Let’s talk about DeathWatch, shall we?
Normally I don’t like to Yuck someone else’s Yum, but like my husband and Jerry Seinfeld say about dancing…it’s so stupid.
As if we need to add to the list of things that make us look stupid. Armchair medical experts, cardiology buffs, and that rando whose uncle also had heart failure are certain Mango Twitler has exactly 3 days and 47 minutes before he fucks off to haunt whatever realm of existence deserves it next.
Others have covered why this is annoying and pointless, as we did in the first segment of our podcast this week. Reasons range from “stop jinxing it dammit” to how it is a colossal distraction proving how shallow-thinking our media and electorate truly are.
But since I’m the podcast contrarian, I have another point of view about Caligula Corpse Countdown that we didn’t discuss.
One of the things I see consistently around Beyoncé’s internet is how folks will be dancing in the streets, popping champagne corks, ding-dong the witch is dead all over the nation. Waiting for *the text.* SQUEEEEEEEE!!!!
I kinda don’t think that will be my feeling when it happens.
Don’t get me wrong. I sincerely doubt the malodorous monster will live out his term. But I won’t be dizzy with glee when he kicks it, either. Not because I give a fraction of a shit about anyone who might be sad he’s gone. Fuck those fascist grifters, idiots, and hangers-on.
No, it will be a feeling of shell shock, I predict. That sense one has after being in the grips of a madman for eight to 10 years determined to do all he can to reduce you to a servile object devoid of any dignity whatsoever, and then realizing you might suddenly…no longer be in that iron-tight vise anymore.
Profound relief, perhaps.
Tears of grief, maybe, but not for him. For all who have suffered and died because of him. Women in Georgia and Texas. Children at the border ripped from their parents and still - STILL not reunited. Remember them? Trans people terrorized because of MAGA stupidity. Officer Sicknick. Teens who died from suicide because no support existed for them anymore. People living with disabilities having benefits slashed, driven further into poverty or worse because an unhinged nepo baby can’t distinguish reality from conspiracy.
Heaviness.
Heaviness from the prospect of what lies ahead. How can we rebuild what his hedonism and stunted emotional intellect allowed to be destroyed with the help of more than half the nation? Don’t kid yourself, he isn’t the catalyst. He’s not the muscle, and he’s sure as shit not the brains behind the whole operation. He is the flimsy caricature, the cartoon bad guy all the fascists gathered behind to use as their front man while they gleefully picked apart what was left of the carcass of democracy after 40 years of GOP machinations undermining science, education, art, critical thinking, bipartisanship, and kindness.
What then? “What now?” is likely what I’ll be thinking. And I’ll be looking around at people dancing, and I’ll be glad they can be happy. Because while we all deal with death in different ways, those people dancing want the same thing I do: to rebuild the social and political fabric of this ruined nation so that it’s better than it was. Maybe this time we can finally let Black women lead us.
HAHAHAHAHA like white people will have learned ANYTHING, from this disaster, let alone that they need to turn inward and examine their own bigotry.
Because that’s the other thing that will be weighing me down. If only a majority of white people could have enjoyed instead of fumed over the brilliance of eight years of Obama, we wouldn’t have had Trump 1.0.
But yay! Trump 1.0 was disastrous enough to move people to elect Biden, who was the best American president of my lifetime! Then, something spooked the consultant class, media cluckers, and pontificators and convinced them that Biden was tOo oLd for a second term. And the prospect of a brilliant, accomplished, joyful Black woman as the next president all it took to bring on Trump 2.0.
Nice job, racists. We have a lot of work to do. You guys dance - I’m gonna take a nap.
This Week’s Podcast: “Shut It Down”
If we were living through normal times, the month of August would have been relatively quiet. Instead, we got chaos and ICE raids and economic jolts amid National Guard deployments to American cities and mid-cycle gerrymandering.
Congress is back in session, and the chaos is about to go into high gear.
Right now, everyone's eyes are on the saga of the Epstein files (for very good reasons). But Congress has a looming deadline of September 30 to fund the government, and this time around, the talk of finding bipartisan solutions is leaving some of the MOMocrats feeling cold.
Donna put it this way: "When the other side is changing the rules on you and not being fair, which is what has happened with our budget with these rescission packages and DOGE and all these government workers losing their jobs so that the workers that are left can’t function... I'm ready to burn it all down."
ONE LAST THING:
I’m not a total downer, guys, I can laugh, too - This guy from the “Greeters’ Guild” bestows strangers on the street with the most random-yet-lovely compliments, and it is so funny and kind. Just the boost of serotonin everyone needs. Please enjoy!
