How the hell is this all OK? How the hell can this be happening?

[NRaleighLiberal]

A lamebrain do and know nothing as our president - nothing but a two bit reality TV "star" with a dysfunctional entitled narcissistic family

RUSSIA - yes, that's right - RUSSIA connections

An illegitimate election result putting this idiot and his cronies in charge

Bull in a china shop destruction of all things reasonable and decent

Blatant racism and worse - name the ____ogeny

The newspapers, the media, everyone screaming about how completely wrong and screwed up it all is.


And yet - it is happening - on a daily basis.

At least once a day I have to remind myself that we are not just all living in a very bad dystopian novel.

[SticksnStones]

1. Um, because her emails....?

[onetexan]

34. LOL

[brooklynite]

2. Did you ask this question when Jesse Ventura was elected Governor of Minnesota?

Sometimes, voters act irrationally.

[m-lekktor]

4. I never thought George W. Bush could be elected a second time!

[brooklynite]

11. I did; Kerry was a mediocre candidate

His core message wasn't more than: "I'll do the same things better".

[m-lekktor]

14. I thought he was as well but I naively thought anybody but Bush would win

that year because of the anti war sentiment at that time. Of course i was WRONG.

[LisaM]

33. I heard Kerry speak, and he was amazing.

Problem was, he couldn't get covered. At first, everyone was all over Dean. When that fizzled out and Kerry was left as the strongest candidate, for some reason, the media just didn't engage with him.

He came to speak in Seattle and his speech was riveting. It was completely geared to local issues and you could tell he'd written it himself and was extremely well versed in things that mattered to the Pacific Northwest. He talked about the logging and fishing industries, about the environment, about Boeing, and just everything that mattered here. It definitely was not a routine stump speech. He was also very charismatic.

The local media chose to report none of that on the news that night; instead they snarked that he'd taken his wife to an expensive anniversary dinner at Canlis.

In Gore, Kerry, and Clinton we had possibly three of the most qualified, experienced, and best-prepared people to ever run for office. I don't think we need to apologize for that. I don't think that these brilliant people should be called mediocre. It's the voters who have become intellectually mediocre and lazy. And the media kind of plays along, talking about where and what someone ate, rather than focusing in on a very nuanced and well-delivered speech.

Okay, climbing off the soapbox now!

[Blanks]

37. I agree with you...

I think we've had great candidates. I was impressed with Kerry, I felt like we'd turned from a truly great path when Bush stole the election and I think Hillary was awesome too.

The press is now, and always has been run by the wealthy and republicans always favor the wealthy. Until the working class has their own news media, the media will always favor republicans.

[mn9driver]

20. At least Jesse had been mayor of Brooklyn Park.

He was colorful, but not completely incompetent. He doesn't think much of the Orange Shitstain either.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

41. Ventura was not a man child who invented his own reality for the fuck of it as he

went along. So as usual, your whataboutism horseshit is.... Well. Just that.

[Cha]

43. I know.. to put Ventura as the equivalent of trump is just

wrong.

[JI7]

46. There is no Comparison Between Ventura and Trump. Ventura would not have gotten elected

if he had spewed the shit that Trump did.

Ventura actually did talk about issues which many people agreed with him on. but he was just not good at the job.

but he wasn't living off taxpayers while spreading vile disgusting shit at people.

[Tanuki]

3. ...not to mention that he is doing all of this destruction after losing the popular vote by millions

[notdarkyet]

32. He's been given a mandate to destruct. Bannon said so.

[global1]

5. It Defies Imagination....

we are bending over and taking it up the old kazoo - as you say on a daily basis. We know what has happened and what they are doing to destroy this country and yet no one is doing anything to counteract and resolve this situation.

We are letting it happen. Just like we let Trump happen during the primaries and the run up to the Nov election.

We know he was problematic - yet we just let it proceed without trying to stop it. The same thing is happening right now as he is an occupant of the WH.

I keep asking where are the patriot's in Congress - particularly the Repug Party - that can put Country over Party?

[Blanks]

6. I wake up asking myself that every morning...

It's incredibly disappointing.

What I keep coming up with is that too many people stayed home on Election Day, or too many people were kept from voting on Election Day.

Long lines in known democratic districts, and that whole 'cross check' thing.

I'm having a tough time getting through each day honestly.

It's the 'stupid people' that are making it difficult. The Sean Spicers, Reince Priebus, and all of my family and friends that thought it'd be a good idea to vote for a reality TV star.

It is hell.

[Big_K]

19. I'm with you; it's daily depression

Every day is a struggle because more and more keeps coming out, people say "he's toast!" and yet nothing is changing. Any rational person (thereby discounting Cheetolini's 37% approval group) sees that this needs to end. But I fear that unless we take back the House and/or Senate in 2018, nothing is going to change. If things get too bad for Orange Hitler, then it's war with Iran and/or North Korea and/or China, and we have to support our "President" in time of war.

[mahina]

21. Same. Hang in there mate.

This may be the unveiling of an ugly truth about the Republican party, and hopefully, our low point.

[BSdetect]

7. A country that elected buffoons like reagan and w bush

cannot be very surprised that this clown stole the show.

He's an order of magnitude worse I agree.

[whathehell]

26. Please....He is in another class altogether than those two..

perhaps even another universe.

[JI7]

47. i agree, they could have gone with Cruz, Rand Paul, the idiot Rubio

even Christie who is a jackass but still not the repulsive subhuman level of trump.

all of those would have been horrible presidents like bush, reagan, nixon etc .

but Trump is something else entirely.

[EL34x4]

48. Funny, I remember Trump being the one we wanted them to go with!

Or am I the only one who remembers this?

[JI7]

49. it took russian hacking, comey for him to "win" and he lost the popular vote by millions

and all the media coverage he got without question.

[woodsprite]

53. No, you're not the only one

And I was appalled thinking that anyone - Repub or Dem - would think so little of and willingly discount our whole election process and possible outcomes and the effects on our citizens and our country in that way.

The comment that we needed serious, valid candidates from all parties in the running fell on deaf ears with some.

[Cha]

44. Yeah, the gop keeps getting worse until they bottomed out @trump.. it wouldn't have happened

though without the assistance of the m$m.. and other aids, though.. imo.

[WiffenPoof]

8. So Strange You Would Post This

I was just about to write a very similar post. I was having these exact feelings for the past few days.

I am so amazed that we are going through this. The motivating issue for me was the environment. It seems that not a day goes by that we are not seeing some vital regulation being stripped of its power. We are just standing by and watching this idiot rip down what has taken so many years to build.

Yet, what can we do?

[Binkie The Clown]

9. Physicists say there are parallel universes. How did I end up in THIS one?

I wanted to in the one where Hillary is president, or maybe the one where Bernie is president. What we need now is a rift in the space-time continuum so we can travel to the alternate universe where we belong!

[Heartstrings]

52. Beam us up, over and out of this universe please! nt

[dmosh42]

10. I know what you mean. I grew up to the "House Unamerican Activities committee"...

Joe McCarthy, the John Birch society, etc. All brought to us by the Republican party! If anyone even mentioned negotiating with Red China or the USSR, you
might be tagged with names like 'pinko', commie or other unpatriotic decriptives. Now, after all these years I'm watching this play out with the
Republicans defending the Putin gang and their association with their 'selected' president. What a bunch of sympathizers ass-wiping the former
commie crooks!

[brush]

15. YES! There are Putin/Russian connections everywhere in this trump administration and Ryan...

and McConnell are just going along with it. It's disgraceful. They care nothing about the country, only about getting their agenda through.

Meanwhile 11 Russians connected to this have dropped dead. Wonder if Americans here start turning up dead will they then care?

[colorado_ufo]

30. One Russian, who was an American citizen with connections,

recently died of "natural" causes. In his sixties, I believe. It happened in our country.

This is a possibility, sadly.

[Kimchijeon]

12. It just defies logic, and doesn't seem real

I feel the same way. Just like we're in Bizarro world, or the Mirror universe... but it's reality.

[logosoco]

13. The past almost three months have felt like YEARS!

I try to get away from the news, but it is worse than leaving a toddler alone for a few minutes!

I thought after Bush we would never "go there" again. And now it is worse!

The only advantage I am seeing is that my 9 and 7 year old grandsons are learning that it can be okay sometimes to question the people at the top if they are openly being...well, the only word I can think of here is STUPID!

[IronLionZion]

16. Because millions of Americans don't think like we do

and don't have a problem with it. I worry about those people.

[N_E_1 for Tennis]

17. It's not ok... And we are fucking idiots.

We think we can fix this shit. No, no, no. We are complicit if we go that way.

We need to destroy this administration. Destroy. Burned ground. Nothing left. No compassion. No democratic thought process. Fucking destroy!

Time for a revolution. Not only in thought, not only in words. In maybe, violent action.

We are that close. We are there.

[Initech]

23. We're the victim in an abusive relationship.

We think we can change the other side, but they're beyond that point. Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan are aggressive abusers and we need to see this and kick them to the curb. They're addicted to wealth and power. They're tools of the billionaire criminals, who only seek to further abuse us and get away with it. The sooner we recognize we're in an abusive relationship, and we can identify the abusers, the better off we'll be.

[Chiquitita]

31. This

is right on.

[Moostache]

36. I have felt this nation sliding towards a 2nd Civil War for the last 35 years...

The GOP and their ilk are dead set on destroying the social safety net, all government regulation and allowing plutocrats to bilk the rest of us at will. They are racists (sorry but the truth is to be worn like a literal scarlet letter on them). They have no empathy. They are without vision or purpose beyond killing the government of the people to install government by the wealthy.

These sons-of-bitches want to put women in the kitchen, minorities in the back of the bus and white men in charge of everything (and I AM a white man who finds this horrifying)...

There is no compromise with them. They are implacable and unbending and we as Democrats need to STOP believing that there is such a thing as a "sane Republican" or "honest broker" to deal with on their side...
They have stolen generations of accumulated wealth through tax cuts that looted the Social Security Trust Fund and even went so far as to say things like "Budgets don't matter", "Tax cuts pay for themself" and ran up the cost of 2 wars on the national credit card by NEVER adding those costs to the budget in the first place. They claim the mantle of "fiscal responsibility" and it is a demonstrable, hideous LIE!!! (DEBT GOES WAY UP UNDER GOP ... THAT IS FACT!)

Democrats must own some of the blame for not fully stopping these trends and bad behaviors during the Clinton and Obama administrations...but I will cop to it...it felt good in both of those eras just to STOP DOING WORSE DAMAGE (moving away from Reaganomics under Clinton and repairing the disastrous GWB errors under Obama)...it was easy to settle for slowing down the damage to the nation than it would have been to fight harder and REVERSE the damage.

As the communication between urban and rural becomes more strained and less of a common reality, the likelihood of a second split in the nation increases. The cheering on of your "team" in our politics, irregardless of their misdeeds, lies or crimes is a dire problem.

I do not have a lot of hope for the future.

[elmac]

22. its another version of The Twilight Show "It's a Good Life"

and tRump is playing Anthony

[Dave Starsky]

56. That's a great analogy, but Anthony really did have God powers

Trump is an aged, fat, imbecilic white guy. He has the power that the media and Congress assign to him. He used to have the power that the Constitution grants him, but both he and Congress have shown us that the Constitution really doesn't matter anymore.

I am realizing more and more that our Government was really always based on a "gentleman's agreement". That agreement completely fell apart when non-gentlemen took hold of the reigns.

[Politicub]

24. Electoral college and the gullible white poor

There you have it.

[FakeNoose]

27. You forgot gerrymandering

Never forget gerrymandering!

[murielm99]

28. Not only them.

The far left and the people who bought into all the misogyny and Hillary hate on our side. Thirty years of it!

[TheFrenchRazor]

40. and hackable, black-box voting machines. nt

[Kablooie]

25. And it would be fairly easy to stop

if only Republicans would do what they know they should do to investigate and impeach this jerk. They are really the ones that are responsible for all of this.

[Dopers_Greed]

29. Because...

Boomers: "I don't care as long as I still get my retirement."

Millenials: "All politicians are equally bad because Glenn Greenwald told me so."

33% of the country: "I support all of this."

[ProfessorGAC]

58. Boomers Shouldn't Be Allowed To Retire?

What was your point on that first sentence?

Full Disclosure: I'm a boomer closing in on retirement in early 60's because we saved and saved, didn't buy a trophy house, didn't buy the most expensive cars for which could borrow money, and both worked. (Well my wife retired at 50, but 30 years for her.) So, "It" is our fault because we don't care?

[Dopers_Greed]

59. My point was...

...that many people nearing retirement age are going to be willing to overlook many of the horrible things Chump does, so long as it doesn't directly affect them financially.

Keep in mind that I'm not talking about any of the wonderful DU'ers here.

[ProfessorGAC]

60. Ah! I Misunderstood

My bad. I know boomers went dominantly for "It", but then he didn't say on the campaign trail he was going to abandon pre-existing conditions and nearly all boomers have one of those.

They wouldn't not have voted against their own health care, but they bought the BS. Not all of us, thankfully.

[red dog 1]

35. It's Animal Farm and the Pigs are in charge!

The GOP controls both houses of Congress!

There's nothing the Democrats can do about it, imo.

[uppityperson]

38. very bad dystopian novels are meant as cautionary tales, not how to do it instructions

[NRaleighLiberal]

39. thread win!

[Tatiana]

42. This is what Bannon hopes for.

A lot of things -- they push the envelope just because they know it will depress liberals. It's hard. I feel depressed, too, sometimes. But, at the same time I realize that I can't give them what they want. There's nothing like a big dose of activism to counter the depression from these diabolical "deconstructors." I joined my local Indivisible group and I channel my energy into contacting and protesting outside my local wingnut's office.

[JI7]

45. Racism along with a Shit Media which Normalizes him

[Cha]

50. Make America Fail Again

Link to tweet

[vlyons]

51. We are currently in an existential Theatre of the Absurd

Have you ever read any novels by Kafka? That's where we're at. And it's not going to get better any time soon. So you better learn to grit your teeth and bear it, because it's probably going to get worse. There may be a big crash coming. The social safety net is evaporating, and efforts to deal with climate change are being reversed.

But don't freak out, because that won't help either. We all need to calm down, exert some self control over our emotions of fear and anger. We all need to channel our energies as best we can to winning some elections in 2018 and 2020. We are much more effective when we are calm and focused than when we are freaked out. So help you family and friends to stay calm and focused too. We need every vote to defeat these greedy money-grubbing monsters.

[lark]

54. It's a total nightmare of epic porportions.

The destruction of our values, economy and standing with the world has begun and is picking up speed daily. Russia and Drumpf are colluding for the destruction of everything good for their own personal benefit. drujmpf is so stupid, he thinks Pootie will actually give him a huge benefit. That's not going to happen. As soon as Pootie gets NATO fucked over he'll invade Ukraine and once he's gotten that under control he'll turn on Drumpf and release all incriminating evidence to further destroy this country.

[zipplewrath]

55. 4 long years

If you want to depress yourself, think about how different your life will be by the time this nightmare is over? Some will be retired. Some will graduate. Some will change jobs multiple times. Marriages, births, deaths, a lot will happen before we can really expect to fix this nightmare.

[Blue_Tires]

57. I dunno... All I remember is

something something E-mails something something Huma Abedin something something warmonger something something Clinton Foundation something something "establishment" something something Podesta something something unlikable something something rust belt something something working class white folks something something Chelsea something something Wall Street speeches something something DNC something something Debbie Wasserman-Schultz...