Finding the funny

AAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA.  What a day!

I am shocked by how many people are shocked by this.  As if we didn't think it was possible.  As if we didn't know that the US was comprised more of ignorant, racist, uneducated dingbats than people of actual intellectual ability with critical thinking skills.

Let me break this down for you:

From the beginning Trump has said what he thought (knew) people wanted to hear.  It's as simple as that.  Historically he has flip-flopped on myriad issues.  He has the mind of a businessman who knows how to make a deal and obviously knows how to play people.  It's impossible to tell when the man really means what he is saying, because it's all a play. Guess what, America: you just got played.  Of course, Trump isn't the first politician (and I use the term politician extremely lightly and grudgingly here) to tell the people what they want to hear in order to get elected - however, he may be the first person to ONLY tell people what they want to hear, without actually having any real, substantive policy to back it up.  The dude may be a businessman, but he has absolutely no business running a country - he is not a fucking politician.

He is a public figure, a celebrity - and we know how much Americans love a celebrity!  When Trump first talked about running for President, many of us with brains in our heads found it utterly laughable that some reality tv buffoon thought he could rise to such a position of power and respect, but in playing off of the lowest common American's thirst for celebrity and entertainment, that's exactly what he did, and I'm not at all surprised it worked.  People are stupid, easily distracted and misled, let me remind you.  Who else is a stupid person going to vote for?  Certainly not a stoic, qualified, intelligent (albeit far from perfect) WOMAN!

Which brings me to my next point.  As a new wave feminist who has asserted time and time again that the world was built FOR and BY straight, white men, I'm actually a bit tickled to have been backed up by such a tangible, real-world, in-your-face example.  NO LONGER can anyone argue otherwise.  No longer can we say racism, sexism, etc are not rampant in America.  Trump played into the growing fears people (ie racists and misogynists) have about their world of misplaced entitlement being taken away from them, and guess what: THAT SHIT WORKED.  Hooray for white Americans!

If it seems like I'm making light of this dire situation, if it seems like I'm simplifying the issue, it's because I am.  It's a fucking ridiculous situation, America.  How can I be expected to take you seriously?  I don't purport to be a political analyst, but I refuse to even categorize what we've been seeing over the past year or so as politics.  It is an unprecedented, outrageous, absolutely laughable situation that too many Americans have abetted, and is an unequivocal symptom of American senselessness.  This is not to say I am making light of the coming struggles for minorities, immigrants, refugees, the LGBTQ2+ community, women and whomever else Trumpasaurus Rex has spoken against.  My heart is with those who will be most negatively affected by the coming shitstorm; but I find it easier on my heart to look upon people with bigoted, backassward values with amused contempt than to panic over the state of the world.  I'd rather pat an ignorant dimwit on the head while rolling my eyes, because down the road that ignorant dimwit will be on the losing side of history.  Let me be clear: those who support human rights are in the right.  Human rights are non-negotiable, and those who fail to see this now will be appropriately vilified later.  So for now, I choose to shake my head and find the funny.

I do feel really bad for HRC - not because she lost this election, but because she had to run against this sorry excuse for a human being in the first place.  HRC may not be everyone's cup of tea, but she is a serious politician with decades of experience who deserved the respect of at least running against another serious politician instead of someone who makes a mockery of American politics and humanity in general.  I feel bad for her because, as the first woman to be seriously considered for President, she was pitted against an absolutely laughable opponent, and she deserved better.  She deserved a serious fight, and this election cycle has been a ludicrous gong show from the beginning.

Things often get worse before they get better; in fact, in these times of complacency and easy distractions, things MUST get worse before people are spurred on to make things better.  I think sometimes upheaval has to happen.  Protests, riots, unadulterated anger and defiance against what is wrong and unjust - these things have to happen in order for things to change.  Maybe things won't be as bad as we think.  Maybe Trump really was only saying those terrible things to cater to the lowest common denominator, and now that he is President he will go back on it all (we've seen it before!)  Maybe he'll be so ineffectual as President he won't cause too much harm.  Maybe he will fuck everything up and at the end of his 4 years he'll get the boot.  Maybe he'll destroy the country... and you know what, maybe the country needs to be destroyed before getting built back up to be better (and I would have said the same thing had we Canadians re-elected Stephen Harper).

Whatever happens, I'm choosing to see a Trump presidency as a catalyst for change for the better. Because although so many misguided Americans voted for him, there are still many, many people in the country and around the world who see his campaign of lies, hatred and idiocy for what it is, and that gives me hope.  Things might be about to get worse, but it's now the job of every American citizen with a good heart, kind soul, and brain in their head to use those things to fight even harder for what's right.  If Trump is not your President, you'd better damn well stand up and show it instead of rolling over and taking the ass-fuckery he's about to dole out.  The apparent majority of Americans have spoken, and shown who they are in doing so.  Now it's time for the decent ones to show who they are, and to fight more fiercely than ever before to be the good that America and the rest of the world needs.  Because only when the good guys stop fighting will the bad guys truly have won - and my friends, we are the good guys.

I'm not gonna lie - I actually can't wait to see what happens.  Stay strong, friends.