Woke Up This Morning: It's as White as Trump's America

[mallorys_camera]

Hiked eight miles yesterday. It was warm – close to 70 degrees.

Woke up this morning, and it was as white as Trump’s America:



Also yesterday, I realized I cannot keep up this level of political fixation.

I just.

Cannot.

Aligned with neither the Left nor the Right, I get abuse from both sides when I go public with my opinions.

And really. Why is it important what I think? Whose minds do I imagine I’m changing? Aren’t I just talking to hear myself talk?

###

Yesterday was a day filled with petty miscommunications, bruised feelings. Cathy Day upon hearing that I have turned down her Thanksgiving invitation proceed to rant to L about how weird my relationship with my X-husband is – like it’s any of her fucking business and like her entire life isn’t swimming with weirdness: She essentially drove her normal kid crazy by making the disabled kid the fulcrum of family life. She did this because she’s a control freak, and Gregory’s disability gives her absolute control.

L for whatever bizarre reason decided to recount her conversation with Cathy to me in exhaustive detail.

Okay, I get it. Everybody gossips. This is human nature. Everybody thinks that everybody else’s lifestyle choices are “weird.”

But whyever would L think I wanted to hear about her conversation with Cathy?

"Are you offended?" she asked me.

"Yes," I said.

"No-o-o-o. Really? You're joking, right?"

I made my eyes go wide and smiled close-lipped.

L is genuinely fond of me. I know that. After she determined that I really was offended, she hovered around me all day long, chattering away about the most superficial and inconsequential things – and that was annoying.

I’m kinda, sorta, maybe beginning to date someone, and he got all bent out of shape because I didn’t immediately return one of his communications. And that was annoying.

Then on Facebookland, someone I’ve known for 40 years posted a rant about Judge John Primomo. This is the judge who cautioned a group of newly naturalized citizens that if they didn’t like Trump’s election, “You should go to another country.”

John, my acquaintance of 40 years, spun this out into an apocalyptic doom and gloom scenario. Clearly the next step for these newly naturalized citizens was the camps!

Something about the source John linked to did not sit right with me. So I looked up the original news story. Primomo did not even vote for Trump in the recent election! The remark had been recirculated out of context: The judge appeared merely to be reminding new citizens that democracy is democracy – you may not always be happy with the results but somehow, you’ve gotta figure out a way to live with them.

John has been one of the worst of those hysterical HRC supporters. So, of course, I knew that by commenting at all on anything he posted, I was baiting him.

But how could I resist?

Yada, yada, yada: remarks out of context. Yada, yada, yada: untrustworthy sources parading as news. Yada, yada, yada: No wonder we’ve lost all credibility outside the echo chamber. Yada, yada, yada: Oh, and by the way, you sound just like a Trump supporter: Your sentences use different subjects and objects, true, but the adjectives and the decibel level – identical!

Of course, he exploded.

How dare you compare me to a Trump supporter! That’s two strikes against you! he raged. Meaning: I had already revealed myself as a Quisling because I had voted third party. People like you are the reason why America is not America anymore!

You don’t get to judge me, asshole! I responded. Fuck you.

And unfriended him and blocked him.

Most satisfying thing I did all day. Except for the hike!

I made out with John once at a Halloween party when I was in my 20s. He was a good kisser. I’m still not sure why we didn’t follow it up with the down and dirty. Possibly because we were prescient and knew that 40 years hence, we’d be screaming at each other over Donald Trump.

Comments

[melissa-maples.livejournal.com]

Primomo did not even vote for Trump in the recent election... appeared merely to be reminding new citizens that democracy is democracy

I thought he was trying to do his best to give them a friendly/terrified semi-coded warning that life's about to get really fucking difficult for them if they choose to stay, and if perhaps they were ever thinking about any alternative countries to move to *cough*canada*cough*, now might be the time to explore those options... while they still have options.

Because honestly, non-white people becoming US citizens at this exact moment is right up there with some of the most poorly-timed risky moves in history. If I were a judge presiding over that ceremony, I definitely would be like, hey, I can't really go off-script too much here but, I don't know if you guys noticed, wink-wink, there's new sheriff coming and, WINK-WINK IT'S DONALD FUCKING TRUMP, so... if there might be some reason you might not like him, or maybe, I don't know, perhaps you can think of a reason he might not like you WINK FUCKING WINK OMFG HOW HARD DO I HAVE TO WINK TO KEEP YOU FROM MAKING THIS AWFUL MISTAKE.

This is why I couldn't be that judge. I couldn't in good conscience swear those poor souls in. I wonder how many of them were having serious second thoughts that morning... which is sad because becoming a new citizen in any country should be a happy, proud day.

[mallorys-camera.livejournal.com]

thought he was trying to do his best to give them a friendly/terrified semi-coded warning that life's about to get really fucking difficult for them if they choose to stay,

Hmmm. That thought had never occurred to me, but now that you've brought it up, you might be absolutely right. Thanks!

[christies-world.livejournal.com]

I just read, very belatedly, Super Sad True Love Story (I figure if Gary Shteyngart is basing the ending of his next book in my childhood home now is the time to move him up the list of the many books I have aspired to read). It was a frighteningly perfect time to read it, and among other plot lines that stick in my head, I can't stop thinking about Eunice Park's parents, how they regret immigrating to America, and how that sort of a reality is more possible than ever for our many immigrants.

[mallorys-camera.livejournal.com]

Gary Shteyngart's Little Failure is one of my all-time favorite memoirs! I was so-o-o-o impressed when Katina mentioned he was using your house in his next novel!

Yeah. I think I mentioned here that attendance at my ESL classes has been down 60% since the week before the election.

But for many of the people coming here, the economic opportunities in the U.S. are still markedly better here than they were in their country of origin. And, of course, free speech is often circumscribed in their country of origin. So, I don't know...

[christies-world.livejournal.com]

Oh, totally. We're not there yet. It's just eerie that when that book was written that seemed a much more remote possibility, and now it strikes me as totally feasible we could be living in that world sooner than I had ever really contemplated.

The older I get the more I realize how fragile a country is, how easily dismantled. I'm watching it happen to Turkey, and swiftly. It hurts my heart to read anything about it these days.

I just still can't believe it about our house! I am so tickled by this situation, esp. because Betsy was soooo annoyed when he came over the first time as she kept on complaining about how she had to "share Gary Steyngart with a bunch of people I don't even know, and feed them too!" As if she hadn't volunteered to host a fundraising dinner at her home and he was just a personal friend, or something...

[mallorys-camera.livejournal.com]

Is Betsy your Mom?

[christies-world.livejournal.com]

Oh, lol, yes!

[bb-lurks.livejournal.com]

I thought LJ now had a like button. Consider it pressed.

[mallorys-camera.livejournal.com]

Awwwww.!

XXOO

[signorinakatina.livejournal.com]

I was thinking the same thing: this level of political obsession simply isn't sustainable. We have no choice but to keep living our lives. But I'm really worried, really really worried about so many things.

[idunn.livejournal.com]

Dude, the guy hasn't even been sworn in yet and I'm already exhausted.

[mallorys-camera.livejournal.com]

It would be unseemly for me to lecture you. :-) But I think what we must do is to become engaged at the most basic level of our local communities. School boards and city council meetings. Build from there.

If you have energy left over after that, by all means call your Congresspeople and write nasty letters to the electoral college. But honestly? This is a hearts and minds campaign. And all hearts and minds campaigns are most effective at the micro level.

[mallorys-camera.livejournal.com]

Me too! :-)

[petrona.livejournal.com]

Yesterday, the new beau and I were yelling at each other, over the phone about politics. I was asking him if he knew much about the people Trump had appointed and he wanted to proof of the things I was saying. We kept yelling at each other, while I was sending him links to back up my claims. He voted for Johnson btw. As the conversation got more heated, he says "This is why I don't like discussing this subject with you. You are beyond passionate about it, you are downright emotional. Plus you talk over me all the time" I responded "You're damn right I do. But we are going to still talk about it!" To which he responds, "Well the upside to this is that we will always have crazy, mad, make-up sex." At which point we both burst out laughing and the tension was broken. But that did make me realize I'm maxed out on politics for now. My work will take place behind the scenes until he comes to power.

[mallorys-camera.livejournal.com]

You're making me laugh! :-)

As an elderly retired person writing a novel at a rate of about 500 words a day :-) , I have a lot more time on my hands than you do. And I'm dedicating a major part of it to local politicking. The group I helped put together for the Bernie Sanders campaign last year has rebranded as a progressive action committee -- as yet unaffiliated with the Democratic Party (and if I have anything to do with it, it will remain unaffiliated with the Democratic Party.) I'm on the steering committee, helping design rules, vet candidates for the county legislature (so we can have input into the county budget) and various other policy wonk activities. I wouldn't have the time to do any of this stuff if I was still actively mothering.

I voted for Johnson, too, as I think you may know. Trump's appointments are so hideous, though, that if I had it to do over again, I would have voted for HRC. But I had the New York Exemption i.e. the certain knowledge that HRC was gonna carry New York. If I'd lived in a swing state, I would have voted for her.

[signorinakatina.livejournal.com]

I agree! I'm looking into getting more involved here in my new town.

[cah1470.livejournal.com]

It is sad about the dinosaurs though on one hand I am so sick of the story arc of trying to figure out why white middle America is so angry. On the other I do realize they really aren't equipped for what's coming. I was listening to Market Place and at the top of the piece they described a new machine that will pick apples. The story was about immigrants but the really interesting part is farmers have been preparing and innovation will not cease because white guys can't find jobs. Instead there is a $3000 machine on the horizon that will replace the need for laborers and the housing they provide for them.

[mallorys-camera.livejournal.com]

We must have listened to that same story on Marketplace. :-)

I think the angst is real. But wallowing in it is just counterproductive.