Things are so terrible, and it didn't have to be this way. Since January 20th, every day has been a relentless barrage of bad news. This second reign of terror has been forced upon me and is happening against my will. The only difference for me from the first time around is that ashwagandha and magnesium help me sleep at night. I've been trying to distract myself when I can with art shows, but at the same time, I can't ignore the constant chaos. Everything feels ominous. I feel like I'm living on borrowed time. Even if this nightmare ends in 4 years, that's the year I will turn 50.
I am disgusted but not surprised or afraid. Because I have always assumed the worst of everyone in the administration, nothing they do shocks me. I wouldn’t put anything past them. Nothing is too senselessly depraved for them to try. It's been 100 days of villainy. 100 days of threats and intimidation. The regime has no respect for the humanities or humanity. The tyrant and his supporters are pathetic, small-minded fools who have nothing to offer the world but their bigotry.
I keep imagining the long-term consequences and ripple effects of the irredeemable, intentional cruelty of the regime and all its henchmen. I won't even attempt to list all their crimes here, but between DOGE defunding important research and firing government employees, the attacks on the arts, the ill-informed crusade of our pathogenic Health and Human Services secretary, the torment of immigrants, and the rage-fueled opposition to diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, I often feel like what little progress we had in America is now irrevocably ruined. Who will even want to come here to vacation, study, work, or do business ever again? These heartless buffoons are blocking our blessings and cutting us off from the rest of the world. All they do is create abusive and isolating policies that seem designed to ensure a friendless existence.
Lawsuits have seemed to be the only nonviolent thing that might slow them down. It's like being in a custody battle for our rights. At first, what little opposition there was came in the form of strongly-worded letters, useless pleas to the hard heart of a bully, troll, and menace possessed by an all-encompassing desire to overpower everyone. What good are these pleas to a monster who is unencumbered by anything vaguely resembling a conscience?
Being on social media has been a reminder of the persistent, ignorant posts and replies I saw last fall, that Americans deserved to suffer if we didn’t vote for third party candidates, or that we were already living under the oppression of Project 2025, or that there was no point in voting at all, or that the country should collapse (with us in it?). Now, many have become curiously silent. How peculiar. I thought they would be rejoicing now that the country is a sinkhole and everything is falling into it. The few that remain are now telling everyone to buy guns, invest in gold, grow our own vegetables, boycott everything, and/or move to other countries. Thanks a lot.
A significant portion of the rest of the discourse has been a cycle of insipid replies, shaming, consent-manufacturing, psychological warfare, mind games, and manipulation, distraction from what really matters thanks to bots and algorithms, and people who don’t know how to spell martial law telling everyone not to protest. Meanwhile, people in other countries yell at us to do something, but whatever opposition they see is never enough. According to the social media hive mind, the few things that have given me hope were performative and pointless. Am I wrong for believing that not every protest needs to be a day of rage or an act of self-immolation? I thought the point was to make dissent visible, not the intentional provocation of law enforcement officers. And sorry if I don't want to just sit on the roof while the world burns. I hate having all this anger with no place for it to go. I would still be protesting under Harris, but the difference is that I would be protesting about a few things and not everything.
Related Links:
Trump’s 100 Days in 100 Seconds
Under the Blacklight - Beyond the First 100 Days: Centering Racial Justice and Black History
Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker speaking to New Hampshire Democrats 4/28/25
Fascism Isn’t Coming — It’s Here. Now What?
Mistakes Were Made. And Made. And Made Again.
Trump, echoing Project 2025, using 'flood the zone' strategy to push agenda: Experts
220 lawsuits in 100 days: Trump administration faces unprecedented legal blitz
How Donald Trump Broke Our Economy in 100 Days
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