Saturday 12 November 2016

A time of trepidation

The media is still wall-to-wall President Pussy-Grabber. Other news has been squeezed out of the headlines. Every available columnist has been told to pen a few words, however trite, on the new Bum-Fancier-in-Chief.

I feel I should do my bit and lob in my ten-cents worth. But what to say that hasn't been said a hundred times already? What to say that isn't apoplectic, hysterical, doom-laden, abusive or childish?

Above all, I feel for all those millions of Americans who are now very scared about the future, and how they might fare under the Trump regime. All those who till recently felt at home in America, and (on the whole) were treated decently by their fellow-citizens. All those who now feel things are changing rapidly and changing for the worse.
  • Homosexuals
  • Transgender men and women
  • The disabled
  • Black people
  • Foreign nationals
  • Migrants
  • Women
They've seen how things declined in the UK after the EU referendum, with a huge upsurge in hate crimes, abuse, death threats, physical attacks, ostracism and ultimatums to leave the country. Some were so nervous about their personal safety, and their families' safety, they have indeed left the country. Many others are thinking of leaving.

Of course those lucky Americans who aren't in one of the threatened groups, those who're well off and doing nicely and largely unaffected by who happens to be President, mostly aren't interested in those less fortunate citizens.

They shrug their shoulders, insist everyone's over-reacting, joke about moving to Canada, say the campaign rhetoric was just hot air, say Trump will be put in his place, and so on.

Such complacent dismissals won't reassure those who know how hard it is to stem the flow of hatred and intolerance once it's become normal and once it's been sanctioned at the highest levels.

I fear Trump's America could turn very ugly.

18 comments:

  1. Anyone who thinks fat white men care about them shouldn't be stunned when they get short shrift, and worse.

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  2. Time will tell. I have high blood pressure and in the last 10 years, I've learned that getting myself worked up isn't doing anything but harming myself. I question what protesting actually does, except to put yourself in harm's way. There will always be hate-filled people and even our having an African-American president didn't stop blacks from being the victims of hate crimes, police profiling, etc. If anything, it's gotten worse. I do wonder about this extreme division we have in America, but then I look back at how divided we were during the Vietnam War and wonder if things are really any different?

    Just my misc. thoughts.

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  3. Joanne: I don't think they're stunned, just afraid of what's coming down the track. And no, they don't expect fat white men to help them, that's precisely the problem.

    Bijoux: I didn't mean to raise your blood pressure! I agree, getting worked up about things seldom achieves very much apart from emotional exhaustion. There's certainly a big division between angry white men (and their women folk) on the one hand and all those groups they despise, on the other.

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  4. I tried to leave a comment, but I was kicked out. :(

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  5. As long as they don't all decide to up sticks for Costa Rica.....

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  6. Jean: Oh, you must try again!

    Helen: Canada seems the most likely destination. But who knows, they may have heard that Costa Rica is the most satisfying place to live, according to the Happy Planet Index, and they'll come flooding in....

    And they may fancy moving from one of the most militaristic nations on earth to one that has no army....

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  7. I have a condition known as
    malignant hypertension.
    it can spike as high as it was just before I retired... 270/160.
    so I HAVE to let it all go.
    just trying to ride with the terrible tide.
    our country I think is the most violent on earth. and how odd we are.
    we're so deathly afraid of terrorists and yet we kill our own people by the thousands and rioting now is the norm. SO SAD.
    I don't even watch anymore.
    like bijoux... can't afford to really.
    not to mention... it's globally SO embarrassing!

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  8. Funny how you felt compelled to post about it and I decided I had nothing to add!
    I don't expect the Trump era to be pleasant but I'm thinking it could be the beginning of a sorely needed revolution

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  9. Tammy: I tried not to be too inflammatory - I didn't want to raise my own blood pressure either! As you say, a bizarre contradiction between chronic fear of terrorists and, at the same time, indifference to the massive rate of domestic shooting deaths and gun ownership.

    Kylie: I did want to say something about all the people who're very scared about what the future might bring. America certainly needs a revolution - the inequality between rich and poor is at shocking levels and getting worse. But then, previous Presidents have promised revolutions and a Great New America, and precious little actually changed.

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  10. I wasnt thinking of a revolution delivered by a president but one coming from the people.

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  11. Kylie: Sorry, I totally misunderstood! If Trump continues in the same inflammatory, contemptuous, bull-in-a-china-shop vein as he has done up till now, I think a popular uprising is very likely. He has no idea what he's stirring up.

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  12. I'm wondering if he'll give Farage a job? Where is that little friendship going?
    Sx

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  13. Scarlet: I think Farage is hoping that by presenting himself as a bosom buddy of Donald Trump, he'll boost support for UKIP. Plus he's probably picking Trump's brains for good electioneering material.

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  14. Oh well, if America managed to survive Reagan then I'm sure they'll cope. On the plus side, perhaps they'll resurrect Spitting Image with this new influx of comedy material....

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  15. Dave: I'm sure the well-heeled and successful will cope very nicely with a wacky President. He'll make little difference to their lives. Those at the bottom of the heap, and those who weren't born in the US, won't fare so well.

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  16. A strange new world alright. I'm exhausted from the Trump-eting so I leave this debating club.

    Downhill for sure. And maybe another unCivil War.

    I hope so.

    We all need a massive shakeup.

    XO
    WWW

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  17. www: Me too. I'm already suffering from Trump fatigue. The absurdly obsessive coverage is baffling. The sort of coverage that follows an assassination, not an election.

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  18. Interestingly I told several very smart Americans I know that even if they didn't like Clinton they might think what it would be like under Trump, seeing the way that folk like Farage, Iain Duncan Smith and Boris suddenly became the new look for politicians. None of them were able to make the mental leap, and all said that Clinton and trump seemed equally bad to them and they'd probably vote for neither. I suppose that shows that we can't really learn from others' experience.

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