Comments
ACCORDING TO LIZ –
“Now is the winter of our discontent…”
So starts the famous Shakespearean soliloquy as Richard, Duke of Gloucester, bemoans how people turn away from the ugliness of his hunched back even as one of his brothers has been crowned King of England. And then determines to set his brothers against each other and steal the throne for himself.
With Trump, his discontent was wrought by his deformity of character glossed over with a patina of power as he set factions of the American people against each other in order to usurp the Presidency.
What does not start well will not end well.
For the President-elect or most Americans.
For in his true soul, the U.S. Prince of Darkness echoes Shakespeare’s villainous king:
“I am determined to prove a villain…
Plots have I laid; inductions dangerous
By drunken prophecies, libels and dreams…
As I am subtle, false and treacherous”
With the Dark Lord elevated as the United States’ new Richard III, he is proven a murderer, not of his own father and brother, but of democracy, women’s and minority rights, and the American people.
The interlocking trifectas of a Republican President-Senate-House, of stacked Courts-the ascendance of the corporatocracy- fundamentalist meddling in private matters, of Trump-Musk-Vance, will inevitably lead to chaos – nationally and internationally.
Large tax cuts for the wealthy; the demonizing of immigrants on whom our economy depends; the destruction of the environment to enrich the fossil fuel magnates; the evisceration of personal privacy and rights; the expansion of the military-industrial war machine…
We must fight back, and hard.
We must never give in to woe-is-me.
This is not the time to look back in anger; now is the moment to seize the day and work with increased urgency for unity, for liberty, equality, and fraternity.
This be the kick in the ass to get us on the road, to immediately start working to curtail any ability for the Felonious F*ker to irreparably rend the fabric of American society.
Working on protecting one right at a time.
Make sure the key unintended consequence of the giddiness of this Trump slam-dunk is that a House divided is a house ripe for failure.
And if those who live in fear of the aftereffects of this election don’t unite to stand in strong opposition to each and every action of the incoming government that reduces our rights.
Remember that the rights that protect others protect you as well… To paraphrase the immortal lines that German pastor Martin Niemöller reiterated in numerous speeches in the wake of the Second World War:
First they came for the illegal immigrants, and I did not speak out—because I was not an illegal.
Then they came for those identifying as LGBTQ+, and I did not speak out—because I was not of that community.
Then they came for the Puerto Ricans, and I did not speak out—because I was not from and had never been to Puerto Rico.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.
Say a prayer that the most violent of the MAGA mob do not embark on their own version of Kristallnacht in the coming days.
And that with a Kamala loss – nay, with a loss for democracy itself – that those arrayed against the Monarch of Mar-a-Lago learn to not point fingers and to pull together to mitigate every piece of nonsense that Toodlely-do Trump proposes.
We must continue to address corruption in the Supreme Court that will allow him to run rampant over the rights that came with the birth of this nation.
We must stop the lies and disable the ability of A.I. to create them and for social media to disseminate them.
We must find a path to reduce the polarizing hated and violence that have been signatures of every upheaval.
We must fight him in the courts, we must fight him through the state governments, we must fight him in the County seats.
We must fight him by any means fair… but not foul or we will have sunk into his ooze and granted the Great Blob the ultimate victory.
This is not the time to be disconnected. We must join with the disenchanted who voted Trump-Always and feel betrayed. We must fight him in our schools and churches, we must never give up.
In the upcoming days and weeks, until the election is certified, everyone and I mean all you fine people, need to focus on breathing and staying in the present to reduce the inevitable waves of panic. On taking care of your health, physical and mental. On reaching out and connecting, expanding your friends and family networks until they are as solid as they can be.
On smiling at people, on sharing a laugh, on helping a neighbor or anyone else in need.
On saying a prayer for us and the planet.
(Liz Amsden resides in Vermont and is a regular contributor to CityWatch on issues that she is passionate about. She can be reached at [email protected].)
