16 more days.

Democracy!

Earlier this week my 19 year old son and I voted absentee for the first time ever in a major election (we voted absentee in our primary, but that didn't feel nearly as crucial as these ballots cast. We didn't even physically drop off our ballots for the primary. The hubby dropped them off while paying a utility bill. DH is still sitting on his ballot). This was my son's first presidential election. I believe he is well aware of how exceptionally critical his vote is. I was also 19 when I voted for the first time for Bill Clinton. I don't recall feeling any sort of anxiety. I simply voted for the candidate whose platform most closely matched my interests.

But this...this is so vastly different. This is literally life-or-death. Trump has enabled the spread of deadly pandemic and has 0 plans to protect US citizens. He has nominated a woman for SCOTUS who would rob women of reproductive health care, in addition to undoing the Affordable Care Act. With her addition to the SCOTUS, same sex marriage will likely be defeated and protections for LGBTQ individuals would also be struck-down.

Yesterday there was a Trump rally 20 minutes from our front door. Photos and video of the crowds and hearing Trump again encourage the audience to "lock her up" towards our governor...gave me incredible anxiety. It's only been about a week before it was made public that the FBI had infiltrated a homegrown terrorist cell (aka "militia") with plans to kidnap, rape, and murder her.

Fxck Cancer!

22 more days... *twitch*

We have our absentee ballots, but still need to fill them out and drop them off at our voting precinct. I'm sort of paranoid.

The past few weeks have been beyond surreal. The most unreal fiction would read more believably than this. Tomorrow will mark 3 weeks since the first (and apparently only, which is a saga of its own) presidential debate. I think it was 2 days later that Trump tested positive for Covid. What followed was...I still can't process it fully.

He was flown to Walter Reed on Friday, IIRC (my brain is already numbing itself from the recent reality of this nightmare administration). He remained there 3 nights. After 2 nights he insisted that he needed to go out for a motorcade parade around the block. Then after one more night he was discharged back to the White House.

Now he's claiming that he's made a miraculous recovery. Meanwhile a whole lotta high-ranking cabinet members and other GOP attendees of the prospective new SCOTUS nominee's crowded indoor/outdoor/maskless "superspreader" nomination ceremony who were diagnosed with Covid have seemingly disappeared.

From the outset I was not convinced that Trump was legitimately ill with Covid. I'm still not convinced. The whole thing is just...off. And the past 4 years have been nothing but a steady stream of lies and the entire Republican party covering for Trump, so I am skeptical of any "facts" coming out of this series of events.

Biden is currently trouncing Trump in the polls, but so was Hillary, 4 years ago. I'm really anxious about how absentee ballots will be handled. Some states are only allowing 24 hours to count them. The Trump-installed head of our USPS had employees destroying mail sorting machines and delaying mail delivery (we had months where we received nearly no mail, most days). Trump supporters have already been caught erecting fake ballot boxes in CA. In TX the governor is only allowing 1 drop-box/county...including in counties with millions of residents. Absentee voters are overwhelming democrats. I fear that if Trump is leading at midnight that he will assume a win, even though it will likely be days before all ballots are counted. His "militia" supporters are already claiming that they will start civil war if he loses.

Which brings me to the recent drama in my state. Some MI militia (domestic terrorists) members were caught hatching a plot to kidnap and kill my governor, as well as blow up a bridge, kill some cops...just generally horrific actions.

Covid numbers are again on the rise and there's suggestion that this is the start of our 2nd wave. Winter is going to be rough. I'm increasingly anxious about my son working in an "essential" retail environment over the busy holiday season.

At least putting the election behind us will remove a massive source of my anxiety -- unless Trump "wins." I really can't allow myself to contemplate that outcome, at all. The past 4 years have been even more horrific than I'd imagined.

Fxck Cancer!