Trump

My 80s friend

~ MaryG ~ 11 Comments

At Christmas dinner yesterday, my father told me he had run into my old friend Debbie at the fish market. They recognized each other and exchanged some quick pleasantries.

Debbie and I were neighborhood friends who ended up becoming close friends for many years. She knew my parents well and I knew her family too. Her dad was a great guy. We took several trips to California and Florida in our late teens and twenties. We did a fair number of edgy things together including lots of underage drinking, shoplifting, dine-n-dashing, and at least one crazy 80s Spring Break trip to Fort Lauderdale. (Wet t-shirt contest anyone?) Debbie was 18 months older than me (a year ahead of me in high school) and liked to party and dance. I’m sure my first nightclub experience was with her. Even though she was a true redhead, she loved the sun like I did and we went to the beach as often as possible. We went skiing a few times too and once spun out in my mother’s car driving in a snowstorm. We did a 180 and hit the guardrail. (Debbie was driving at the time and we were fine.) In fact, we wanted to carry on with our ski trip with one headlight dangling, but when we called my parents from a gas station, they made us come home.

Debbie and I stayed friends for many years through a variety of life experiences including her being severely burned in a freak accident. (I remember visiting her in Shriner’s Burn Center where I saw the most horrifically scarred young children.) We knew each other’s deepest, darkest secrets. We attended each other’s weddings and then drifted apart as we became mothers and got busy raising kids. Still, we sent Christmas cards and occasionally saw each other in person.

Then, at some point during the second Obama administration her right-leaning political posts on Facebook caused a tiff between us. We unfriended each other and that was that. Some years later, I felt badly about it, but figured she had probably morphed into a Trump supporter, so what would be the purpose of reaching out. We were too different by then.

You know that expression about some friends being for a reason, some for a season, and some for a lifetime? Well, at one point I might’ve thought we’d be friends for a lifetime, but it turns out we were friends for a season. And our season was the 1980s. Big time.

Christmas 1989 (towards the end of our close friendship)

If I had to pick one song that tends to trigger a Debbie memory, it would be Kool & the Gang’s Celebration. I picture us dancing around in front of a mirror, sipping some alcohol, while we made our hair as big & fluffy as possible for whatever came next.

Off the rails

~ MaryG ~ 10 Comments

Do you ever see wild animals?

I see lots of wild animals around here, but I don’t feel like writing about them today.

Unfortunately I took a peek at the national news yesterday and I’m feeling scared today. It feels as if the country is definitely going off the rails. Humans behaving like animals is going to be the norm.

For the most part, I have not been watching the news since the election, but my husband told me about the assassination of the UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, and then my son showed me the horrific video. It was so chilling. I was thinking, “Is this Russia? Is the President-elect somehow involved in this?” I literally thought that…and I am not a whacko conspiracy theorist.

But the reality is almost worse. The overwhelming reaction to this guy’s murder is completely justifiable rage at the health insurance industry. There is very little sympathy for his widow and children. I did a quick check of social media and it seemed the overwhelming consensus to the police’s request for help in finding the suspect is “snitches get stitches.” (So yeah, maybe “the public option” or even “Medicare for All” weren’t such crazy communist ideas after all.)

Animals. We are like animals now.

Then I read a quick article about the animal that has been nominated to lead our Department of Defense—Peter Hegseth. If you think “animal” is too harsh a characterization, please just google him. This guy could be walking around with the nuclear codes as soon as next month. I wonder if he’ll keep them in a pocket near his pro-Crusades tattoo?

Animals. An animal is nominating other animals to help him debase this country to a level we could have never imagined 10 years ago.

Time to Circle the Wagons

~ MaryG ~ 13 Comments

Welp, that’s that.

I am devastated, but I’m going to try to get over it quicker than in 2016. My conscience is clear. I didn’t sit on the sidelines. I did what I could to try to defeat Trump—marching, calling, writing, donating, posting, rallying, protesting, singing, voting.

For years…years…we did all that stuff.

But Trump won a second term anyway – fair and square. American voters chose a senile pervert and felon over a perfectly good female candidate (again).

It’s time to circle the wagons and focus mainly on my own family. I plan to devote my time and resources primarily to them. I have so many cute pictures of my granddaughter in my phone. If I get down, I’ll just look at them. I am too old to be angry about Trump for another four years. By the time my granddaughter gets to kindergarten, he’ll be out of office. In fact, I’m going to try not to use his name in my blog anymore.

Maybe I’ll get involved again if they try for a National Abortion Ban. Otherwise, I’m just going to huddle up here with my loved ones in Massachusetts, where we will (hopefully) be relatively safe.

Keep Calm and Carry On

~ MaryG ~ 10 Comments

It’s finally here. Election Day 2024.

And the stakes seem absolutely monumental. Not just for the United States, but for the whole world.

The best advice I’ve seen is from my former UU minister, the Reverend Fred Small. He says, “If you’re feeling anxious (or worse) about the presidential election, I recommend deep breaths, meditation, and this video released last night by the Harris campaign.”

He was right. The video makes me feel better. We’ve got some extremely competent and professional women— like Jen O’Malley Dillon and Dana Remus—running the Harris Campaign. They know what they’re doing.

Breathe.

Keep Kamala & Carry On-a-la

Hillary PTSD

~ MaryG ~ 13 Comments

My get-out-the-vote calls went pretty well today. It was actually kind of fun. I talked to left-leaning voters from Pennsylvania. Many had already voted for Kamala and were willing to reach out to friends and family to do the same. One young man from Erie County, PA told me he wasn’t just excited, he was ECSTATIC to make Kamala Harris the next President of the United States.

So why don’t I feel better? Where’s my joy? Why am I SO anxious?

Because I remember 8 years ago…

Here I am in my cute little pantsuit (which no longer fits) on November 8, 2016, heading out to help elect Hillary Clinton as our first woman president. I was so excited and happy. Joyful!

And then….

Utter despair, bitter disappointment, disbelief, and a huge amount of anger at every single person who saw fit to pull the lever for Mr. Grab-em-by-the-Pussy Donald Trump.

Tomorrow (US Election Day) is going to be rough. I’m going to wear my new KA-MA-LA t-shirt and buy some celebratory champagne, but I also have to prepare myself for the worst. I have Hillary PTSD. Of course I’m hoping against hope that it’ll be a Kamala landslide and red states will start dropping early on. (My fantasy is that Florida miraculously goes blue by 9pm.) But that’s probably not going to happen. It’s probably going to be some sort of a protracted nail biter like Biden/Trump in 2020. (It took four days from Election Day for CNN to declare Biden the winner.)

The one and only good thing about the November 8, 2016 election was that Massachusetts legalized recreational cannabis the very same night. And that is the only reason I’ve made it through the past eight years.

May the Trump Era in the United States of America end tomorrow.

🇺🇸

Phone calls for Harris

~ MaryG ~ 8 Comments

I signed up for a two-hour shift making phone calls for Harris tomorrow.

A friend sent this message earlier today:

Hi everyone,

I just finished a get-out-the-vote phone bank for MoveOn.org. It involved asking voters to remind 3 friends or family members to vote. It was fun! Remember this is coming from the person who would rather chew nails than make these calls! It was easy, lots of people answered, most were friendly, many agreed to remind others and one even agreed to volunteer. I had some great conversations.  The link to sign up is already below, but here it is again: https://mobilize.us/s/y58Kqy
One person said she was definitely voting for “Miss Kamala,” all her family members had voted, but she would remind younger co-workers who might not otherwise vote.

There are lots of shifts left between now and the election, and it’s a great antidote to election anxiety.

Lynn
(she/her/hers)

I really don’t feel like making calls, but defeating Trump is my self-professed Number One Objective of 2024. I’ve written more than 30 blog posts focused or partially focused on him. I started this blog nine years ago, exactly as Trump began his ascension. In many ways, he has been hanging over my life and my blog like a dark cloud the entire time.

So I better get off my butt and join my grandmother friends in making some calls to voters tomorrow. We gotta leave it all on the field!

If you live in the US and have some time on Monday or Tuesday, you can use this link (or the one above) to sign up:

https://track-mg.mobilize.us/CL0/https:%2F%2Fmobilize.us%2Fs%2FXSg67M/1/01000192f4afee2c-54e7c91e-cd19-4693-a83d-a9e5af0ef9c7-000000/sV9xaKVYJa9D2NZc-zQNL5kTcP0pHVc6zXxry3G8maA=377

Wasn’t Kamala great on SNL last night?

Deactivated

~ MaryG ~ 17 Comments

OK, I’ve deactivated my Facebook as a first step in trying not to care as much about the election. I’ve never done that before, but apparently it can be reactivated easily. I was just seeing way too many upsetting posts, particularly from feminist groups documenting the horrors that women in the Trump Abortion Ban States are enduring.

Also, I’m done reading The Washington Post. My husband reads it daily, so we won’t cancel it, but honestly, fuck Jeff Bezos. I’m so tired of these asshole white male billionaires and their outsized influence. And while I’m at it, fuck Joe Rogan too. Did you know that little shit is only 5’7”? I am taller than Joe Rogan. And of course, it goes without saying…FUCK ELON MUSK.

Aaaah, now that that’s off my chest…

Back to my efforts to not care about anything other than my own inner circle.

I have some fun things to look forward to:

-Luncheon today: I’m attending a ladies lunch this afternoon. (Actually, I think there’ll be one man there, but he’s cool.) The guests are all church friends of mine so there is absolutely no chance that any of them are Trumpers.

-Babysitting next weekend: My husband and I are going to babysit our adorable, perfect infant granddaughter for a few hours next weekend! I cannot wait to see that little angel again. I can already tell that having grandchildren is going to the absolute best part of being 60+.

-Book group meeting next week: I get to see one of my favorite groups of women. I am so fortunate to have this small group of book-loving friends with whom I can be completely open and always feel supported. (We are reading Solito by Javier Zamora this month and I need to finish it this weekend.)

Also, I had a realization that if Trump wins the election, I’m probably going to seek out a paid position (perhaps a part-time one). I’m going to need something else to focus on, other than the news and volunteering for lost causes. And I think I can still make some decent money in my field, which would mean more resources for the people I love.

Duh!

~ MaryG ~ 10 Comments
Posted on Facebook by “Feminist News”

My first thought when I saw this post was “no shit.” Do some women actually think they have to vote how their husbands do? (And don’t even get me started on churches. Pastors should not be telling their flocks how to vote. And if they do, they should get their nonprofit tax-exempt status revoked.)

My second thought was “how sad.” So many women are stuck in power-imbalanced marriages and feel they can’t get out.

I’ve been married 31 years and my husband (thankfully) never even entertained the idea of voting for Trump, but we’ve had plenty of other fights. Two things he’s never done is physically threaten me (even though he’s much bigger and stronger than me) or try to control what I do (even though he earned much more money than I did when we were both working).

If you’re being controlled by your husband or boyfriend—either physically or mentally—you should be making your escape plan. I firmly believe that.

And did you see that interview that Kamala did with Fox News? Infuriating! Fuck Bret Baier. Fuck him right in the ass.

18 more days.

Sweater Weather and Anger

~ MaryG ~ 4 Comments

I love the ubiquitous clip of Amy Poehler and Maya Rudolph saying “sweater weather.” It’s dumb, but it makes me laugh every time. I think it’s because Amy Poehler is using an authentic Boston accent. She grew up two towns over from where I did.

It is, in fact, “sweater weather” in Massachusetts. And I’m very pleased to report that I wore a sweater out to lunch yesterday and did not regret it. Maybe my hot flashes are finally subsiding.

I am continuing to write letters and postcards to help get out the vote in swing states, but that will be ending soon. My extreme anger at the Trump movement has risen to the surface again. I’m really fucking pissed at everyone who voted for him in 2016 and/or 2020, including members of my own family (not my husband or my kids). And I truly HATE all of Trump’s Republican enablers in the GOP. My hatred extends to all the Republicans who don’t support him, but have strategically kept their mouths shut during this campaign. For example, my college classmate Jane Swift (former Governor of Massachusetts) has not said one thing in support of Harris. Fuck you Jane. Nobody cares about your daughter’s engagement ring. Post about something that actually matters. Be BRAVE, like Liz Cheney. Speaking of former Massachusetts Governors, where the fuck is Mitt Romney??!? He should be out campaigning for Harris. Bill Weld has been public about supporting Harris, but unfortunately nobody gives a shit about Bill Weld anymore.

19 more days.

I think I should stop watching the news and just watch videos of cats in sweaters for the next three weeks.

Clever image & the debate

~ MaryG ~ 14 Comments

From The Atlantic:

For our October cover image, the illustrator Justin Metz borrowed the visual language of old Ray Bradbury and Stephen King paperbacks to portray a circus wagon on its ominous approach to a defiled Capitol. “Something Wicked This Way Comes,” Bradbury’s 1962 masterpiece, was a particular inspiration; it tells the story of Mr. Dark, who grifts strangers into joining his malevolent carnival. Over the course of The Atlantic’s 167-year history, only very rarely have we published a cover without a headline or typography.

My main thought on the debate is that it’s disgusting that a serious person—an accomplished woman of substance—would have to share the same stage with a criminal—a lying sack of shit. He doesn’t deserve to lick her shoe.

The fact that the GOP has allowed this is unconscionable.

Please enjoy this free gift article from my old friend Mark Leibovich of The Atlantic. He sheds some additional light on the spinelessness of Republicans.