Look.

july 25th, 2017

The US Senate voted today to begin debate on repealing the Affordable Health Care Act. The ACA is very popular in red states and blue states. The Senate's health care plan has 12% national approval among voters. So beyond the jobs and lives that will be lost once Medicare is gutted looms the sickening reality that the Republican Congress and the Executive are behaving as if they won't be subject to future free elections.

i said to Vlad, “i'm mad at my aunt and uncle in Michigan who voted for Trmp.”

Vlad said, “he fooled them.”

i said, “no, i think my aunt and uncle wanted an anti‑abortion Supreme Court, and they didn't want Hillary, and they wanted to undo the best of Barack's legacy. And they're getting all three of those things.”

Vlad said, “did they also want to end American democracy?”

i said, “i don't think that's something they believe could ever happen. It's not possible, so it's not something they even considered. Even now, i'm sure they don't consider it possible.”

If i sever relationships with the people in my life who supported Trmp, i'll only lose extended family. i won't lose my parents or my siblings or my close friends. i won't lose my clients or my work or my artwork. i won't lose my neighborhood where multi‑lingual signs that say HATE HAS NO HOME HERE are posted on every block.

i saw my aunt in February and in May and i said nothing.

When i met a friend's girlfriend in spring 2016 and we got to talking about politics she insisted that there was “no way the electoral map” could ever yield a Trmp victory. She was maybe 50% drunk and 85% condescending.

Last November after the election she insisted that “the Republicans will stand up to him.” That time she was only about 30% drunk.

i want to ask her what her intuition tells her today. i'm afraid she'll say that everything is going to be alright.