Hey But 

You are going to run this country, and this world, very soon. So you will not listen to this man, or the 75-year-old, doughy-faced, gray-haired nightmare men like him, when they try to tell you where to stand or how to behave or what you can and cannot do with your own bodies, or what you should or should not think with your own minds. You will not be cowed or discouraged by his stream of retrogressive babble. You won’t have time to be cowed, because you will be too busy working and learning and communing with other girls and women like you, and when the time comes you will effortlessly flick away his miserable, petty misogynistic worldview like a fly on your picnic potato salad. He is the present, sadly, but he is not the future. You are the future. Your strength is a million times his. Your power is a billion times his. We will acknowledge this result, but we will not accept it. We will overcome it, and we will defeat it. Now find your team, and get to work.

‘Parks and Recreation’: Leslie Knope Writes Letter to America Following Donald Trump’s Victory (via Yahoo)

what do we do tho? like, honestly? what happens if he’s elected? what do we honest to god do?

what do we do tho? like, honestly? what happens if he’s elected? what do we honest to god do?

Anyone thinking that Trump means that progress for this country is over forever needs to look at Germany. Both in terms of what we absolutely must not roll over and let him baby-goose-step us into and in terms of where it is now even after it got as bad as it’s possible for a man like that to make it within what is still living memory.

What's Our Next Step?

Donald Trump is the president-elect. This is the last thing many of us wanted or imagined, and the world is shaking in its boots. Where do we go from here? Here’s where we begin:

-Recognize that what Hillary Clinton did for women in politics was amazing. She has solidified her place in history as the first major party female nominee for president. Remember that she was a person, a person with real ideas and love in her heart for the American people.

-Recognize that Donald Trump is #notyourpresident. A man who does not care for or respect you does not deserve your respect in return. It does not matter that he will hold the highest office in the land (barring impeachment). He is just a man, just another human being, with real weaknesses. We shall continue to expose those weaknesses and his black heart for the whole world to see. You do not owe him anything. He does not represent you.

-Appreciate everything the Obama administration has done. Hell, write him and Joe a thank-you card. The man who forced him to release his long form birth certificate has now been elected into office, and that is a sucker punch to Barack Obama and his legacy. He deserved better than this. Get everything done in the next couple months that you can that may be harder to do after January 20th, such as getting an IUD and help from Planned Parenthood, or get your physical while you’re still covered.

-Realize that the electoral college? Is bullshit. It no longer works. If we had gone off popular vote, Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton would be our president, because that’s who the majority of Americans voted for. Protest the hell out of the electoral college.

-Support your community. Whether you’re LGBT, Muslim, a woman (cis or trans), Mexican, or any other minority that Trump and the Republicans have disgraced. We’re stronger together, and if we work together, nothing can stop us.

-LEARN THAT VOTING THIRD PARTY KINDA RUINS IT FOR EVERYBODY. How’s your conscience feel now, huh?

-Keep fighting for what’s right. Fight for the plans and ideas Clinton and the Democrats were running to support.

-Remember that you have a voice. You have rights. The Constitution secures many of them for you, and the most freeing ones come in that first amendment: religion, speech, press, protest. You’re going to need all of them to overcome the challenge of living under a president that wants to take that away from you.

-Support the press. They kinda fucked up covering Trump. They gave him the upper hand with all this air time, treating him like he wasn’t a threat. Because he really is now. But, now they have the chance to make it right by really digging up some serious dirt on him and making his life in office a living hell.

-This is a revolution. And what made the past beautiful was that people got off their asses in order to make their voices heard about issues they cared about. They gathered. They marched. And they didn’t keep quiet. Am I suggesting we protest Trump (or Pence’s) inauguration? Am I suggesting we march on Washington to show our unity? Do you need to stop talking about your displeasure on social media and actually physically get out there and get shit done? Yeah, you do. Let’s get together.

-Women and minorites have a long way to go. It feels as if the last victory women got was 96 years ago when we got the vote. We still haven’t broken the highest glass ceiling. But we will. We absolutely will. So we need to get together and make sure we all get the justice we deserve and lead EVERYONE forward. We need to educate people on equality. Not condescend to them.

Hard times are ahead, pals. But we can do this. We can make Donald Trump wish he was never born, let alone that he won the presidency. And I’m serious when I say that if you’d like to organize something, from a web page to a publication to protest in some form, message me.

We can do this. Because we’re stronger together.

To those of you despairing because of Trump's success in your area

What you are seeing is not being surrounded by a majority who hate you.

It’s not a room full of 10 people where 6 enthusiastically support Trump.

It’s a room where 1 enthusiastically supports Trump, 2 always vote Republican regardless because they’re party loyalists or single-issue voters, 1 who is refusing to vote because Bernie didn’t get nominated, 1 who hates Trump as a person but believes conspiracy theories about Hillary and thinks the Republicans can hold him in check or he’ll be impeached anyway, 1 who is voting third party, 1 who refuses to vote because they hate the whole system, 2 who are enthusiastically supporting Hillary, and 1 who is voting Hillary because fuck Trump.

And yes, that means 3 for her, 4 for him, and 3 cowardly fuckers who could have tipped it easily. But it also means only 1 person in that room who actually wishes you harm and 9 who, votes aside, will have your back. 9 who are the reason we have marriage equality and have come so, so, so far in the last 15 years that it’s unbelievable. Not to mention that even people who hate and fear in the abstract or about groups very very often feel differently about those they know as humans. “I hate Muslims and gays! Well, except Mohammed at work and Craig and Harry next door, but they’re just good people, even if I don’t agree with them.”

Do not despair. This country is a lot less fucked than this election makes it look, and people as a whole are always kinder than you fear.

Protest in Berlin

Two years ago, at the Brandenburg Gate and all around the neighborhood, Berlin was celebrating. Festival foods, Glühwein, music, videos of the city’s history, people whistling “Wind of Change,” and – the highlight of it all – a wall of lights. It was the 25th anniversary of the Mauerfall.

Once upon a time, this country’s citizens, suffering deeply, decided to point the finger of blame at people on welfare, people suffering from addiction or disabilities, liberals, gay men, academics, promiscuous women, racial minorities, and non-Christians – all accused of “ruining” their country. That kind of bigotry literally tore their country in two. Hence, a wall, blocking them off from each other. A self-begotten purgatory, the legacy of their choices.

For catharsis, I went to the Brandenburg Gate tonight, seeking at least some semblance of the celebrations of 2014. Festivities in honor of unity. Healing. Brotherhood. The ultimate victory of love.

There was none of that though. Instead, for reasons no one seemed to know, the bank adjoining the U.S. Embassy was lit up in red – not its typical color, but fitting. Meanwhile, the accoutrements of peaceful protest sat in front of the embassy. Candles, posters, flowers. One deeply disheartened American even discarded his old passport on the ground here earlier today; it was gone by the time I arrived. Americans, Germans, a Canadian, and a Brit stood around, expressing confusion and shock. Just a few paces away, a street violinist (unaffiliated) played “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” only heightening the sense of the surreal.

Nobody was confrontational. No sense of danger, no one in riot gear, just respect and good faith in everyone’s mutual civility, despite the political disenchantment. The beauty of a truly democratic society.

Tonight’s peaceful protest on the streets of Berlin was significant for another reason too. Decades ago, on this very night, all across Germany, there was violent mass rioting, motivated by xenophobia (Kristallnacht). Then, decades later, on the same date, the Berlin Wall started coming down. Germany wrecked itself with hate, suffered its own poisons… but then it healed. It took decades, but it healed.

I’m not sure what the road ahead looks like for America. But I have faith that America will heal too.

[x]

White house staff watching Obama welcome Donald Trump as president. 

what do we do tho? like, honestly? what happens if he’s elected? what do we honest to god do?