president evil
11-05-24
Halloween is about over and the cold is starting to come in. I had fun with my challenge here to review 6 movies back-to-back on the week of. Unfortunately, in real life there was not much to do. The most I was able to do was visit a great local shadow-cast for The Rocky Horror Picture Show, which I talked about in my review.
It just felt like people weren't in the Halloween mood this year. At least not offline. There are a good few causes for this I can think of but it might just be due to the Election Year.
I'm gonna be talking about Election Day and U.S. politics here so here's your warning
I may not talk politics directly on this website a lot, but I do keep a very close eye on everything going on. Particularly, I've been keeping up with this crapshoot of a Presidential race since the beginning.
On the Democrat side, I believed early on they were going to lose and that was reassured with the cringeworthy performance by Joe Biden at the first debate. But then, I felt a tinge of cautious optimism, maybe even excitement, when he was swapped out for Kamala Harris and the relatively progressive Tim Walz was chosen for her VP. That optimism didn't last long as it has just been downhill from there. They refused to let a Palestinian speak at the DNC and continued to wave away concerns about the active genocide in Gaza. They boasted having the "most lethal military" and took endorsements from war criminals like the Cheney family. They just got more and more right-wing and now the Democrats are as openly anti-immigration, pro-fracking, and pro-genocide as the Republicans. The only thing they got going for them is abortion rights, less transphobia, and not being Trump.
On the Trump side it was somehow worse. He's been spreading hysteria about Hatians eating peoples' pets and immigrants getting sex changes; and I've witnessed family and co-workers casually repeat these racist and transphobic rumors. I remember the day he was almost assassinated and really thought that was gonna cement his victory (luckily no one cared in a week). The depravity of the Republican's rhetoric reached its climax at the recent Madison Square Garden rally where jokes were made of Palestinians being "rock-throwers" and Puerto Rico being "a floating island of garbage."
With all that background, it led me to a few days ago where I early voted for the Democratic ticket. I voted for a party that no longer represents my interests, besides their half-hearted vow to protect abortion rights. It was a purely strategic vote for harm reduction.
I've read from a fair bit of people who have purposely chosen not to vote due to the genocidal bloodlust of both parties. I still encourage voting, as I don't think voting has to mean you fully support the candidate and is useful for harm reduction. Still, I understand not wanting to give a vote to any of these war criminals. If the Democrats lose, it is fully their own fault for running a bad campaign, not the voters.
With that said, I really hope the Republicans lose. I don't think I can take another four years of this guy. His supporters have already been so emboldened that it's scary. I remember a time where people would be cautious about going outside wearing a MAGA hat. Now, customers will casually come into my work with red hats and shirts telling immigrants to go home. Many offline people who I considered apolitical before will just casually repeat the most bigoted talking points like nothing. Our overton window has shifted so far right it's become normalized to believe these bigoted things.
Now here I am, on the noon of election day. I got a pack of Dr. Pepper cans in the back, a monitor set to polling forecasts and 24/7 coverage. The next 24-48 hours will decide the shape of the country and world. It's between a Republican warhawk (Harris) and a full-on fascist dictator (Trump). I'll see you on the other side.