One Amusing Year On

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A year ago today, I awoke in the wee small hours just in time to hear Brian Williams of MSNBC announce that Donald J. Trump had been elected the forty-fifth president of the United States. I was not surprised. Bitter experience had taught me to have low expectations as far as the civic responsibility of my fellow inmates of Idiot Nation was concerned. An old friend who was staying in my guest room down the hall from me happened to be awake. She asked:

 

"Do they know the winner?"

"They sure do", I replied.

"Who is it?"

"President Donald Fucking Trump" was my answer. 

 

The look her face was as shocked and alarmed as you would expect it to be on the face of any thinking American woman that night. I tried to make the best of this new reality. At least the Age of Donald Trump wouldn't be boring, I assured myself. It hasn't been.  For a political junkie such as yours truly, the Donald has been the gift that keeps giving. Say what you want about 2017, it has been an incredible moment in history to bear witness to - and the year isn't even over yet.

 

I won't play coroner and attempt to conduct an autopsy on the campaign of Hillary Clinton. That's been done to the point of absurdity and, to be quite blunt about it, I'm sick of the entire discussion. I'll just say that she was the wrong candidate for so crucial a time in our history. The people who voted for her in the primaries are just as guilty for those who were naïve enough to cast their ballots for Trump. She only reminds me why I am no longer registered with the Democratic Party.

 

It was easy to predict one year ago today that this was going to end badly. A tip of the hat to Fox Noise for conning so many people into believing that a Trump administration would be a grand thing for this utterly fucked republic. The damage that that network has done to this country can barely be assessed. The very fact that it is still thriving is ominous and disturbing. It won't be going away any time soon, and the harm it will continue to inflict upon our national political conversation is incalculable. One can only speculate that they would have made Josef Goebbels proud. The only positive thing I can say at this point is that Roger Ailes is gone and he's not coming back.

FUN FACT:
On the morning after Election Day 2016,  had to take two showers before the clock struck Twelve Noon.

 

This has been a long year, to put it as mildly as possible. Trump's reign will be mercifully brief; but the aftershocks of his time in the White House will be felt for a long time. He is what we deserve. We don't deserve any better.

Tom Degan
Goshen, NY 

SUGGESTED VIEWING:

I taped this little message in the late morning of November 9. 2016. I had been up all night and was a little hung-over. Still, the message is clear and somewhat to the point:

https://www.facebook.com/tomdegan/videos/10154583158455729/

Strange days indeed.