ANOTHER WEEKEND

Hi Jane,

Thank you so much for everything you do. You’re such an inspiration to me. I’ve garnished a lot of anger for Trump, but there were moments in the last four years, where I saw the same thing you talked about. It’s also quite astonishing, how obvious (for some of us), he makes his childhood trauma. It makes me pity him, and his upbringing, I do feel empathy for him, but it hurts me more that we’re paying for it, as I’m sure you understand, and may also feel. But I thank you for encouraging not to hate. On the grand scheme, it won’t make this battle any easier.

I do have a question for you – first I recently heard you say in an interview about Joe Biden, “I’d rather push a moderate, than fight a fascist,” which I thought was genius.

To that point, every day, when I see the news headlines, I become more concerned that we’re heading in the direction of tyranny. I’ve thought this since the 2016 election, when I saw so many people in his base, the blind devotion. How (basically state/trump-owned media) Fox News brainwashes them, and then this narrative is reinforced and validated, for many, by social media algorithms that feed personalized, highly targeted content. But in 2016, I thought, maybe it won’t be that bad, maybe I’m being extreme and paranoid. There are processes in place, to help prevent this, experts and other leaders who he can defer to.

Of course now we know, he doesn’t like to defer to these experts, basically across the board. It is worse than I ever could’ve imagined. Sometimes I ask myself, am I being insane by worrying about tyranny here? But I know I am not. I reread works from the 1930s and beyond, about signs of fascism, and tyranny, and how it could come to the US. Everyday I get more concerned, that this is it.

I know this election is critical, for this reason. If Biden doesn’t win, who knows what our country will be in four years. I believe if we have an election that is secure and fair, that Biden will win. But I don’t believe Trump is going to let this happen. He’s of course doing everything to create confusion for voters, even in his own party. Now encouraging some to vote twice!? A good president would want to secure the faith in our voting system, for this election and for elections to come. I fear we will never have a fair election again. I used to criticize the voting system before, how naive I was, back then.

Anyway, my real question is – what can we do now? What can we do to help prevent Trump from claiming victory before the mail-in ballots are counted? What can we do to prevent him and his base from self-militarizing when the results come in, especially if they don’t come until a few weeks after Nov 3rd? What can we do, to help prevent the russian interference (the propaganda is one thing, but I also recently learned there’s hard evidence that they were in the voting software that most polling places use. I imagine all it takes is one weak link, to let them back in.)

I’m going to drop my ballot off in person, early. I am encouraging others to do the same. But there are so many things that can go wrong. And since he’s the one in the single most powerful position in the world, he’s not going to care to take measures that would secure our confidence.

I’ve given up trying to persuade Trump’s base. Some people are too far gone. Instead I’ve been focusing, whatever I can, on encouraging people I know to vote who wouldn’t vote otherwise. I hate to be pessimistic, and I am actually hopeful at times, but everyday, things get worse.

I studied Political Science, I saw these signs right away. It’s like, if anyone could go back to before Hitler began to consolidate power, I assume they would, and warn everyone. Some of us are trying to ring these alarms, and I understand why his base doesn’t want to listen (b/c it’s not convenient for them, or they just don’t understand, etc), and of course there is that notorious chilling phrase of “it can’t happen here.” I don’t know, I also feel like public leaders should be doing more to ensure the security of the election. For example, polling places, shouldn’t be connected to the internet at all. Eliminate the opportunity for hacking by disconnecting. Use the machines to count and then manually submit them. I don’t know the specifics on how all of the polling places operate, but from what I read, it seems many of the machines are automated, and then send in the results via the internet.

The funny thing is, you would think, Trump wants to be remembered as a legend and the greatest president in history. If he wasn’t so narcissistic and childish, he had the opportunity to do great things during these unfortunately horrific times. I guess the problem is he values his ego, more than the truth, and take shortcuts. Instead of doing the right thing, I’m going to make my true supporters, believe I did the right thing. Or maybe he convinces himself what he does is right, I don’t think he’s that naive, though. I think he knows what he’s doing.

That’s another thing that gets me, the way he tries to punish cities, states, and voters who didn’t vote for him, by withholding federal funding. That come from our tax paying dollars. That’s a huge indicator for what he could possibly do should he be “elected again.”

As a gay woman, I’m concerned. I’m concerned what will happen. Not even just for me, for all of us. For black people, muslim, latino, asian, all women, all children, lgbtq, and really all americans. Maybe I’m doing the most I can do. I am getting involved in phone campaigning, and postcards, but there must be more at a larger scale. Who has influence that can help make the elections fair? I also contacted my local congresswoman with some ideas.

I hope we can look back and just say, it was a threat, and we got close, but the American people came through in voting Biden in in a landslide. I’d rather that happen, than ever being able to tell Trumps base, “I told you so.”

Anyway, I apologize for going so dark and for my comment being so long. I would edit it and trim it down, but it’s a stream of consciousness, really. I just wanted to see your thoughts on this. The american people, I believe are waking up, to racism, climate change, trump’s tyranny, and many other issues. That’s the one positive thing that came out of this. I just hope we’ll be able to use this opportunity. I hope it won’t be robbed from us.

Thanks again Jane, for everything you do. I listen to your interviews, and firedrill fridays often, they help me a lot, your perspective, everything. You’re genuinely such an inspiration. I hope I get to attend a firedrill friday in person, sometime in the near future.