Clear

This was written a few weeks ago and has been sitting in my drafts. Fuck it.

It's clear to me that a portion of this country is driven entirely by cruelty, revenge, and hatred. (Or easily duped into supporting such behavior, as long as it's not against them.)

It's clear that Trump/MAGA supporters are willing to excuse anything he or any Republican does... the racism, the sexual assault, the pedophile behavior and protection, the fraud, the murder, the kidnapping, the white nationalism, the fascism and nazi shit. (Again, as long as it's not against me and I have the very real potential of paying less in taxes... and I can still hang on to the new American Dream of someday becoming a billionaire, I'm good.)

It's also clear that the people in power lack joy, happiness, love, and empathy in their lives. (You know, the shit that makes being a human worthwhile.)

Thinking more about this, in the wake of recent tragedy (which seems to be daily), my thought on the current state of the US is that the "left" are consistently portrayed as the only political actors in our society that ever have agency. If something happens, it's the "left". If something doesn't happen, it's the "left". If some group has to change, to compromise, it's always expected to be the "left" doing all the work.

Instead of say, starting from an idea that say the general public finds favorable, like immigration, the default position for Republicans is "my idea" and you come to me (or with the current administration, it's we'll just do our idea, even if it isn't popular or legal)... versus starting with the majority view and working back to compromise more folks into agreement. That's how nothing substantial ever happens and the Overton Window shifts.

Beyond the terms of the debate being flawed, the elected Democrats are too into the idea of civility when governing, so that means we are now learning that our democracy is some apparent "handshake deal" between the people in charge for the last 250 years. That the powers derived from the constitution are basically worthless when the Supreme Court is corrupt (and bought) and the other branch is not interested in maintaining those handshake guardrails. What if democracy was really the friends we made along the way?

Republicans have been working toward destabilizing and "proving" that liberalism and democracy don't work, that the federal government doesn't work, for over 50 years by purposefully breaking things – the exact things that would (usually) make their constituents lives better. The largest, most recent example of this is the chaos of DOGE and Project 2025, but also examples like Mitch McConnell taking his ball and going home during the Obama years. Republicans have no interest in governing via a federal government that is for everyone. To them, the purpose of the federal government is to solidify their power and nothing else and the end result is it becomes a tool of grievance.

And what better head of a movement that exploits that victimhood, than the current president himself. A FUCKING BILLIONAIRE, who whines and cries about unfair treatment (think about that) more than any other human being on the face of the earth. He plays the part of grievance better than anyone... and at his old age, his racist senile brain is only focused on anything that wins him adoring fans and money (the only thing he cares about actually – he's made his entire fortune building a shitty brand) – even if it's literal nazis and white supremacists (spoiler, you are never on the right side of history, if they are on your side)... he'll latch on to any shit that is a means to this end.

And he's tricked millions into thinking that he cares about their lives, all while living an entire long life of fraud, exploiting contractors and working people, and doing everything in his power to enrich himself over all. Not a shred of concern or focus on anything other than himself and his riches, ever. HE RAN FUCKING FRAUD CHARITIES FOR GOODNESS SAKES! But yeah, sure, now as he nears 80 years old, he will for the first time in his life care about something other than himself. It's all bullshit and he knows it, especially as you see the truthful part of his brain poking through when he says shit like he doesn't think he's going to heaven.

To expand on this: when you consider all of this through the lens of the "male loneliness epidemic" and the "extremely online", which seems to be creating mass murderers (and ICE agents) regularly, you can see these white men, who have many hundreds of years living with women subservient, the "other" subservient, and experiencing life with all of the expectations and privilege that come along with that lack of competition and equity... this idea that "jobs don't want me" and that "women don't want me" aligns with the same approach I mentioned above: these negotiations start with ME and must come to ME. With this approach, there's no agency, no expectations that the white CIS male should ever grow to fit a world where people, OTHER FUCKING HUMAN BEINGS, should obviously have equity, let alone equality. It's grievance, all the way down... which of course pundits, politicians, media, and grifters exploit for power and money.

My dudes, just go to therapy. It works wonders.

That's my rant for today (and every day lately...)

Also... fuck ICE.