policy appeal for Trump. Maybe fantasy psuedo-policy, but that’s being generous. Trump voters are actually hostile to policy as they consider it too snooty and intellectual.

      Also, remember that right-wing talk radio and Fox News have been blasting this population with sheer propaganda and lies for 25 years now. Hating Hillary Clinton — even more than hating Bill or Barack Obama or any other Democrat — has always been a favorite & cherished subgenre of that semi-fictional opus.

    • Mel says:

      Middle America has been teased, insulted and picked on by the media and Liberals for too long, you can’t marginalise a portion of the population and expect them to sit quietly and take it. Trump was selling them what they thought they needed which is an “alternative” – Hillary was never radical enough to win against him and imo as soon as you lost Bernie you lost the Presidency (I’m British). This is part of a wider issue at hand, which is that if the only viable candidate offered by the system for the presidency is a fear candidate or someone who (to many people) represents no one but themselves, then said system is long dead. I would have voted Hillary, for the record, and I think it’s a shame that her concession speech was the most emotive one I’ve ever seen her make. Perhaps if she’d spoken like that more often earlier on in the campaign, she might have won.

        • Mel says:

          Yes also true, but if you couple that coddling with fear mongering media (who cover POCs in an almost completely negative light, for example) and the “stupid white republican/rural American” trope which is literally everywhere, then something is going to happen. All I’m saying is that it’s all too easy to dismiss people as racists and idiots. That kind of rhetoric is partially what got us here.

          • Stephen says:

            “it’s all too easy to dismiss people as racists and idiots” — When they say and do racist shit, they’re racists. A person is not their circumstances; a person is how they react to their circumstances.

          • bees! says:

            I don’t disagree with you, Mel, but Bernie wouldn’t have done any better. He may be a white man, but he’s also a Socialist Jew and the fear-mongering media hates and fears both of those words almost as much as they hate women.

          • J Lynn says:

            also Bernie’s from Vermont. Unless you’re a Kennedy, New England Democrats absolutely do not fare well in so-called Middle America.

      • J Lynn says:

        Sorry, I can tell you don’t fully understand race in America. It’s OK, a lot of Americans don’t either, and I don’t claim to be an expert. But you for sure can’t get it unless you come and live here in 2-3 American regions for 10-15 years.

        I don’t mean to be dismissive with that statement, but race in America is a 400-year-old problem for which neither Marx, Weber, Toryism, Labor nor Brexit maps accurately. And for you lefties, not that Gramsci dude either. It is sui generis.

        On the upside, so to speak, it’s a fascinating subject with much to learn, the study of which can help you grow as a person, but it CANNOT be approached casually with the expectation of making a useful contribution, let alone an insightful one.

        Trust me, “Middle America” is NOT the disadvantaged party here. They are not as marginalized as you describe. I currently live in one of those debauched coastal cities, but I grew up in the gen-u-wine heartland of America, on a fucking farm no less, and have been back for 18 months recently. I didn’t cross a state line til I was 13, didn’t meet someone of a different race til I was 16. Later I lived in one of the most iconic post-industrial Rust Belt cities for 8 years, which had large populations of Blacks, “white ethnics,” Jews, and old WASP families. And now a super-diverse Cali metro. Please respect these biographical bona fides as a small measure of first-hand knowledge on the subject of regionalism, race & class in America.

        Yes, of course there is city-country snobbery, same as anywhere on earth. But “teased, insulted, picked on” is NOT the primary factor. (Besides what about all the groups TRUMP insulted and picked on? — another subject.) I suspect White nationalism will be by far the biggest contributor to his victory, with several secondary factors, too. This is relatively new in mainstream politics, because no mainstream candidate has dared to openly speak that language in recent times. You could say it’s created a group consciousness that didn’t fully exist per se until recently.

        IMO the racism of the North & Midwest is little different from the infamous KKK-style racism of the Deep South. Less systematically murderous, but not “better.” Without Trump to stir people up, you could *almost* round it down to provincialism or parochialism. It’s insularity, complacency and fearful change-resistance … but when stirred up, it can self-actualize into racism quite easily, because a lot of these rural folk have few counter-balancing experiences with people who are different. It’s too easy to fill their heads with stereotypes, especially when Fox News & talk radio have been a constant propaganda source for 25 years. Remember: I grew up there.

        (It must be added that the bigotry-prone portion of the population in most Midwest states is only about 1/2. There are lots of liberals there too, but they are more than evenly matched.)

        What I’m trying to say is 1) yes Trump’s victory reflects racism, a lot of it, 2) but not everyone who supported Trump is a “hard core” racist, a Deplorable, 3) but they decided, quite consciously and not accidentally that they were going to be “OK with racism.” Sexism, too, in ways we are just beginning to understand.

        Anyway, however you parse the nuances, BEING a racist and “being OK with racism” yields the same damn RESULT. And they are not driven to it by the teasing of TV people; it’s a choice.

        Finally, re Hillary’s speaking skills. True, she’s no match for Obama or Bill Clinton — or Michelle, we now see. But they are rarely gifted. And she did get a lot better and more natural as the campaign went on. I watched a lot of campaign speeches on C-span.org this season, and Hillary is 10x better than your typical pol, e.g., better than Biden, Al Gore, even better than E Warren & Bernie. It is subjective, of course, but she is by no means inept or unemotive. Meanwhile, Trump couldn’t even finish a single complete sentence without veering off into rambly nonsense. (I know you are not a Trump fan, just offering the comparison.)

        • Mel says:

          Thank you for taking the time to give a comprehensive response, you’re right I don’t fully understand race in America, I’m just trying to get my head around this madness. I guess from here on we fight the good fight on both sides of the ocean.

        • EMH says:

          Just to further add to this discussion – while I have not lived as extensively across the US as J Lynn, I have grown up and spent most of my life in a red Southern state, but also spent extended periods with family in the Bay Area and in the Northeast. I would echo her sentiment that race in America is incredibly complex, and in some areas also profoundly tied up with ethnicity. People typically think of the South as the most segregated area of the country, but my experience has been the opposite (n=1, but take it for what it’s worth). I grew up with, lived in the same neighborhood as, and went to school with and had as friends black, white, hispanic, and Indian kids (although I certainly didn’t think of them as “my black/hispanic/x” friends, they were just my friends. we were all just weirdos from poor /lower middle class families who wore all black.). In Cali I felt like I went entire weeks without seeing a single black person, but there was heavy integration of white and Asian people. Hispanics seemed very segregated. In the northeast there was a ton of diversity on public streets, but different racial and ethnic communities seemed to be sharply divided into distinct, separate areas. All that being said, of course, my home state house didn’t stop flying the Confederate flag until a few years ago, and we still are facing massive racial disparities. Racism is systemic in America, but it can also play out very differently within different regions.

          **note: I am white and Hispanic.

          Like many, I have spent so much time today thinking about why Trump won. I distinctly remember having the conversation 3 weeks ago with a friend about how I did not think that all Trump supporters were blatant racists/sexists/bigots, but rather people who have lost out as technology and outsourcing drained away so many manufacturing and factory based jobs, as income inequality has exponentially increased, as entrepreneurship has declined, and as the recession hit, especially with the loss of construction work. People who have subscribed to the idea of meritocracy wholeheartedly, only now according to that model they have no merit, and their children may be worse off than they are. Now, of course, these are all white people, and especially white men. And please make no mistake – I do not think that they should get ANY free passes for brushing off or outright accepting some very ugly, intolerable things. Loss of economic prosperity is not an excuse for racism, sexism, or xenophobia or any of the other crap Trump represents. And a big part of me definitely feels like, hey, wow, you found out just a portion of how literally everyone who isn’t a straight white male feels, and you decided you didn’t like it, so you decided to fuck America, because nobody gets equality or progress unless y’all are feeling generous?

          I guess what I am struggling with is two impulses which feel incongruent. My strong impulse is resistance, fighting hard, die-hard liberal socialism in the face of this bullshit. But I have another impulse that asking me to pause, and try to understand, and to not write off the people in my local rural communities, some whom I have known for most of my life, who would give you the shirt off their back and always stop to help the person broke down on the side of the road, and who I know have suffered economically for a myriad of reasons. And the fact is that some of those reasons are things that affect me in big ways too. Income inequality sucks for everyone who isn’t in the 1%, whether you’re in Akron, Ohio or Oakland, CA. Corporate monopolies and the increasingly high barrier to starting a business are bad for everyone who isn’t the CEO of MegacorpX. Personally, I also think it sucks that vocational training has gone by the wayside – we absolutely need skilled tradespeople, and we need to start training them not just for the traditional things like auto mechanics and electricians, but also for the tradespeople we desperately need to improve our rotting infrastructure. Everyone should have equal opportunity and access to go to college, but it should not be the only option people have (aside from joining the military).

          These are things that would benefit everyone, and especially those in the lower and middle classes. And I feel so frustrated knowing that and seeing where we are. Basically, I just want it to be OK for me to feel 1) Fuck racism, sexism, xenophobia, misogyny, and all the evil shit that is embodied in the flaming garbage can Trump but also 2) That I can forgive the people I know and love that voted for Trump and want to find a way forward that still includes them, because it sucks to be poor and have few options, even if you’re white.

          Also, 3) that I need the next four years of my life not to be expressed as a series of polarized political memes on facebook where both sides just bash each other and nobody listens to each other and it is miserable and at the end of the day, nobody wins except the same people that have been winning for a long ass time (i.e. the Trump family and the cohort he represents in terms of inherited and concentrated financial wealth).

          and finally, 4) that in order to do #2, I am not compromising my fundamental belief in equality, that I am not forgiving that which is unforgivable, and that I am not airbrushing how ugly and disgusting it is. Trump talking freely about sexual assaulting women is burned into my memory. Him talking about banning Muslims is burned into my memory. Trump mocking a disabled reporter. Trump calling Mexicans rapists and murders. Every horrible, horrific moment is one I have relived today, and have wept over because this man is the leader of our country, and I just want so badly for that not to be true, for that not to be something 50 mil+ people were okay with.

          I still don’t have the answer to how I reconcile all these feelings/thoughts. And I don’t know how to start the conversation with Trump voters, or if that is something I should even want, or if I even actually do want it. I am terrified that trying to compromise and understand and ‘reach across the aisle’ is something we can’t afford with our national (and many state) governments being uniformly red, filled with people I wouldn’t hire to run a fucking bake sale let alone the country. But I am also terrified of what happens if we don’t start dealing with this us/them mentality and instead allow ourselves to become even more polarized and divided.

          I’m hoping wiser and more experienced voices like CQ will be there to help us figure this shit out. Cause most of all I feel fucking lost.

          (PS – No matter how Hillary has ever presented herself, some asshole somewhere had a problem with it. The one thing I never want to hear again is how Hillary could have “presented herself” differently. Short of actually inventing a time machine, going back in time to her birth, and turning herself into a man, there is nothing she could have done with her physical presentation or verbal/nonverbal communication that would have changed this outcome a single bit.)

          • Mel says:

            I completely echo your feelings of confusion about how to move forward. Still finding it hard to talk to people and to know what to say when a lot of the time you’re met with ignorance and dismissed as being a “soft liberal” or similar. The main thing in the UK that’s difficult is the immigration crisis, which still isn’t being regarded as a humanitarian issue by many, and that is really upsetting.

          • Momo says:

            This is also how I feel, THANK YOU for sharing it and putting it so eloquently. I didn’t realize how lucky I was to be economically secure until yesterday, but I still feel so betrayed.

          • VeryIrritable says:

            I think the big thing people are missing here is that most of those voters were not actually paying attention. They didn’t see him commit most of these acts of aggression. And even if they did, they were seeing it live, in person, while that frothing at the mouth insanity of white supremacy turned into a grotesque frat party. They didn’t care about the “locker room talk” because that’s not dangerous to them. “So what, he grabbed some pussy…i would too.” Hell, he’s their fantasy and it doesn’t matter that they’ll never touch his fantasy world, they’re dumb enough to think he’ll willy wonka the rest of the world into being that way.

            But back to the terrible shit that comes out of his mouth.
            As with most of this weaponized insincerity, a lot of those people wouldn’t make the same statement in a flesh and blood situation. They really just want the weekend to come faster and not to worry about their job.

            White middle america wanted their grind to last to the end. They wanted a game where the rules never changed. They thought they bought the american dream but they didn’t read the fine print that said, “available for short period of time, offer not valid where technology advances.” They were supposed to have a job and have it last forever, retire and enjoy their grandkids. I actually feel sorry for them. Because they fell asleep at the punch press, they missed when it was taken away. A lot of them aren’t smart enough to retrain. None of them are prepared for it. They became truckers. And now trucking is about to disappear. The irony is they voted away from the woman who had a plan to deal with that specific problem. trump doesn’t give a shit.

        • VeryIrritable says:

          I grew up in the mid-west. Your education about race and culture begins with alienation of big cities. There was a palpable undercurrent of opinion that big cities were smog filled horror houses. When I say palpable, i mean it.

          Once such discussion in my youth went like this:
          someone: “I was thinking I’d like to move to new york city and see what that’s like.”
          someone else: “NO WAY! Not for me, not California either!”
          me: “I know. We’d be better off if we could saw both sides off and let em float away.”
          someone: “California; what ain’t fruits and nuts is flakes!”

          Yes, that’s how ignorant, insular, and uninformed I once was. But the narrative is powerful and it’s in our books, movies, songs and television. Those stereotypes wouldn’t be there if there wasn’t a grain of truth to them. I still have one friend on facebook from the old days that keeps cursing everyone who moved away. They say that the shitty city in which I grew up is beautiful and quiet. It’s not. I see it for the wasteland that it is. It’s two steps away from being the next flint water crises, which by the way still hasn’t been fixed.

          Fortunately for me I had cousins in big cities and cousins living in the god fearing trash ravines of appalachia. When I made a choice as to which type of dweller I wanted to be, they served as models.

          My whole point here is that this tectonic divide has been growing and it’s been fueled by the worst reasoning and misinformation that you could ever imagine. There’s no reality check for them because they never leave their framework. There’s no educational treadmill for them to work off the pounds of ignorance gained by feasting on deep fried cool whip Fox news. The media released bees to scare them out into the street where they could embrace each others racism and feel safer while hugging in black face. Suddenly the dream of going to the polls to prove big cities were wrong was embodied by something they recognize, a fucking giant racist, xenophobic, sexist, cheeto.

          He’s every dream they could ever want. All the pussy you can grab, say anything, and you don’t have to actually know anything to be right about everything. A vote for him was a vote to protect their insane world view. Hell, not only did it protect it, it hallucinated it into reality.

          The sad drama behind all of this is that they are still no more connected to reality than they ever were. They’re not connected to real people. And they aren’t even connected to their mythical cheeto.

          What’s worse that at some point physics is going to vote. And physics doesn’t care what part of the election cycle you’re in.

          • VeryIrritable says:

            YES! That guy totally gets it. We grew up in shockingly similar demographics with some minor variances.

            There were slightly more than four black people at my high school. We used to tease one of them because he “sounded more white than we did.” He didn’t mind and he said he was actually less comfortable at family gatherings than with us. How fucked up is that?

            One was a cheerleader. Another was a math whiz. I never really thought about it except that the cheerleader introduced us all to Kraftwerk and I lost my ever loving mind over that shit…so good.

            We knew one guy was so probably gay in highschool but what would we say about it? For some reason we didn’t look down on it in my group. It was just like, “huh, how do you know if someone is gay? how do you know if YOURE gay? oh well.”

            I knew that some of the more religious kids were really fucked up about sex. One invited me to his secret clubhouse in the woods where he kept a pathetic stash of porn. But what creeped me out was his laugh when he would say the word “titties.” To this day anyone who says “titties” has a 50% chance of sending a chill down my spine because it reminds me of ignorance.

            Then there was the camp counselor who was involved in a child molestation case…you know…like most mid-west summer camps.

  7. Joe says:

    Sad that you would think that a life, a job, and a family are mutually exclusive from fulfilling your civic and human duty to work for a better system in which your life, job, and family must exist.

    • GI says:

      Trump had the media and the political system working against him, and he STILL WON. The people voted for him despite being told not to from every angle. That’s why he’s anti-establishment.

        • GI says:

          The establishment WERE anti-Trump since his campaign began… he beat them. The media was anti-Trump… he beat them. You drama queens were anti-Trump… he beat you too. All that’s left is to show you fools that he’s not the villain you think he is. You’ll see.

          • J Lynn says:

            Thank you for finally being honest about your allegiance to Trump. As I suspected all along.

            OK, since you are here, here’s how you can be useful: Please let us know what the little Frog-Keks are up to in alt-right-land.

            They voted for him in secret, we know that now. Help us, by telling us about your God Emperor so that we can see how great he is, in your opinion.

            What do you like about him?
            How does he make you feel?
            How do you stand to benefit?
            What will you do if he can’t deliver on his promises?

          • Stephen says:

            Trump can keep his nose clean for the next four years and that still won’t matter. Trump isn’t the primary problem here.

            The primary problem is the people Trump is putting into the federal government as a result of his victory. Disgraced and humiliated Republicans such as Rudy Giuliani, Ben Carson, and possibly even Chris Christie will have roles in his cabinet. Both chambers of Congress now have Republican majorities (at least until 2018; show up to the fucking midterms!). The Supreme Court will have a conservative justice soon enough, and the court will lean right for at least a generation, possibly even the rest of most American adults’ lifetimes.

            Combined with control of a majority of State Houses and Governorships, the damage a Trump administration/Republican-controlled federal government can do within the first hundred days of Trump’s presidency alone should be a frightening thought to anyone. But people who think they won’t be affected by the laws and policies Trump and his cronies will pass don’t seem to care about the opinions of marginalized communities and people. They don’t seem to care about how blatant bigotry — racism, sexism, xenophobia, homophobia, transphobia — has now been normalized and given a much larger platform. And in case you need an example: The leaders of the anti-gay National Organization for Marriage, once on the verge of being made irrelevant because of the Obergefell decision and widescale acceptance of civil rights for gay people, are now salivating over how Trump’s victory gives them a newfound chance to “undo” Obergefell and have marriage rights taken away from same-sex couples.

            People beyond your sphere of influence and your “bubble” of friends and family will be affected by Trump and the GOP. If you don’t give a shit about the people who will be harmed by Republican policies — boy it sure was nice to have an FDA and an EPA while we did — at least have the testicular fortitude to say as much. We’d all respect your honesty, even if we don’t respect you.

          • VeryIrritable says:

            The idea that the media was “anti-trump” is fucking laughable. The media adored him and showered him with free hours of coverage. He underscored the corruption of the media because they all turned to the free money of scaring people into watching his circus ass on tv.

            If you think trump isn’t a villain, you really haven’t been paying attention. How much poor behavior, lack of intelligent discourse, failure, and law suits does it take to wake you up?

            He is a racist, xenophobic, misogynistic, criminal and con-man. My guess is that you don’t understand those words or you wouldn’t be behind him.

      • Veronykah says:

        How were the media or the political system against him?
        He was all over the news every chance they got. I had to start turning off NPR because they talked about him so much, and this was before the primaries.
        The political system might have pretended to be against him but they all fell in line. He was nominated by the republican party, that isn’t “against” him.

    • Veronykah says:

      Thank you, a “billionaire” who rides around on a fucking gold plated plane who has quite literally NEVER been even close to middle class in his life. But somehow people think he is going to get down and fix their problems?
      He wouldn’t even understand what their problems are, let alone give a fuck about fixing them. Clearly they’ve never been around anyone really, truly wealthy. It’s another fucking world and they know NOTHING of ours.

  8. LO says:

    I can’t believe this happened. I mourn for the progress made over the last half-century. I am despondent, but under that there is a simmering anger and I am out for blood.

    Sign me up.

    • wrkrb says:

      Go to Standing Rock! They are planning to hold out there for the winter and actually need the support. Don’t just stand outside of a building with a sign listening to tired chants and getting depressed while you spin your wheels. Pick an action with a goal and commit.

    • wrkrb says:

      Stand with threatened groups instead of organizing a protest to declare that you’re not happy about who won the election, complaining about losing is pathetic.

      • Stephen says:

        This. Bitch on the Internet if you want some emotional catharsis; stand arm-in-arm with the marginalized to protect their rights and lives if you want to do something worth a shit.

      • rainbowpony says:

        Gah.

        Do you realize that you alienated me instead of building a bridge? I’m on your side! Look: feel free to suggest other things people can do and suggest that there is more we can do. But don’t: shit on what people do do when you are fighting on the same team. Social change is not an olympics were you win a gold prize, we are all going to win or lose together. You are not more woke, you are just a righteous millenial. You pushed me away, because it was an opportunity for you to feel like you are better than me. You did it better, you are in touch with the most disenfranchised people, you went to a real protest, not just a bunch of whiners. Maybe instead, you should just realize that we are on the same team.

        This is why people vote third party, this is why people get hung up on Bernie versus Hillary, this is why liberals can not form a cohesive team. We are all too busy competing with each other to be more aggressively “woke” (whatever the fuck, I hate that term, but I guess it sums it up).

        Protesting is not complaining. It’s a message, and a showing of how strong that message is.

        Threatened groups exist everywhere and come in many forms. Hell, even cis-gendered, white, educated men are threatened, because they too need a stable secure world to live in, one that addresses climate change, and has a stable economy.

        • wrkrb says:

          Rainbow Pony I dig a lot of what you have to say and didn’t mean to offend you. I don’t agree with actions without goals though. I also don’t think chanting, “not my president” or “fuck trump” is going to achieve a goal. If anything it escalates an already tense situation within a divided citizenry. Some actions are done just for the benefit of participants without regard for plans to create actual change. I’m not trying to offend you but I want to support vulnerable people in this time and complaining about someone who got a clean win isn’t going to build bridges with the portions of the country who pose the greatest threats.

    • J Lynn says:

      The protests are serving a few roles, even though there is no clear objective right now (maybe one could be pressuring Electoral College to follow nationwide pop vote?).

      1 – Showing the world and vulnerable people w/in the US that there IS resistance. It’s a “demonstration” in the literal sense. Sometimes protests-as-spectacles are dumb. Sometimes, they serve an important function. I mean, supposedly there were 100,000 people in the streets of Manhattan last night.

      2 – Emotional catharsis and communion. This is the biggest emotional blow to the collective American psyche since 9/11. It may sound squishy, but it is important.

      3 – As far as I know, there’s no official organizing objective, it’s all too unexpected and spontaneous. But guarantee there are some people there with clipboards, and every little bit of organization helps.

      I’m only frustrated insofar as I know some of the protesters who could vote, didn’t vote (this is probably a minority share, but still). But that doesn’t invalidate their social and political role.

      • wrkrb says:

        It doesn’t do anything to alleviate the national tension either. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. How long do we have to play this fucking game?

        • J Lynn says:

          For a long time longer, I’m afraid. This is America. Founded on slavery in the South & religious fanaticism in the North & aggressive resource extraction in the middle & genocide in the West. We fought a Civil War, and they clawed back postwar Reconstruction reforms with Jim Crow. 100 years after the Civil War, the Civil Rights movement fought Jim Crow and partially won, thanks in part to the sympathy of a genuine asshole who nevertheless did the right thing, LBJ. A majority of whites haven’t voted for the Democratic candidate since LBJ passed the CRA & VRA in 64 & 65.

          And I say all that in the spirit of patriotism and genuine love for my country, because more than any other it was also founded on sincere ideals of rationality and (by 18thC standards) pluralism.

          (ps didn’t mean to sound preachy to you personally WRKRB! I am sure you know your history, too. Just expressing myself in general on the subject.)

    • J Lynn says:

      I am praying Merritt Garland just shows up to work there one day, and dares Rs to sue him off. The case would go to the DC circuit — his home court! And the SCOTUS judges actually want him, I believe, so they might keep him.

      Constitution doesn’t say “approval vote” it says “advice and consent” and Obama has given them like 10 months now.

      • VeryIrritable says:

        Yeah, it’s about timing and logistics. Obama could appoint him but then that appointment only lasts two years. If he just started, as you suggest, I’m pretty sure it would eventually end up at the Supreme Court and at that point it would be an interesting fight. But yeah, I love the way you’re thinking.

  9. SuicidalVoter says:

    Sheer black frothing anger boils inside my entire being whenever I see Mike Pence smirking asshole face. He’s a creepy shell of a human.

    • Stephen says:

      This is a good time to remind people that while running for Congress in 2000, Mike Pence’s website touted his attempt to have federal monies go towards anti-gay “conversion” “therapy” as part of the Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency (CARE) Act. His stipulation didn’t use the words “conversion therapy”, but its wording — “Resources should be directed toward those institutions which provide assistance to those seeking to change their sexual behavior.” — pretty much says it all.

      So fuck Mike Pence in the ear with a sharp pencil.

      • says:

        Note that that money was supposed to go to AIDS support. He took funding designed to help some of the most vulnerable LGBT folk and put it towards damaging our children instead. Fuck Mike Pence in the ear with an ice pick.

  10. Aaaaa says:

    Hey cq, don’t forget to get TOR, Signal, a VPN, two step verification with strong non repeated passwords for all your shit, and a public/private key for your emails. Be safe. Love you for doing this.

  11. K says:

    I am with you, Coquette. The first thing I did upon waking up was check in here to read your thoughts, and I couldn’t be more comforted AND energized by them.

  12. Rainbowpony says:

    Hey coke. Sorry I’m posting so much I’m having a melt down.

    However, I wanted to share something I learned in conversation today, from political old timers. The change this administration wants to enact may come very very fast. Expect a whirlwind of laws in the first 100 days. So…. time is of the essence.

      • Stephen says:

        Top of the list is the repeal of the Affordable Care Act. (I’d say “repeal and replace”, but I don’t think the GOP has an actual viable replacement plan in mind.) The First Amendment Defense Act — which would legalize religious-based LGBT discrimination nationwide — has to be up there, too. Trump’s immigration plans (minus the wall because that shit just isn’t gonna happen) have to be a priority. Then there’s all the government agencies that the GOP has long been aching to get rid of or completely defang; the EPA is going to be the first likely casualty of that little crusade.

  13. SuicidalVoter says:

    Is this a “throw our bodies on the gears of the machine” sort of thing or “know how to be a good citizen” kind of thing?

  14. Kym says:

    I am an Australian who was in the middle of planning a trip to the US next October however I am currently re-assessing this as I am not sure I want to go to place where Donald Trump is President.

  15. Jessica Sen says:

    I’m writing this from a mental hospital and nobody gave a fuck about the elections. I had to fight with a Down syndrome man for the remote and nearly had my tooth knocked out by a psychotic Muslim. It appears madness is the only release from madness.

  16. wrkrb says:

    If asshats come up with dumb protests and don’t support existing movements – like Standing Rock and Black Lives Matter – I’m going to be so fucking ashamed.

  17. wrkrb says:

    Here are some simple immediate actions that can be taken:
    – offer rides to individuals who have mobility issues to get them to the doctor and help them stock up on meds
    – feel out local churches to see if they would be willing to offer sanctuary to individuals at risk of deportation
    – pull those safe space stickers out, make sure it’s apparent that spaces are accepting
    – find your local activists, if you can’t find any try attending some community meetings and look for allies

    • Stephen says:

      If Trump dies/becomes incapacitated/gets impeached/quits out of boredom, Mike Pence becomes President.

      Not that it matters much. Y’know how people refer to Dick Cheney as the “mastermind” of the Dubya administration? Pence will likely serve much the same role for Trump.

      • J Lynn says:

        Cheney was like a dark cloud over my 20s. It inspired some marvelous resistance, but woulda been better without that face-shooting torture-monger. He absolutely ran the White House, W was almost like an abused wife w Stockholm syndrome.

        You younger folk are about to live though what we did. And we’re about to do it all over again, but worse.

        We tried to warn, we said remember Nader. This election is so 2000 deja vu. Decent, hardworking technocrat Democrat wins popular vote! But populist lying moron is granted rule by Electoral College in a red-state driven rural-ocracy. I write this paragraph not scolding, but crying.

        And please do not think that a left-populist would’ve created a different outcome. If you think that, you don’t understand why white people broke for Trump, and why they voted against Russ Feingold & Zephyr Teachout. We do not need a demagogue of our own, because such a person cannot win natl or swing-state elections in America. White men on the “left” (not-so-left if you put Civil Rights in 2nd place) are saying THAT would’ve worked all over the internet today. They are misperceiving reality because their privilege blinds them.

        Back to Cheney-days: Gen X has been trying to help you all along, lil sibs. We got you Barack & Michelle, who have been so shamelessly disrespected by some and taken for granted by others. But there are so few of us, numerically speaking. My birth year, ’75, (bday in 2 days!) had lowest birth rate since the Depression. Plus remember that our parents didn’t love us as much as you, half-kidding lolsob, :).

        Sadly exit polls show white Millennials broke for Trump — tho guarantee that stat hides a big gender gap. The Trumpers include the radicalized white jihadis of the Gamergate, the MRA, the Frog-Cucks, etc. Little sexually frustrated white boys who have a lot of spare time thanks to privilege. We know now that they deliberately kept their support secret and operated as a sleeper cell …

        Just some thoughts. Going back and forth between clarity and profound grief.

        • WhoAmI says:

          Of course the last generation of Internet users embracing /b/’s take on freedom of speech voted for Trump. It seems so obvious afterward. To think there were so many of them, however…
          In comparison I think Anonymous afficionados voted either third party or refused to vote or whatever. Any of those very seriously made but ultimately silly choices.
          /b/stards on the other hand (are there still some of them alive and with an online presence ? it’s been so fucking long), a relative majority of them voted for Trump I’m sure, but on the whole it’s impossible to tell with those crazy fuckers.
          God I’m having 2007 flashbacks now.

          • Stephen says:

            As someone who glances at imageboard “culture” every so often to see what the hell’s going on there, /b/ is no longer where 4chan goes to do its bullshit. That honor belongs to /pol/, the site’s politics board. With the title of “Politically Incorrect” and the benefit of anonymity, /pol/ has become a place for alt-righters, white supremacists, and plain ol’ racist fuckwits to speak up in favor of all the things you’d think they would speak up about. (All while drowning out “politically correct” speech such as “everyone deserves the right to live” and “black people are actually people”, natch.)

            They love racism, sexism, xenophobia, homophobia, transphobia, and just about every other form of hatred imaginable. They embrace it willingly. If you think the media bubble around ”libtards” is bad, /pol/ is a bubble of alt-right memes and hate speech on a level that I cannot comprehend — or stomach for more than five seconds.

            And the worst part is that there is no shaming /pol/ or boards/sites like it. Shame implies a sense of sincerity on both sides of the equation; the average 4chan user has none. The anonymous nature of 4chan makes it easy for people to say anything and mean none of it — to speak without really saying what’s on their minds. I’ve heard the site referred to as “Weaponized Insincerity”, and that’s about the best possible description of 4chan and its imageboard brethren: It actively turns the nihilism and misanthropy of the disaffected people who go to 4chan into a weapon of hate and misery and despair.

            /pol/ stands as that theory’s proof.

          • WhoAmI says:

            Didn’t now about /pol/. That’s problematic. Passing the usual awful 4chan speech for real political opinions is just gross.

            As for shame, yeah no. They’ve always been a bunch of bitter, bored, depressed, paranoiac little fucks ready to lash out at the first thing they can put their spiteful hands on. 4chan has always been something of a miserable hate machine (at least several years ago you could find the weirdest, trashiest stuff on there). That’s not gonna change any time soon.
            The worst part being it still to this day breeds similar spaces in other countries and languages. And it works just as well.

          • Stephen says:

            @WRKRB — 4chan does occasionally “crash”, in that it has server issues every so often. But the site is never down for hours at a time, at least not these days. (One reason for the explosion of imageboards in the late 2000s and the 2010s is because of 4chan’s once-infamous downtimes.) I believe the site also has DDoS protection nowadays, so trying to take 4chan down that way won’t work.

            Sad to say, 4chan is here to stay unless its new owner decides it’s too much of a money pit and kills it. (It has never made a profit for anyone who has owned it.) And even if it does die, the disappearance of /pol/ won’t mean much; that board’s users will flock to sites that share their ideologies, imageboards or not.

          • wrkrb says:

            I live in a virtual media blackout and don’t use social media (this site is one of my few internet vices) so I definitely wouldn’t be willing to lead a Habbo(sp?) style brigade into the altright forums but if I’m understanding you that would be the only leverage point there, correct?

          • WhoAmI says:

            Not sure even that would work. That kind of attack they know very well, they used to do them to others. And between boards too. They’d be more patient than you.

        • J Lynn says:

          If you wanted leverage points against alt-right online, I think it’s:

          1 pressuring the leadership of the host companies (Twitter, Reddit, FB) to crack down on hate and misinformation via moderation and other techniques like small-fee membership (even a $5 one-time fee w credit card makes a huge difference bc removes anonymity to the back end and is speed bump to multiple sock puppet accounts). Make them unwelcome on mainstream soc media so they have to at least pay for their own hosting and don’t have such easy access to abuse targets. those brand-name web sites have a lot of normal users who don’t want trolls/hate there.

          2 For self-funded cesspools like 4chan and 8chan, as well as alt-right like Breitbart and Stormfront, the only pressure point will be their ISP, to my knowledge. In these cases, it’s probably just useful for those who can stomach it to just monitor and report what theyre up to to the rest of us. That’s what the FBI does.

          As far as hacking them, that’s not my area of expertise. Any aspiring Willow-from-Buffies should go for it if that’s your interest/skill set, but it’s going to be a cat-and-mouse game like all hacking.

          • wrkrb says:

            What percentage of it do you think is being cause by bots? What do you think the ramifications of filtering would be considering the hissyfit they threw about Facebook’s removal of derogatory posts? Is there any response to hatespeech that will actually clear the infection instead of driving the madness deeper into the person’s psyche?

  18. J Lynn says:

    I do think we may need a more sophisticated commenting platform/forum/app to organize here.

    It’s getting hard to scroll and scroll to find those few comments within different threads on 2 separate posts.

    When we make the move, we should consider internet security/privacy as a criterion. Remember Trump will soon hold the NSA, FBI, CIA, etc. Remember COINTELPRO (and read up if you don’t know!). Also remember that the KGB (sub post-Sov acronym) and a rogue cell within the FBI actively worked to elect Trump.

    Ironically, we need to be more locked-down on line, but much less anonymous to each other in real life, so we can find our allies when systems go down.

  19. re “If you think this is a victory for the anti-establishment”…
    i’m thinking (and hoping) that the Trump victory may indeed be a victory for the anti’s, but not the way they wanted.
    they (we? – more on that later) won’t get anything they NEED, much less what they want. the strife, frustration, and problems that ensue from a Trump prez will tear apart the current pol status quo, perhaps even to the point of armed revolution. maybe then we can build a sensible government out of the ruins. (as if!)
    as for the anti’s…
    it seems to me that there’s two sets of anti’s… the ones who were going for Trump, and the Far Other Side. The Trumpers seem motivated by prejudice, fear, and greed, while the F.O.S. seems motivated by a burning desire for justice and compassion.
    how these two could ever cooperate – first to throw the bums out, then to build a better mousetrap – is beyond me; but first things first – I’d sure like to see the current structure fall – completely!

    • J Lynn says:

      A lot of vulnerable people will get hurt and die in the meantime.

      Actually WhoAmI’s comment from above sums it up, repasting because easy to miss in this format:
      My point is : we already know lots of people are gonna suffer because of this. In your very own country. Because Trump was elected and Hillary wasn’t.
      Because Trump was elected, more people will lose their job. More people will lose their physical and mental health. More people will be expelled from the country. More people will be beaten up. More people will be put in jail. More people will die. Starting from now (yes, it’s already happening) and for the next four years.

      It is a fact. A known fact.
      If you want to close your eyes and pretend like none of this is real, this is not the place to do so.

  20. Damien Otis says:

    ugh I hate to bring up world war ii to make a point but like, during WW II very few people in occupied countries actively resisted. the resistance, which helped Jews and other targeted individuals survive and flee, was like 1% of the population. it doesn’t take the majority to make change happen especially for a group of dedicated citizens.

  21. JanesGitagun says:

    I disagree with everything Trump “stands” for except immigration. It’s a problem — you can’t have hundreds of thousands coming here illegally every year, and if he can do something about it, well, fine I guess. Everything else about Trump is insane, from his denial of climate change to his love for authoritarian monsters like Putin.

  22. Mike says:

    I was so ready to vote for a woman to be our next president. The country was ready because the message resonated with the people. The problem was the messenger. She was flawed in so many ways, some would say fatally flawed. It’s time for a woman president. Just not that one.

      • GI says:

        Trump won the election because Hillary is a pandering idiot who was dabbing on talk shows, kissing celebrity butt holes and telling black people she loves spicy food! It’s not like back in Bill’s day – millennials are harder to impress. Hillary’s campaign sucked – plain and simple.

        • J Lynn says:

          GI, you are a Trump troll, and as you clearly identified yourself elsewhere. Your icon should be that stupid frog.

          HILLARY WON THE POPULAR VOTE BY 450,000 AND STILL COUNTING. She won.

          Your guy is the one who pandered. “Build a wall” “Lock her up” — he’s a total conman and he’s full of shit then, now and forever. He built a cult of personality because he’s a TV celebrity and he promised things he can never hope to deliver by tickling the reptile brain that thrives on crude tribalism.

          However, he has already delivered hate and chaos. So congrats! Look, you “won,” technically if not numerically. Try being gracious. Be happy about the utter hate and destruction your guy has unleashed.

          • JANESGoTAGUN says:

            “HILLARY WON THE POPULAR VOTE BY 450,000 AND STILL COUNTING. She won.”

            Clinton won the popular vote, but that was only because of California and New York. Everyone else voted against her or stayed home.

            This election is getting spun a million different ways but here it is in a nutshell: AMERICANS ARE NEVER SATISFIED. AND NEVER WILL BE. The only time Americans will vote for an incumbent party for President after being in power for more than 8 years is during a world war or after a civil war. Every other time, the anger builds and builds against the incumbents, and the supporters of the incumbents become more and more complacent, that a reversal is practically inevitable.

            But here’s another thing: Hillary was a “bad” candidate. Hillary Clinton was such a bad candidate that she lost to Donald motherfucking Trump. The Donald. She lost even after having far more money, far more mainstream press support, far more celebrity support, far more support from Washington insiders and Wall Street, and having a former and current President campaigning with her. She lost to a guy who has limited support within even his own political party and is basically a cartoon character.

          • J Lynn says:

            “Clinton won the popular vote, but that was only because of California and New York. Everyone else voted against her or stayed home.”

            That is hyperbole to the point of outright falsehood. Also, the initial “low turnout” narrative is proving not to be so salient as all the ballots are counted, and not just in California but everywhere. What we hear Tue nite, Wed, Thurs after Election Day are mostly projections. The actual numbers are still coming in. Follow Dave Wasserman @redistrict as one source for figures as they emerge.

            (Anyway, CA and NY are hugely important in population and economy. They aren’t insignificant, practically or ideologically, just because they’re not swing states.)

            Donald Trump defeated 17-some Republicans. No other available Democrat would’ve done drastically better than Hillary against him — especially not Bernie Sanders — except maybe Obama. But remember Obama barely beat Romney, so maybe not.

            I know you didn’t say “shoulda been Bernie,” but Twitter Bros are, and it’s deja vu of people saying that it shoulda been Kucinich instead of Kerry in 04.

            No one has run on open White nationalism as the major-party nominee since the 19c. Trump is sui generis.

            One thing I DO 100 percent agree w/ you on is that winning a 3rd consecutive presidential term for a single party is rare and difficult. Bush 41 a.k.a. Lee Atwater had to flog America with Willie Horton to get that, talk about race-baiting, and Dukakis had to be a goody-two-shoes who didn’t fight back. Structurally, the see-saw of the public’s reptile brains was against the incumbent party this year. If HRC had won, Ds almost certainly would’ve taken a huge hit at midterms and also would’ve been super-vulnerable in 2020.

            At any rate, you can disdain Hillary Clinton or not, but it doesn’t matter now. I think young people reared on Obama may not realize how incredibly boring the average Democrat, in fact average politician, really is. Obama is once-in-a-lifetime. Hillary is actually above-average among Dems for charisma. The typical Dem is John Kerry, Al Gore, Joe Biden; I saw them on the campaign trail this year, they are decent, smart and boring as hell. Our slightly more entertaining rising bench (Booker, Warren, et al) were forged in opposition to Bush. Anyhow, the Democrats ran a good campaign, Hillary was a good candidate, and polls (maybe wrong) showed her with a huge lead before the Guilani-FBI sabotage. Good candidates lose elections sometimes — especially when running against fascist demagogues.

            Comment continued downthread for recommendations going forward …

    • VeryIrritable says:

      It was time for the world to save itself. But the problem was the messenger. Nobody wanted to hear they were going to die in that specific tone. It was time to make a difference, just not the difference between survival and crisis.

      • JC says:

        Same phenomenon, different party. Everyone wants to point fingers at someone.

        The fault lies in exactly one place for this outcome, and it’s the voters of the United States of America. Double fault if you’re out raging in the street but didn’t bother to show up and vote. Triple fault if you showed up to vote and went with low=quality third party candidates. No, you didn’t throw your vote away. After all, it changed the outcome of an important election. Nice job, morons.

        • Strangely Rational says:

          The problem isn’t the voters. The problem is that not everyone’s vote counts. My husband and I both voted for Hillary, but because we live in a conservative state, our votes – along with all the others from her supporters – are basically being thrown out. There are over a million of us, representing 38% of the votes in the state.

          Our votes should not be invalidated just because we’re a minority in our state.

          Hillary didn’t lose because people didn’t vote for her. She lost because of geography.

    • J Lynn says:

      You were “ready to vote for her” — but you DIDN’T?! Thanks for the fascism, you irresponsible selfish brat. If you actually DID vote for her, I retract my statement with apologies.

    • Nina says:

      More flawed than the guy who is supposed to go on trial in about 2 weeks for fraud, who sexually assaults women, cheated on his current wife, was sued by the DOJ for housing discrimination, got in trouble for intimidating tenants in one of his buildings, filed for 4 bankruptcies, constantly broke the laws around operating his casinos, and over the past 30 years never paid a bunch of workers, businesses, and even some of his own lawyers?

  23. rainbowpony says:

    Another of today’s ideas: Write republican senators that could be sympathetic to democrats on some issues, or just plain hate Trump. In particular, maybe Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, and Lindsey Graham. Susan Collins can be socially liberal – she’s pro-choice, Lisa Murkowski can sometimes skew more independent, and Lindsey Graham hates the living shit out of Trump and admits that climate change is real. Others? There are 46 democrats and 2 liberal independents in the senate. All we need are a few more senators to say no to some of the crazier legislation.

    Look, I know that some of the positions of these politicains are odious. Odious. But that doesn’t mean they wouldn’t be willing to stem the passing of laws that are truly insane – such as exhorting Mexico for money to build a fucking wall, or to ignore long standing treaties with allies, or to tarriff the shit out of imports, or to even consider using nuclear weapons. Etc.

    If you’re interested, know that unless you use a fake address in their constituency, they will filter your email away with bots.
    The sites:

    https://www.lgraham.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/contact-form
    https://www.collins.senate.gov/contact
    https://www.murkowski.senate.gov/contact/email

    I know, I know. What have we come to?

    • J Lynn says:

      Here’s some more:

      1 For the next 60-70 days Democrats need to use every parliamentary and legal trick in the book to thwart or obstruct Trump.
      1a) “Unfaithful Electors,” a stretch but hope is not lost as this is the INTENDED purpose of the EC, to prevent unqualified demagogues. Requires persuading loyal Republicans to flip and support popular vote.
      1b) Merritt Garland needs to just pack his lunch pail and show up for work at Court. The Supremes want him, and let the Rs fight to get rid of him.
      1c) Peeling off (i.e., offering favors and horsetrades) potential Trump-hating GOP Senators as RP describes to form a coalition.
      1d) Meanwhile, tend to your personal safety and that of vulnerable people.
      1e) Public relations messaging: Russia ties, fraud trial, “where’s the wall?” etc.

      2 Then they need to get ready to sweep the House, a la Contract For America Newt Gingrich in 1994 and the 2006 anti-W midterms. Unf the Senate map for 2018 is not promising, not many opportunities out there bc it’s mostly Dems up for reelection.

      3 We have a long, long way to go before picking the next presidential candidate. Save the post-mortem fight for now (in broad outlines, Obama Coalition vs return to Midwest-heavy White masculine identity politics) and fight for Congress with every clean and dirty trick possible.

      Do not be the usual earnest, rational, goody-two-shoes Democrats and lefties! The ones who think reason will prevail. The ones who think you can “educate” an electorate where 1/2 of them vote with their tribal, fearful reptile brains. FIGHT. Not like Charlie Brown, always earnestly ready to take a go at the football only to have Republican Lucys yank it away and laugh.

    • J Lynn says:

      There is a petition imploring EC electors to consider switching votes.
      https://www.change.org/p/electoral-college-electors-electoral-college-make-hillary-clinton-president-on-december-19?source_location=discover_feed

      Some are beginning to think about writing letters to EC members. Remember you would asking Republicans in states Trump won to switch, and to break tradition. (Obv D electors already for HRC.) Plus the state party appoints the electors, so they may also need to keep their intention more-or-less secret or be replaced. (?)

      So research to be done on who if anyone is worth asking to switch, as well as a general appeal.

      Admittedly a long shot, but this is partly what the EC was intended to be FOR. To be a brake on pure democracy and prevent mob rule by passion inflamed by unqualified or dangerous demagogues.

      • wrkrb says:

        J Lynn, I like your thinking. I circulated the petition into my networks this morning. If we want to throw our weight into the Senate fight what do you think would be most effective? Letters? Emails? Calls? I’m thinking letters but I really don’t know the best ways to get through to Senators.

        • J Lynn says:

          Re getting some GOP Senators to oppose Trump
          I would start by asking some Dems already in the Senate who might be persuadable and how, because they know their colleagues and those guys’ interests best.

          If you have a Democratic Senator representing your state, start there, they are receptive to constituents above all others. If not, find a buddy who DOES have a good Dem Senator and write a letter w/ them or using their address.

          As for Republican Senators, esp in swing state, write and let them know which specific policies you want defended despite GOP/Trump agenda: e.g., Obamacare subsidies, public Medicare, student-loan income-based payments, confirmation of Merritt Garland. As well as new policies, e.g., path to citizenship. And you do not want to hear about “defunding” Planned Parenthood (whole phrase is a scam, the fed money they get is mostly Medicaid/Medicare reimbursements just like any doctor). Again, if you are not their own constituent they will not GAF, buddy up w/ someone from their state.

          You can also try giving a fake local address, but that may only work on actual paper letters, e-bots will filter otherwise as RP said. Plus, cross-state alliances could be good for organizing!

          • wrkrb says:

            Thank you! I do have a Democratic Senator! I will draft my letter and share it with friends so that they can draft their own too if they’d like. I could try to get a meeting with him, Bennet, but it seems like that would be more effective after a letter campaign.

  24. Nina says:

    Bernie Sanders is in! Quote from his twitter:

    If Donald Trump takes people’s anger and turns it against Muslims, Hispanics, African Americans and women, we will be his worst nightmare.

  25. VeryIrritable says:

    I just keep thinking, it’s a fluke that we get a good president at all. Exactly half the population is below average intelligence.

  26. GI says:

    Trump has already announced he won’t repeal Obamacare. What did I tell you whingeing idiots? You’re such leftist emotional wrecks you actually believed everything the guy said in his campaign. Trump wanted to win the election, that’s all. He’s not out to destroy the world.

    • Rainbowpony says:

      I can see a version of this. Trump gets into power and changes very little, just enough to take credit for everything. You then feel as though you can credit the aca and economic recovery (and everything else) to a white man instead of a black one. It will make you feel very comfortable and proud.

      • Gi says:

        Wow… damned if he does, damned if he doesn’t. Trump could cure cancer and you pussies would still find a problem with it.

        Almost as though you want Trump to turn America upside down so you can say you were right

        • VeryIrritable says:

          “What do you like about him?
          How does he make you feel?
          How do you stand to benefit?
          What will you do if he can’t deliver on his promises?”

        • Rainbowpony says:

          I’ll tell you what I want: say that you actually like the ACA and think it’s a good idea that Obama did it … minus a few tweaks. Give credit where credit is due and tell your friends.

          Don’t you think it’s really suspect that the GOP held up government and delegitamized (sp?) Obama for years over the ACA, and were always prepared to jettison the entire thing, only now to be like NBD?

          how would you feel? Its bullshit and you know it.

      • Jill Stein 2016 says:

        Wow you uncovered the KKK Konspiracy! We have to resist this plan of mild change and whitewashing! Someone tell Shaun King!

    • wrkrb says:

      But he has trolls like you to do it for him. And has emboldened the KKK and other dangerous folks. I certainly don’t think everyone who voted Trump is dangerous but his base included a violent fringe in America and being concerned about those people hurting immigrants, gay people, and muslims is legitimate.

      • Gi says:

        The KKK is the most ineffective sorry excuse for an organisation in the modern world. They have like 3 members left. Why are you even talking about them? The fact is Trump is (ahead of schedule) proving to you nervous wrecks that he’s not the monster you seem to want him to be. Yet you still want to be all about this negative doom and gloom rhetoric. Total bananaland

        • wrkrb says:

          The KKK got neutered but they’re an example of the violent aggression that comes out of hate speech and culture. My mother escaped the south in the 60s because she couldn’t handle being in an environment with violent racists. The bananaland is that you’ve spent this much time antagonizing and demeaning people while consistently invalidating concerns. At this point you’ve probably heard about the trolls roving the internet encouraging distraught people to kill themselves. You might not have used those words specifically but you’re certainly part of that trend. Contributing nothing, soothing nothing, solving nothing. Actively working to escalate tension in every exchange. I can be really neutral and calm when approaching sincerity but everyone recognizes that you don’t bring that, or empathy, to the table.

        • VeryIrritable says:

          “They have like 3 members left.”
          This is how we all know you’re ignorant. Not only has the klan grown, but they’ve infiltrated law enforcement and the FBI has reports on it.
          http://fusion.net/story/269778/kkk-groups-in-america/

          We all know you’re a privileged old white asshole because if you were paying attention you’d realize that the racist dogs have been let out of their kennels. Ludicrous amounts of racist and xenophobic activity have been taking place this week.

          Now I don’t expect you to understand the context fully, but white extremists have been assaulting people of color in Silverlake (Los Angeles.) If you knew anything about Silverlake you’d understand that attacking minorities is the least hipster thing that has ever happened there.

          And while I will give you that some of us have become hyperbolic, you have indulged in exactly the same behavior by using the phrase “Total bananaland.” You are fighting hyperbole with more hyperbole.

          A lot of us aren’t as worried about trump as president as the symbol of him as president. He’s a symbol that total ignorance is power. He represents the fact that old white america is completely senile. He might not be the monster we “want him to be” but him being president is releasing all the monsters we fear.

          So if you want to de-escalate the hyperbole…you put down your metaphor gun first.

          • Rainbowpony says:

            I have three friends – two latino, one Asian – here on student visas, and in the last week, they’ve been either shoved and/or had slurs thrown at them on the street.

          • wrkrb says:

            “The community had met the voice of hate with “one voice of goodness and love,” he said. There was a new sense of unity and tolerance in the air.

            At 12:30 p.m., one of the protesters declared, “This was your lucky day,” and without further explanation, left the church grounds with the rest of her clan. The crowd applauded their departure.

            But anyone who witnessed what happened outside the Reformed Church of New Paltz knew the protests had been effectively over for more than two hours.

            It was here that the battle was won.”

            When WBC came to my home stomping grounds this is what we did.

    • Stephen says:

      “Trump has already announced he won’t repeal Obamacare.” — No, he said he wants to keep two specific provisions of the ACA. He never said anything definitive about not repealing the rest of it.

      But let’s say you’re correct and Trump himself doesn’t want to repeal the ACA. Okay. One point in his favor. But he and his administration have lots of other plans. Care to address the GOP’s desire to repeal and replace Obamacare? How about their desire to pass the First Amendment Defense Act and legalize religious-based anti-LGBT discrimination on a federal level? Oh, hey, most of the GOP are climate change deniers — care to tell me how they won’t help fuck up the environment by gutting the EPA and pushing us away from clean energy? Then there’s still the matter of Trump’s desire to discriminate against Muslims who want to enter the country, the GOP’s support for “the defense of traditional marriage”, the GOP’s potentially disastrous economic policies (just look at Kansas), Trump and his advisors “draining the swamp” by putting lobbyists and chumps like Giuliani on his transition team, the rise of white supremacist groups thanks to both Trump and the GOP refusing to denounce their support of Trump (formented by Trump’s blatant racism), and the GOP’s barenaked support of voter ID policies and gerrymandering processes that explicitly target those most likely to vote Democrat and all but ensure GOP control of “red” and “purple” states will stay in the hands of the GOP.

      And that’s just off the top of my head in five minutes.

      Address the real concerns that people have about a Trump administration with something other than dismissive condescension or go die in a fire.

    • J Lynn says:

      Holy hell. “Whingeing.”
      GI, you are not even American! You are some “Mr. Brexit” fanboy!
      Well, I’m glad that at least you didn’t get to vote in this election.
      Go find something better to do with your life.
      Like being Marine Le Pen’s personal manservant.

      By the way, you forgot to explain why you affirmatively align with him. As I asked upthread:
      “What do you like about him?
      How does he make you feel?
      How do you stand to benefit?
      What will you do if he can’t deliver on his promises?”
      Adding 1 more: Which of his public policy proposals do you think are good and workable ideas?

        • J Lynn says:

          Weirdly, I’ve encountered a lot of Trump fans online from Australia and NZ. Are they worse spellers than Brits?

          One of the dumbest pro-Trump arguments was from this guy who was a “web dev” who seemed to be under the impression that Mexican undocumented immigrants were the reason HE couldn’t get a H1B visa. He was soooooo mad that the evil and all-powerful witch Hillary would grant amnesty to all those blue collar housekeepers, laborers, etc. Like dude, wtf do you care? Detail: he had not yet applied for any job in U.S. that could provide such a visa!

          BTW, based on his contributions on various software sites, he seemed like an utterly average programmer, nothing special that would be worth an employer sponsoring. But I’m no expert in that.

          Further detail, I only figured out he was a New Zealander after some googling. When we were interacting, he wouldn’t name his country and tried to imply it was some poor developing nation where “web devs” lived on 2 rupees per day under the Belorussian dictator or something. Then I looked up salary info, “web dev” salaried only $10,000 less than US! That’s something, yes, & I know food and such is costly down there, but give me a break, not a land of strife and suffering. In some ways survival in the U.S. would be harder, tho groceries cheaper.

          I told him it looked tacky to present himself as a victim under the circumstances and besides, maybe immigration reform could end up benefiting him, so why did he hate Hillary so much? Then he said I was insulting him … Tales of the Internet!

          I have yet to meet a Trump fan or voter who didn’t fit into one or two categories:
          White nationalist of some type
          Suffering severe cognitive dissonance

          • VeryIrritable says:

            I’m pretty sure I smell New Zealand on this particular nutcase. There’s something about the lack of awareness. Even when pointing out things like “hillaries campaign sucked” there aren’t any details. But you could be right about Australian, there were a surprising number of people denying systemic racism when I lived there.

  27. Jill Stein 2016 says:

    In 2008 we at least knew what the system was. Big banks, the 1%, wall street, K street, the Mil-Ind Complex. We fought against it, but dear leader Obama never followed through. Now you’re so invested in him you have to defend the real oppressive system by making up an imaginary one.

    “you don’t understand how the system is built. Trump is a racist, misogynistic, hyper-privileged white male billionaire-by-birth — he is the living embodiment of the establishment.”

    This is the most ignorant shit I’ve ever read from you. It IS cringey. Almost as clueless as your average reader. I can’t believe you got dumber with time. I guess you played yourself.

    • Stephen says:

      “This is the most ignorant shit I’ve ever read from you.” — By all means, tell us how a child who inherited both an immense amount of wealth and a thriving real estate business (and all the business contacts therein) from his father, then used said wealth to turn himself into a supposed paragon of success (despite his numerous financial and personal failings), isn’t the living embodiment of “the establishment”.

        • Stephen says:

          Not to mention how the accusations of sexual assault and his generally creepy-ass behavior around women and young girls have been all but brushed aside because he’s a rich white guy.

      • Jill Stein 2016 says:

        For all of those reasons, you can call him the living embodiment of Privilege. “The Establishment” is not the same thing and I’m concerned that you don’t see that. You seem to think it’s a blanket term for all rich white men. The establishment is actually a large but specific group of people. These people are in the groups I mentioned: Big Banks, the 1%, wall street, K street, the Mil-Ind Complex, as well as high-level government and Big Media. Most people in these groups (but not all) share an overall agenda and communicate directly or indirectly with eachother to advance that agenda without the public’s knowledge. I’m not talking about tinfoil shit, but boring things like consolidating power, increasing profits, exploitation, leveraging smaller countries, and bailing eachother out at the expense of taxpayers (remember OWS?). The specific people with this agenda are the establishment. There’s nothing vague about it, because if one were omniscient you could write a list of every single person that is involved.

        Now remember I said, not everybody in the 1%, wall street, government etc is a member of the establishment. Having power isn’t the barrier to entry, you need to have power, share their agenda, and be accepted by them. It is entirely possible that one can reject their agenda or they can reject you even if you’re a rich white male. That is what Trump voters mean by beating the establishment. Whatever Hillary was pushing was part of their agenda, and they all united against Trump to defeat him, because they hate his agenda and find him harder to control. Oh yeah, Trump wants lower corporate taxes, but that’s just a policy proposal. Clearly most of the companies that would benefit from that backed Hillary.

        This isn’t far-fetched if you remember Occupy Wall Street. We had just elected Obama, the Change Candidate, and he turns around, collaborates with the Bush administration, and authorizes the theft of billions of taxpayer dollars into the pockets of the 1% with terrible oversight into how the bailout was used. Yeah back then everybody was really “woke”. We just got scammed by the government, wall street and k street working together. Now the establishment has cucked you guys into thinking the real bad guys are this nebulous concept of All The Rich White Men. Now being woke is “learning” that all the problems come from rich white men, and screw it, regular white men too. All you had to do was elect a female president, who will destroy the establishment by nature of having a vagina. Don’t matter which female, any female will do. I can’t believe I have to explain this to people, especially coke. There’s no excuse for not understanding this if you’re over 25, it just speaks volumes to how badly they subverted your once righteous cause.

    • Strangely Rational says:

      “This is the most ignorant shit I’ve ever read from you. It IS cringey. Almost as clueless as your average reader. I can’t believe you got dumber with time.”

      You know what’s ignorant? Using an ad hominem attack instead of presenting any evidence to refute Coquette’s statement.

      • Jill Stein 2016 says:

        You know what’s ignorant? Pretending that my post doesn’t have a valid argument. Read it again, then read my response above.

  28. compagno says:

    Please give the Donald credit for improving the infrastructure even before taking office.

    Hasn’t anyone notice how the sewers are working properly, now that the Nazis, fascists, KKKers and misogynists are no longer hiding down there?

  29. Jessica Sen says:

    I went on a date with Trump and he opened the curtains and revealed a monstrous painting of The Last Judgment but with Hitler and Napoleon as stars. I gave him a kiss and told him I appreciated his sense of humour. He told me it was appropriate to act with urgency and I left his penthouse promptly.

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