So no one is even tempted by self-destructive despair before the unprecedented power of a temper mentally unstable, incompetent, bullying fascist to decimate the last remaining shreds of the American welfare state, to eliminate all environmental protections, to game the system to prevent left-leaning politicians from ever again holding power, to empower the most reactionary plutocrats and the most violent white nationalists throughout the world, to create a more brutal police state than any America has known for at least a century, to launch wars that could easily involve nukes, to derail our world's meagre steps towards addressing climate change, and to conspire with Canada's oil industry to use tariffs and other economic weapons to make Canada bleed hard enough to ensure the victory of a newly alt right Conservative Party in the next federal election (with all that entails)? No one feels undone by the thought of living in a timeline where the Nazis staged a reconquista? Is it that we're so used to focusing on the evils of the Devils we know that we can't appreciate the threat posed by the unfamiliar but even more malevolent demon that has succeeded in capturing the field?

I'm drawing my own conclusions based on the information at hand. I'm not insinuating anything specific but, if the shoe fits, etc etc. Maybe this could be one of those "wink wink" moments about sore losers and "hoping for very bad things to happen" and the definition of "fascist bastards".

Look you right wing troll,I made myself very clear. Bad things. Whether they be Trump losing control of his bowel in the middle of one of his beer hall ralleys,or his hairpiece falling off while appearing on InfoWars or him spontaneously combusting.

Sore loser? Get the fuck out of here.

Losing self control and berating others are the 'trigger warnings' of a sore loser, if not also the hallmarks of 'fascist bastards', n'est de pas? You should reflect on your core values and their compatibility with progressive values, if not babble policy. Carry on, over and out.

Oh fuck off.

I don't know if anyone noticed, but I've been posting comments in the body and soul domain indicating that I'm one of the people tempted by profound despair in the face of what I see as the existential threat of a Trump administration. Honestly, is there no one else on this progressive discussion board who wants to dialogue about this threat and about ways to collectively respond to it?

Prior to the evening of the U.S. Presidential election it was widely assumed that the election was Clinton's to lose -- which she did.  But in the months leading up we were treated to endless opinions, both from here and elsewhere on the web, that she was a criminal, that her mail server made her ineligible for the Presidency, that her health was not up to the job, that she was really just another war criminal, that her hawkish record as SoS meant she'd usher in WWIII, that she and the DNC robbed Bernie Sanders, and that hands down she was the worst possible candidate for the job. 

And I don't recall you taking a moment in all those months to say anything at all.

Then Trump won, and now you're not just here to tell us all that you wish he hadn't, but to wonder aloud why more of us aren't deciding which font to write our suicide note in.  The race is long over, the horses are all back in the barn... gosh, let's take a moment to strategize.

No, I didn't say anything on this particular discussion board. I did, however, use other forums to try and get the word out and to argue against exactly the agitprop you're describing. My God, are we really going to cannibalize one another in the wake of this disaster? Is our contempt for one another really that much greater than our capacity for love and mercy? I'm not preaching or scolding, as I'm as complicit in these vices as anyone else here; instead, I'm asking for help, I'm encouraging us to overcome our resentments and to support each other, and I'm turning to this board because it's the largest Canadian forum for progressives that I know of. I've been staying away because of what I have seen, rightly or wrongly, as the corrosive animosity of much of its discourse, and I haven't wanted to contribute my ugly share of defensive hatred to what Chomsky calls the Left's suicidal tendencies, but I think we honestly need each other right now. If empathy for strangers is beyond our reach even now, then I think we're condemned to outer darkness.

There are lots of natural causes available to send off a man in his 70s with dreadful dietary habits. Magoo, you came pretty damned close though you are considerably younger than the Donald and eat mostly good home cooking. We are thrilled that you got such prompt medical attention!

But nobody should wish the Shithead a speedy demise, as his VP is a fundie Fetus Fetishist.

I think pretty much any search for "suicide" brings up suicide hotlines and other help first. A serious problem is that often those hotlines are busy, especially this time of year when many people are depressed - usually about more personal matters, but a political issue could be the last straw.

 

 

 

 

NFK. Due to a number of crises over the last year I was grappling with a clinical depression by the beginning of November, and the election dissolved much of what remained of my resiliency. I suspect I'm far from the only person whose personal vulnerability interacted with the election outcome in such a pathologically volatile way. The prospect of living in the hyper-masculine Putinian Eco horror Naziworld that seems to be coalescing all around us is hammering me like a Mjolnir wielded by a methheaded Asgardian skinhead.

I suffer from manic depression and it's gotten worse since the election. I also made the mistake of watching Kevin O'Leary with a spatula pretty much say he wants to gut our social safety net. I wa\nted to jump through the TV screen and smash in his big bald bulbous head in with his stupid spatula.

The far right is circling the wagons in the US,in Europe and coming soon to Canada. There's nowhere to run to and nowhere to hide. Except for possibly Norway or Portugal.

So you must excuse me if I advocate for direct action and violence. I think we're headed in that direction anyway.

Good morning and happy christmas eve for those who care. I awoke this morning to find elements of this thread tagged.  I'll just address a few of the recent posts.  Kaspar, I've been dealing with clinical depression off and on for most of my life.  The latter part of this year was no fun, and the election was pretty jarring.

So here's a story.  I work for a community mental health centre.  We're working just now on increasing our capacity to deal with PTSD and I'm very involved with this initiative.  Had a team meeting the morninng after the election.  Chairing it, I went around the room and we shared  some thoughts and reactions, and people were really shaken.  In the afternoon I attended a meeting of the above mentioned PTSD committee at the offices of the Toronto CAS.  Apparently the CAS director had sent out a memo to all the teams suggesting they take 10 min or so for everyone to process their feelings if they wished. We started our meeting by doing likewise.

So here's the deal.  This has brought out a lot of feelings, and we may be in touch with those feelings to varying degrees.  People may find themselves with strong reactions and engage in intemperate language.  What's going on south of the border is a shitshow no matter what the outcome, but now it is in my own opinion an even worse shitshow with the added dimention of a three ring circus.

I think we're all pretty much on the same side here, and if anyone clearly isn't, that's what I'm here for.  Meanwhile these are very difficult times, so let's try to be a bit more good to each other.

 

 

 

 

I have a couple of friends south of the border who are having serious mental health issues over this. Both understandably, one particulary so because it puts his marriage on the line.

Direct action? If it stands a chance of working, like Standing Rock.

Or like the mayors of a number of cities who have declared they will be safe havens,

Violence? That is what cheetoface and the GOP want.

A bit of drift, but honestly I think the best course of action is mockery, because Trumplethinskin reacts so badly to it, and he is so easily distracted. And from the looks of things he is going to be fighting his own party to some degree.

 

"Trumplethinskin" I am so stealing that. :)

 

You're probably right. I'm playing right int their hands. But I've never experienced such despair and I lived through Reagan and Harper both of whom I called fascists but this Orange dipshit is the real deal.

I can only hope that Americans wake up. Canadians too. I'm counting on millenials who thankfully are more Liberal than my generation.

Thank this guy:

Something to put this in perspective:

https://www.wired.com/2016/12/dont-let-trumps-win-fool-americas-getting-...

Also that any of the serious players have gone right back to work planning how to fight this. I thikn despair comes when people feel there is nothing that can be done.