Wednesday, November 9, 2016

The Basket of Despicables have prevailed

I've been playing around with filters. The sky looks dark and ominous, not the bright blue it was
rainbow cookie cake at the good Italian bakery on Avenue X
did we get any of this? Some rainbow cookies for the kids No sfogiatelle for me. I did taste Steve's cannolo
I did have some spumoni though. It's at least low fat
Manhattan from the BQE
It's 4:30 am and the Holland Tunnel traffic is at a crawl
no traffic in Toledo
very faint trace of a rainbow back at home

How could this happen? Are people that stupid, racist, xenophobic, short-sighted? Not that I ever believed polls but boy were they wrong. Due to our very early exit from Brooklyn, I went to bed early so I didn't watch the blow by blow disaster that will befall us all. I awoke at 11:30: argh! He was way ahead but of course this didn't include the Pacific coast states. Maybe they will save the day. I heard fireworks not long after (out here in the wilderness). Must be Trump supporters. The NYT had some arrow showing likelihood of winning. By 1:30, it was at 97% red. I tried to sleep to non-political podcasts. At 3:30, I noticed Hillary had given a concession speech an hour ago. F%$#!!!!!

I think back to last summer to a bus driver the bicycle ride had employed to drive us to the campsite ranting on and on about Crooked Hillary. I wanted to shake him. What exactly will Trump do for you? Will your bus driving job suddenly pay more? Will you be able to get health insurance? What job opportunity will be provided for you, an obviously uneducated person? Maybe there will be a job for him in the military though he looked too old. That's where the jobs will be.

Most of my friends are educated; most were for Hillary. Perhaps I am in a bubble. I listen and read to op-ed pieces that require at least a high school education to understand. All clearly stated the dangers of Trump. Was Michigan ultimately a red state? Not clear.. Only a few thousand votes at most. The counties surrounding us, save one where the local KKK was head quartered, were clearly blue. And the area around Grand Rapids and Flint. All red elsewhere. In the UP, where they especially love their guns and want to secede from the state, all red except a refreshing patch of blue around Marquette. I do like Marquette. Too bad the winter there lasts forever.

Some seemed to vote for Trump out of self interest: their health insurance premiums are too high and they blame Obama. Some are willing to overlook all of Trump's flaws confident that he will make abortion illegal. And there are the gun lovers. But for the most part, Trump cleverly tapped into people's inner demons, those racist, xenophobic, sexist ones. It was suddenly OK to let those demons out. And they came out loud and clear yesterday. I was hoping those with vested interests in Wall Street would save us. The market would swing up with favorable polls for Hillary. Guess where it is now?

Will there be enough checks and balances to save us from Trump's monomania? I hear already he is installing as Secretary of Interior some oil executive. He wants to get rid of pesky regulations that 'impede' business. Back to bad air and water.

And for those who are gay, Muslim, Black, come from immigrant families? Scary times. The evil side of me is confident that the 'uneducated masses' that voted for him will eventually find out that Trump cares nothing for them and that they will be in more dire straits than they are already.

Not proud to be an American now.
Scary times

It is shorter and cheaper to drive home though Manhattan. But obviously, much more traffic, thus the early departure time (Steve's idea..hard for me to get him going any earlier than he wants). First fly in the ointment, the Brooklyn Bridge shuts down in the middle of the night for repairs so we took the Manhattan Bridge; out of the way but has a more straightforward path to the Tunnel. Then there was lots of traffic in the tunnel (4:30 am!!!) and very confusing where to go out of the tunnel. I point Steve to the very far left lane as he was in the very far right lane. Finally we are doing well but then he inexplicitly gets off the route. More scrambling. It was fun watching the temperatures change: 50 in Brooklyn, 27 in the mountains of Eastern PA (f888ing red state now!), 68 in Ohio and 60 back at home where I frantically got in a bike ride before the rain. We stopped for breakfast finally after driving for 3 hours. Need coffee!

We will stay at home for the near future though I will want to escape the winter blahs in a few months. I have been gone a lot having fun for the most part. We have been lucky with the weather. Brooklyn was very fun.

5 comments:

Starting Over, Accepting Changes - Maybe said...

I know of only one person who voted for Trump. He used to be a friend - for over 40 years - and now I will be unable to even look at him. I wrote an e-mail to him last night severing our relationship but put it in my draft folder until I get one from him bragging about the orange maniac. He is a privileged, educated white man who worked for the war machine, aka, defense at GE, all his life. He was never discriminated against, always had a job, always had health care, and retired at 62 with a very nice pension. He never suffered from any bad illnesses, and has had a comfortable life. He couldn't empathize with those who were not as blessed, because he had never experienced what it was like to lose a job and health care. Recently, through his e-mails and postings on FB, I found out what a racist he is. He is a pro-lifer but also carries a concealed weapon and has others in his home. He believes in the sanctity of life from conception to birth. He is a very religious man who does not understand why one would not believe what he does. Trumpets came in all sizes and levels of education, but they were mostly white who feel their privileges are being taken away from them. Many of them hid what they were from polite society until Trump called them to arms and took what was good and kind and brave away from us.

Myself, my daughters, my granddaughter and my son were so proud to vote for Hillary yesterday. Where did it all go wrong? I am sick both mentally and physical by what happened last night. This is a feeling so raw that I don't think that I will ever get over it.

Elephant's Child said...

Scary times indeed. For you, and for the world.

Sue in Italia/In the Land Of Cancer said...

Yep for the world too. His decisions will affect everyone. Right now his impulses indicate he will shoot first, ask questions later. I didn't care much for the previous Republican candidates but at least they were level headed adults (who now refused to vote Trump). We can only hope he will surround himself with some rational people leaving him free to play golf or harass women.
At least his handlers devised a reasonable acceptance speech.

Anonymous said...

You have painted a very nasty broad brush on all that chose to vote for Trump. There were obviously many Americans that did not like the direction our Country was going and did not want to continue that with a Hillary vote. I don't believe there has ever been a candidate for President of the United States that was as corrupt as Hillary Clinton. Her web is so tangled and we may never know just how tangled it is. I believe that Hillary has lied so much of her life, that she no longer knows how to tell the truth. Each time Hillary had an opportunity to come clean and tell the truth, she continued her lies. The outcome of this election is on Hillary. I am an educated wife, mother and grandmother, living in one of the few red counties in California. I have black, hispanic and muslim friends, all of which are citizens of the United States and volunteer in my community. I am not a racist or crazy person. I exercised my right to vote and I respect that you did the same and I will not judge anyone on that.

Sue in Italia/In the Land Of Cancer said...

Dear Miss Red County

You must have interesting discussions with your multicultural circle of friends.
Here in Michigan in 2008, Michigan was the epicenter of the depression due to Republican deregulation of the banks leading to the economic disaster that may even had reached your county. Since Obama, life has improved here tremendously and hopefully would have continued to do so under Hillary. Who has been the biggest liar? In my view, Trump by a long shot and about the big things, not little things.

You say you didn't like where this country was headed, I respectfully ask what you mean by that.

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