Thank you, Anand! Your insights and perspectives have been invaluable here and on MSNBC. This piece really hit home for me. After my 23yo daughter and I cried and consoled each other, my family went out for breakfast. We were in mourning and I didn't understand how people were laughing and chatting as if nothing had happened. I've been checking in on friends and family. Our pandemic-era cousins' Zoom calls will start again. Less social media and cable news, more self care and remembering what's really most important. And then I'll be ready to fight back. My question is how will we fight oligarchs and fascists when they operate in the dark and control the government, SCOTUS and media?
I too have been reaching out to family, even thinking about moving closer to be with people on know and trust and love. I wrote this yesterday morning:
Morning Aftershocks
Christine Barbour
The one thing I can tell you today is that for four long years Donald Trump lived in my head. I let him in. My disgust for all he stands for and my anger and determination to fight it gave him some prime real estate. For four more years he haunted my spirit, even as I reveled in his absence from the house of our people. My anticipatory relief at “not going back,” of finally being rid of him, let me know what weight I still carried.
I’m not in denial and I’m not stupid. I know he won last night, and I am well aware of what it says about us and of the danger ahead.
But, still, I’m not going back. The promise I’m making to myself in this new Trump era is that he gets no piece of me. I’m nearly 70. I don’t know how much time I have left in this awesome and beautiful world. But I will cede no more of it to the anxiety, fear, and existential dread I felt from 2016 to 2020, and that has danced at the edge of my consciousness ever since.
I will also not join in the blaming and finger-pointing at the people who joined me in fighting this good fight. It’s not the fault of Harris’s VP pick or her earlier liberal positions or her laugh. It’s not the fault of Joe Biden for not leaving the race earlier. It’s not the fault of the Republicans who joined us after the rot they had tolerated in their party for too long, got too putrid. It is the responsibility of people who could not trust a strong, smart, competent woman to do a job as well as an insecure, ignorant and deranged felon. It’s the misogyny. Again.
I can’t want health, sanity, and safety for my country more than it wants it for itself.
I will obey the rule of law. I will fight to protect the vulnerable. I will vote, when I can, for a better deal.
But I am pledging my allegiance to the vision of America that I voted for yesterday, a place of freedom and democracy, justice and opportunity, truth, science, and progress. I will continue to teach my students about that American dream. And I am living as I would live in that country — in joy and generosity and an expansive love — and I will turn the full beam of my light on whomever comes my way.
I will not hate. I will not dread. And I will never let DJT occupy an inch of my precious heart and soul ever again. He has not won me. He never will.
In 2016 when this first happened, my adult daughters were so distraught that we traveled to Chicago just to reassure them and literally give them a hug. On 11/6/2024 we emailed each other saying all we have now is the ability to cling to each other and hang on. About a year ago (when this seemed inevitable) I apologized to the youngest for not having developed an escape route for all of us. She replied: That's OK...I'd rather stay here and fight the battles that will need to be fought.
I too found myself taking momentary refuge in the small beautiful things in my life and my direct vicinity on 6 November. Talking by phone to both of my young adult children. Making space for their thoughts, fears, and disappointments. Sending them groceries. Raking damp leaves and pausing to notice and relish the birdsong in the bare trees above me. My dog. I am a longtime political and policy activist, but it will be difficult not to withdraw completely into these small things from the larger - mammoth - American struggles we are facing.
Anand, I join others in deep appreciation for your comments here and elsewhere these last days. While, I agree with giving oneself and others time to reflect and recover, one thing that is emerging for me right now is the need to return to teaching basic Civics in our schools, something I experienced decades ago in my education and which seems to have evaporated from most school curricula these days and which I would imagine would meet with less controversy and more consensus than so many other foci for inclusion/exclusion in current educational strategies.
I knew reading this would make the tears flow, again. In times like these we are entering, your brilliant insights and thoughtfulness will be more needed than ever, the more the 'free' media window will close overall. You provide one of the most clear-eyed analyses, suggestions and guidance out there. Thanks for it all. It may take a moment before we can get up, dust ourselves off and keep going. But the little things - and it's always the little things - we can do now.
thank you. all true. you are brilliant and kind. there is a lot of brilliance and kindness out there. I'm going to be in grief and shock for a while, but I'm lucky enough to live in Vermont, in a home with a big garden, a nearby forest, and a good dog. I wish all people were so lucky.
I’ve been reflecting on this - in the next four years, I need to protect my energy from things I cannot control. During trump’s last administration, I did not. My friend and I are reflecting, setting some intentions on where to steer our energy, and chatting Sunday. I’m feeling a tug towards volunteering with Rural Urban Bridge Initiative/Working America in Mn and tending to my spiritual practices for refreshment.
To anyone who recognizes Trump's actions, statements, and behavior, it can be baffling how any self-respecting individual might support him, let alone want him to lead one of the most significant democracies in the world. Here is a person marked by numerous controversies: a record of crude rhetoric, sexual preditor, business bankruptcies, and recent legal convictions. His history includes pandering to authoritarian figures, profiting from selling crap to line his pocket, and facing multiple indictments.
The fact that some Americans voted for him raises the question of values and accountability. If you supported him, it may be worth reflecting deeply on what that support means. Trump’s record suggests a self-centered focus, far removed from the needs of everyday citizens, and he seems to evade accountability consistently. As president he could use his position to shield himself from justice, setting a precedent that powerful can evade justice.
I agree Harvey, but I finally realized what a deep hole of information people have been living in when, in discussion with some very conservative friends who are good people, is that they have not only been led astray by the Murdoch media empire, but also their faith groups, especially if participants in the American branch of conservative Roman Catholic Church (the group that despises the Pope), nondenominational Evangelicals or Southern Baptist. The right wing groups have been misleading these people for years, and in the past 10 years, it was reinforced by their priests and pastors. I first became aware of this when a highly educated friend fell into the Trump/Evangelical rabbit hole. I alerted my father, a retired pastor (progressive in his thinking) and told him he needed to get the word out to his ministerial connections to give them a heads up. I think this tsunami of misinformation took everyone by surprise. Tim Alberta's book - The Kingdom, the Power and the Glory - does an excellent job doing a deep dive into the last 50 years of partnership between the Republican party, Catholic Church, and Southern Baptist Church to manipulate their followers.
Yes, completely so. I’m rewatching The Diplomat with my older child who loves it and thinks of it as special time with me. And I hug and cuddle with my younger. He is relieved to have learned from a friend that Harry Potter does survive and so we can resume reading the books together.
I feel relieved not to fret if I’m doing enough for the election. And I openly admit I’m fully taking advantage of the privilege of living in our coastal blue bubble. I’m diving in more with an education nonprofit I volunteer with. Reading sci-fi again. Carefully managing my news diet. Prioritizing exercise. Thinking of the difference between the quotidian acts that make up life lived and the abstraction that politics can be.
Then a friend on my years long text group shares it’s hard for her to get methotrexate for her autoimmune disease because she lives in FL and we all problem solve to how we can help, piercing my bubble and abstraction.
Bind up your emotional wounds and soothe the souls of your friends. When your energy returns, step into a group committed to working toward peace and justice, environmental responsibility, respect for persecuted others and neglected communities. Cultural addicts to fossil fuels, red meat, white supremism, misogyny and xenophobia still need to be treated with care (and caution). In this dark night, take courage from your hope, your historically based belief in human progress and eventual maturity. Celebrate the joyful mornings as they come. Endure, survive and some day prevail.
Anand, I join with others in expressing gratitude for your deep wisdom and thoughtfulness. I first saw you on MSNBC and was struck by your reflections. I posted this comment earlier today, but thought it appropriate to share here. Prior to semi-retiring, I ran a nonprofit. A few months before the pandemic, in thinking about a useful way to describe our organization, I came up with LOVE. COMPASSION. COMMUNITY. as our motto. When the pandemic hit, we were one of the few orgs to be operational 24/7 and worked nonstop. I encouraged our staff to view everything through the lens of this motto, which became a mantra. It made such a difference for all of us, whether working with a client in crisis, or for our own internal panics. I still use this as a guide to help me recenter myself. We will get through this if we open our hearts and ears, and work together. Thank you for your leadership and compassion.
Thank you, Anand! Your insights and perspectives have been invaluable here and on MSNBC. This piece really hit home for me. After my 23yo daughter and I cried and consoled each other, my family went out for breakfast. We were in mourning and I didn't understand how people were laughing and chatting as if nothing had happened. I've been checking in on friends and family. Our pandemic-era cousins' Zoom calls will start again. Less social media and cable news, more self care and remembering what's really most important. And then I'll be ready to fight back. My question is how will we fight oligarchs and fascists when they operate in the dark and control the government, SCOTUS and media?
I too have been reaching out to family, even thinking about moving closer to be with people on know and trust and love. I wrote this yesterday morning:
Morning Aftershocks
Christine Barbour
The one thing I can tell you today is that for four long years Donald Trump lived in my head. I let him in. My disgust for all he stands for and my anger and determination to fight it gave him some prime real estate. For four more years he haunted my spirit, even as I reveled in his absence from the house of our people. My anticipatory relief at “not going back,” of finally being rid of him, let me know what weight I still carried.
I’m not in denial and I’m not stupid. I know he won last night, and I am well aware of what it says about us and of the danger ahead.
But, still, I’m not going back. The promise I’m making to myself in this new Trump era is that he gets no piece of me. I’m nearly 70. I don’t know how much time I have left in this awesome and beautiful world. But I will cede no more of it to the anxiety, fear, and existential dread I felt from 2016 to 2020, and that has danced at the edge of my consciousness ever since.
I will also not join in the blaming and finger-pointing at the people who joined me in fighting this good fight. It’s not the fault of Harris’s VP pick or her earlier liberal positions or her laugh. It’s not the fault of Joe Biden for not leaving the race earlier. It’s not the fault of the Republicans who joined us after the rot they had tolerated in their party for too long, got too putrid. It is the responsibility of people who could not trust a strong, smart, competent woman to do a job as well as an insecure, ignorant and deranged felon. It’s the misogyny. Again.
I can’t want health, sanity, and safety for my country more than it wants it for itself.
I will obey the rule of law. I will fight to protect the vulnerable. I will vote, when I can, for a better deal.
But I am pledging my allegiance to the vision of America that I voted for yesterday, a place of freedom and democracy, justice and opportunity, truth, science, and progress. I will continue to teach my students about that American dream. And I am living as I would live in that country — in joy and generosity and an expansive love — and I will turn the full beam of my light on whomever comes my way.
I will not hate. I will not dread. And I will never let DJT occupy an inch of my precious heart and soul ever again. He has not won me. He never will.
Thank you. Very well stated and I am with you on keeping the doors to my mind and heart closed to fretting about DJT and company.
In 2016 when this first happened, my adult daughters were so distraught that we traveled to Chicago just to reassure them and literally give them a hug. On 11/6/2024 we emailed each other saying all we have now is the ability to cling to each other and hang on. About a year ago (when this seemed inevitable) I apologized to the youngest for not having developed an escape route for all of us. She replied: That's OK...I'd rather stay here and fight the battles that will need to be fought.
I too found myself taking momentary refuge in the small beautiful things in my life and my direct vicinity on 6 November. Talking by phone to both of my young adult children. Making space for their thoughts, fears, and disappointments. Sending them groceries. Raking damp leaves and pausing to notice and relish the birdsong in the bare trees above me. My dog. I am a longtime political and policy activist, but it will be difficult not to withdraw completely into these small things from the larger - mammoth - American struggles we are facing.
Anand, I join others in deep appreciation for your comments here and elsewhere these last days. While, I agree with giving oneself and others time to reflect and recover, one thing that is emerging for me right now is the need to return to teaching basic Civics in our schools, something I experienced decades ago in my education and which seems to have evaporated from most school curricula these days and which I would imagine would meet with less controversy and more consensus than so many other foci for inclusion/exclusion in current educational strategies.
I knew reading this would make the tears flow, again. In times like these we are entering, your brilliant insights and thoughtfulness will be more needed than ever, the more the 'free' media window will close overall. You provide one of the most clear-eyed analyses, suggestions and guidance out there. Thanks for it all. It may take a moment before we can get up, dust ourselves off and keep going. But the little things - and it's always the little things - we can do now.
thank you. all true. you are brilliant and kind. there is a lot of brilliance and kindness out there. I'm going to be in grief and shock for a while, but I'm lucky enough to live in Vermont, in a home with a big garden, a nearby forest, and a good dog. I wish all people were so lucky.
I’ve been reflecting on this - in the next four years, I need to protect my energy from things I cannot control. During trump’s last administration, I did not. My friend and I are reflecting, setting some intentions on where to steer our energy, and chatting Sunday. I’m feeling a tug towards volunteering with Rural Urban Bridge Initiative/Working America in Mn and tending to my spiritual practices for refreshment.
To anyone who recognizes Trump's actions, statements, and behavior, it can be baffling how any self-respecting individual might support him, let alone want him to lead one of the most significant democracies in the world. Here is a person marked by numerous controversies: a record of crude rhetoric, sexual preditor, business bankruptcies, and recent legal convictions. His history includes pandering to authoritarian figures, profiting from selling crap to line his pocket, and facing multiple indictments.
The fact that some Americans voted for him raises the question of values and accountability. If you supported him, it may be worth reflecting deeply on what that support means. Trump’s record suggests a self-centered focus, far removed from the needs of everyday citizens, and he seems to evade accountability consistently. As president he could use his position to shield himself from justice, setting a precedent that powerful can evade justice.
I agree Harvey, but I finally realized what a deep hole of information people have been living in when, in discussion with some very conservative friends who are good people, is that they have not only been led astray by the Murdoch media empire, but also their faith groups, especially if participants in the American branch of conservative Roman Catholic Church (the group that despises the Pope), nondenominational Evangelicals or Southern Baptist. The right wing groups have been misleading these people for years, and in the past 10 years, it was reinforced by their priests and pastors. I first became aware of this when a highly educated friend fell into the Trump/Evangelical rabbit hole. I alerted my father, a retired pastor (progressive in his thinking) and told him he needed to get the word out to his ministerial connections to give them a heads up. I think this tsunami of misinformation took everyone by surprise. Tim Alberta's book - The Kingdom, the Power and the Glory - does an excellent job doing a deep dive into the last 50 years of partnership between the Republican party, Catholic Church, and Southern Baptist Church to manipulate their followers.
Yes, completely so. I’m rewatching The Diplomat with my older child who loves it and thinks of it as special time with me. And I hug and cuddle with my younger. He is relieved to have learned from a friend that Harry Potter does survive and so we can resume reading the books together.
I feel relieved not to fret if I’m doing enough for the election. And I openly admit I’m fully taking advantage of the privilege of living in our coastal blue bubble. I’m diving in more with an education nonprofit I volunteer with. Reading sci-fi again. Carefully managing my news diet. Prioritizing exercise. Thinking of the difference between the quotidian acts that make up life lived and the abstraction that politics can be.
Then a friend on my years long text group shares it’s hard for her to get methotrexate for her autoimmune disease because she lives in FL and we all problem solve to how we can help, piercing my bubble and abstraction.
"He is relieved to have learned from a friend that Harry Potter does survive" hahah that's fantastic. Enjoy reading them!
Thanks for your suggestions.
Bind up your emotional wounds and soothe the souls of your friends. When your energy returns, step into a group committed to working toward peace and justice, environmental responsibility, respect for persecuted others and neglected communities. Cultural addicts to fossil fuels, red meat, white supremism, misogyny and xenophobia still need to be treated with care (and caution). In this dark night, take courage from your hope, your historically based belief in human progress and eventual maturity. Celebrate the joyful mornings as they come. Endure, survive and some day prevail.
Anand, I join with others in expressing gratitude for your deep wisdom and thoughtfulness. I first saw you on MSNBC and was struck by your reflections. I posted this comment earlier today, but thought it appropriate to share here. Prior to semi-retiring, I ran a nonprofit. A few months before the pandemic, in thinking about a useful way to describe our organization, I came up with LOVE. COMPASSION. COMMUNITY. as our motto. When the pandemic hit, we were one of the few orgs to be operational 24/7 and worked nonstop. I encouraged our staff to view everything through the lens of this motto, which became a mantra. It made such a difference for all of us, whether working with a client in crisis, or for our own internal panics. I still use this as a guide to help me recenter myself. We will get through this if we open our hearts and ears, and work together. Thank you for your leadership and compassion.
Thank you.
Yes. This was my gut's reaction, and the theme has been echoed from many humans who are both caring and intelligent.
🥲