I'm not sure what there is to say other than fuck man. Not only does it seem like Trump is elected, but from what I'm seeing the House and Senate are also going to be Republican controlled. This of course means to me they're going to be able to pass a lot of stuff like they did last time. And it's honestly terrifying with things like Project 2025 out there. Reproductive rights are also something that worries me a lot, given I'd like to have kids one day and don't want to lose my spouse because a standard medical procedure is now illegal. While we're currently pretty safe in VT, it's just... terrifying. Of course there's also the Israel / Palestine conflict right now, and I don't want the US making it worse.

I don't know. It's hard to remain hopeful. It's hard to not feel like things are just on the fast track to making the US a hellscape to live in. It's hard to not feel like we're just watching the decline of the country. And it's hard seeing that not only does this appear to be an Electoral College victory, but a popular vote victory too. So much of the country is fine with the guy who got in trouble for mishandling classified info, the guy who has had multiple rape allegations, to be leading the country.

I wish I had encouraging words. The only thing I'm telling myself is we survived his first presidency, and the things that I remember as truly terrible from it was COVID/ the COVID response, overturning of Roe v Wade, and I felt like he was an embarrassment to us on the world stage. But...I also feel like there was a lot of other stuff that was about solidifying Republican power. January 6th of course was also horrible. And what's going to happen this time around? When it's time for Trump to leave? Not to mention how many more Supreme Court justices will he be able to appoint? I also want to say there were other policy changes that happened during the Trump presidency that negatively impacted a lot of people, that I'm simply not remembering right now (I want to say things like Trans healthcare, and social services for the poor).

What makes it even harder for me is the fact that the Democratic party doesn't even seem like a great option for opposition. Like... the only memorable parts of the Biden presidency, for me, is he passed that bill for Infrastructure, broke up a Rail Strike and like... that's it? I know a handful of individual states passed bills and laws either protecting Abortion rights or restricting them further, but I don't know much else that happened on the Federal level. And so it just feels like one party is actively making the US worse, and then when the other comes to power they're just passive.

And so how do you feel hopeful about that? I also may be just very misinformed - since leaving the media field I've not kept up with news nearly as much as I used to. I just don't have it in me. So maybe Biden/ the Democrats have truly done a lot that I don't know about that has actually been moving the country away from Conservatism. Or maybe Trump was a lot worse/ better than I was remembering. But, right now, for me things just sort of feel awful. And I don't know any solution, other than becoming apathetic given it feels like there's almost nothing to be done here other than an overhaul of the entire system. Just keep voting I guess.