Friends:
I am sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I gave it to you straight lastsummer when I told you that Donald Trump would be the Republican nominee forpresident. And now I have even more awful, depressing news for you: DonaldJ. Trump is going to win in November. This wretched, ignorant, dangerouspart-time clown and full time sociopath is going to be our next president.
President Trump. Go ahead and say the words, ‘cause you’ll be saying themfor the next four years: “PRESIDENT TRUMP.”Never in my life have I wanted to be proven wrong more than I do right now.I can see what you’re doing right now. You’re shaking your head wildly –“No, Mike, this won’t happen!” Unfortunately, you are living in a bubblethat comes with an adjoining echo chamber where you and your friends areconvinced the American people are not going to elect an idiot for president.You alternate between being appalled at him and laughing at him because ofhis latest crazy comment or his embarrassingly narcissistic stance oneverything because everything is about him. And then you listen to Hillaryand you behold our very first female president, someone the world respects,someone who is whip-smart and cares about kids, who will continue the Obamalegacy because that is what the American people clearly want! Yes! Four moreyears of this!
You need to exit that bubble right now. You need to stop living in denialand face the truth which you know deep down is very, very real. Trying tosoothe yourself with the facts – “77% of the electorate are women, peopleof color, young adults under 35 and Trump cant win a majority of any of them!” – or logic – “people aren’t going to vote for a buffoon or againsttheir own best interests!” – is your brain’s way of trying to protect youfrom trauma. Like when you hear a loud noise on the street and you think,“oh, a tire just blew out,” or, “wow, who’s playing with firecrackers?”because you don’t want to think you just heard someone being shot with agun. It’s the same reason why all the initial news and eyewitness reportson 9/11 said “a small plane accidentally flew into the World Trade Center.” We want to – we need to – hope for the best because, frankly, life isalready a shit show and it’s hard enough struggling to get by from paycheckto paycheck. We can’t handle much more bad news. So our mental state goesto default when something scary is actually, truly happening. The firstpeople plowed down by the truck in Nice spent their final moments on earthwaving at the driver whom they thought had simply lost control of his truck,trying to tell him that he jumped the curb: “Watch out!,” they shouted.“There are people on the sidewalk!”
