What I notice, looking back, is that the November Presidential Election felt like I'd been running a 4+ year emotional marathon at full speed through shit. Getting to the finish line to discover we'd won felt more like relief than celebration. I basically fell over the line and collapsed in a coma.
But wait! The Georgia Senate races were too close to call, so they decided to do a run-off election in early January, which if they both won, would give the Democrats control of the Senate, allowing the Biden/Harris agenda a snowball's chance of success. "Snap out of it!" "I know you thought you won, and you sort of did, but now pick yourself up and keep going -- there's a new finish line!" So, there was that. And we won again. But at that point the exhaustion and distraction were so great it was hard to stay upright.
Let me explain distraction: The former (yay!) President refused to accept the results of the November election. He shouted from his Twitter account, his podium, his rallies; he sent his flunky apologists on speaking tours of the cable talk shows, and of course his own right-wing authoritarian-state media outlets amplified what has been tagged "The Big Lie" for him 24/7. He filed lawsuit after lawsuit, demanded recounts in various swing states, losing every time. The result was this being declared the most free and fair election ever. Nevertheless he persisted in declaring his own victory, "by a landslide", and that the election was stolen from him.
We always knew he was mentally disturbed, but he was supported in this fantasy by his GOP sycophants in Congress as well as other "regular folks" supporters, also including a large contingent of Neo-Nazis, white supremacists, QAnon conspiracy theorists, and just radicalized loners. They began to take up his cause as well, culminating in him calling them all to Washington DC on January 6 for a "Rally to Stop the Count" -- meaning the very day that Congress was to meet to certify the Electoral College votes, DC was inundated with thousands of his supporters, armed and angry, who gathered to hear him speak of "taking back their government" and "let's march to the Capitol" where Congress was gathered to verify the election, presided over by his own Vice President, as required by the Constitution, not necessarily cuz he wanted to be there.
March they did. And when they arrived they pushed through police barricades, broke windows and doors, rushed into the building, menaced and beat police officers, stormed the offices of Congresspeople and Senators, threatened to shoot Speaker Nancy Pelosi and hang VP Mike Pence (for his role in doing his job, I guess). The Capitol police were overrun and calls for help from the National Guard went unanswered for hours. After the hours-long standoff was finally halted, the Congress came out of their secured locations and went back to work to verify the election outcome, but 147 Republican lawmakers voted against the certifying the election -- in effect refusing to accept the democratically elected new president/vice president as valid. Oh, and five people died. And this is Amerika.
Since then the FBI has been rounding up the perpetrators as best they can, aided by the brazenness of their predilection for posting the whole debacle on social media with a burst of pride and narcissism. The former president has limped off to Florida where he threatens to start a third political party and continues to hold sway over the GOP for some reason.
Oh, and he was impeached AGAIN by the House for inciting insurrection. The Articles of Impeachment have been delivered to the Senate where they will begin the trial on February 8. But they've already taken a vote on the constitutionality of trying an ex-president with the majority of Republicans voting that it is unconstitutional -- even though they previously refused to hear the case while he was still in office, when presumably they thought it would be constitutional. It gets confusing to keep up with the crazy. Too bad. We won. The trial will go on.
The day of the Inauguration was a bright spot, perfectly executed live and online - a celebration of diversity, unity, and optimism. There was no violence, which had been threatened not only in DC but in State Capitols nationwide, which was remarkable. Perhaps evildoers were deterred by the 40,000 National Guard troops brought in and that a Green Zone of inner Washington was sealed off with barricades and barbed wire. This is Amerika.
The Biden/Harris administration is peopled by experienced, competent professionals. They are following rules and norms and working with a transparency we had forgotten could exist, such that it all feels like a miracle instead of just how things should be. There is hope there.
But alas, we also still have a pandemic to fret over. Current US numbers: 26,663,298 cases; 450,478 deaths.
It is criminal how badly mismanaged this crisis has been in the United States under the former administration. They are directly responsible for so much suffering and death with their ignorance and lack of leadership in urging Americans to take necessary precautions. The "anti-maskers" still refuse even the most basic of precautions, led in their disregard by the ex-president and others in his circle of fools.
Two vaccines have been released and folks are getting vaccinated now when they can. The former administration, as a parting shot in this arena, announced that anyone over 65 could get the shot and that they would release their stockpile of vaccine to accomplish this Herculean task. Turns out...surprise!...there was no stockpile!
The Biden administration is working to increase production of the vaccine and get it out to communities as fast as possible, but the roll-out has been nothing but frustration for many: impossible to get an appointment in spite of making it a full time job to be online, refreshing and refreshing the websites to maybe be able to make an appointment at a vaccination site before they fill up (often within minutes!). It seems one must just get very lucky to get a vaccination appointment, which Hub and I were. But I could barely acknowledge the momentous occasion....
Everything is just...too much. So, most of this month I've spent going inward, withdrawing, reading, thinking, and watching Dickenson on Apple+TV, which I have found quirky and delightful...just what I needed. Solitude and self-care.
Turns out this post is not shorter, lighter, nor less ponderous. Let's shoot for next time?
At least, that's the view from here...©
We all thought 2021 would be less stressful than 2021 but it came in with a different kind of stress when attack on our Democracy too place. That was bad enough but the fact that Republican lawmakers STILL won't stand up to Trump and his crazy fans is so disgusting I don't have words. I fully believe the current administration makes us safer and they will get some important things done but our days of walking through fire are not over.
ReplyDeleteAgree. I've had to take big steps away from ... well, almost everything. But I'm paying attention and it is so sad and frustrating. And I agree, at least we are back on the right track with this administration; it's just that we can't look away quite yet from what calls out for action. Sigh.
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