Regroup

by Jon Sullivan - 2024-11-07 - Opinion

<<<<< previous blog         next blog >>>>>        album containing this post's photo

---

The bigots and billionaires won. We lost. What now? 1) don't get crazy, 2) be a safe space, 3) hold on to compassion.

Let's not get crazy. We've spent 8 years making fun of Trump voters for believing the most unhinged conspiracy theories. Pizzagate, "illegals" eating our pets, FEMA creating hurricanes, vaccines being poison, mass shootings being staged, climate change being made up to end individual freedom and establish a one-world government to cut the world population by 85% and to introduce surveillance by the 5G network. Don't become the thing we've made fun of all this time. Don't fall for the anti Trump conspiracies we'll see soon. The truth will be bad enough. My community has rocket scientists, engineers, physicists, health professionals, therapists, etc. If it sounds outrageous, just ask. Look to primary sources. Read actual studies and reports. If it's posted on Facebook or Twitter it's probably bullshit. Look to experts in our community.

Sure. These people are bad to the core and legit crazy. Sure. An anti-vaxxer with a brain parasite may be put in charge of health policy. Sure. Elon Musk could be put in charge of whether the rich pay taxes. Sure. Project 2025 might become real law. Sure. The Supreme Court may have established that Trump can not be persecuted. But please don't get crazy. We win nothing by making shit up.

Be a safe place for those victimized by conservatives. We are under attack. Kindness and compassion are under attack. Our friends and family members are going to be targeted. Be it anti trans laws, outlawing reproductive care, demonizing minorities, or just being abusive assholes. Let your community know you will help them, hide them, hold them when the bad people come. It's us against them, and they have more guns and less compassion. Don't let good people get picked off because they didn't have a safe space to flee to. Don't turn away as people you care about live in fear.

For my part - I have a small guest bedroom. I love you all. I will help you, hide you, hold you to the limits of my ability. My parents did not raise me to look away or be safe in the face of tyranny. My mother wouldn't have turned away and neither will I.

Hold on to compassion. Many good people will be demonized in the years to come. Conservatives will blame the homeless who have nothing, blame the foreign workers who are here to do work Americans won't, blame the trans and queer folk who God made that way, blame the scientists and intellectuals for the truth Trumpers find inconvenient. Our kindness and compassion is what makes us special in a country now glorifying fascist billionaires. Leverage that strength. Lead with kindness and look out for the real victims. Don't let the victims feel weak and alone.

The bad people won the popular vote. We are the minority now. Stay together, come together, help Trump's real victims together.

<<<<< previous blog         next blog >>>>>

---