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I have been in utter despair for the past thirty hours or so. Had a nasty fight with my father today about it, and almost got hauled off to the ER last night for the panic attack I was having. I just feel absolutely broken inside now. The only thing I can even think of to compare it to is if I had been old enough on 9/11 to understand the context of what had happened. It just feels like the world is ending. I've been trying so hard to distract myself, but I just can't help checking forums or newsfeeds and getting a new hit of doom to bring me down.

Not handling this well, and it hasn't even really begun yet.

Well, let that last bit be a comfort to you: It HASN'T begun yet.

And in all probability, it WON'T.

What's flying around is doom-and-gloom from people who are afraid. They're not being rational. They're hyping up their fears regardless of how much truth there is to those fears.

But in reality, the president isn't all that powerful of an office. Trump can't actually DO any of the horrible things people are attributing to him. And furthermore, Trump may be a demagogue that panders to a party associated with anti-intellectualism, but he -- and more importantly, his PARTY -- isn't stupid. He lost the popular vote. His position is PRECARIOUS. He, and the rest of the Republican party, can't afford to be radical. If they want to hold their position, then they have to take a stance of unity and compromise.

If they screw this up, then the next House election is in two years, and hundreds of representatives will get ousted. The House will turn so blue that NOTHING Republican will pass for the rest of the term.



I AM old enough to have lived through 9/11. I was 19. Bush Jr. had not only the presidency (which was JUST LIKE THIS ONE, except it was Florida instead of Pennsylvania that tipped the scales) but also a heavily Republican congress, AND a nation that was willing to do anything for safety and revenge. He could have pushed ANYTHING through.

And yet...

We're still here today, 15 years later. The world didn't end. Horrific discriminatory laws didn't get passed. The country didn't fall apart. Basically NONE of the doom-and-gloom prophecies of the fall of 2000 or of September 2001 came true.

I fully expect history to repeat itself. Things won't get as bad as everyone fears -- in no small part BECAUSE the people who are afraid are going to fight against everything that would go wrong. So that's what you do: You keep your finger on the things that frighten you, and when that pulse beats, you push back.

And everything will be fine.

That is literally the only sane, reasonable, believable response I've heard so far, Coda. I have been just desperate for someone to tell me it's going to be okay, and everyone's been on the doom train wherever I go. So, thank you. That helps put it in perspective. I really needed to hear that.

I'm honored to help. :)

America is a strong country! The government is made up of more than just one man and we have a series of checks and balances. I promise that we will get through it even if everything feels terrible now. You have the ability to vote on your representatives and on certain amendments directly, and all the working parts of the judiciary, legislative, and executive branches work both together and in some ways to keep each other in check. The president is simply the head of the branch in charge of executing what has been decided and although he has the power to propose some things and reject others, he is by no mean an omnipotent dictator, for that is not how we have chosen to set up our government.

It will be okay, I promise :)

There are already thousands of jobs gone. From KMart and Macy's closing. I heard someone say on Facebook, "This didn't happen when Obama was in presidency." Well, Obama is still president until the inauguration this month. So that comment is certainly invalid.
I'm not happy with the results but It's only four years, amirite?

Those jobs had nothing to do with Obama OR Trump. Shopping malls and department stores are dying out because they're financially unstable -- the business model is unsustainable in today's world, where the recession brought an end to shopping as a recreational activity and where the Internet provides a cheaper way for businesses to sell their products to a broader audience than trying to keep large expensive buildings lit, air-conditioned, stocked, and staffed that can only sell to local people.

Not here we don't! Here, the Governor was willing to strip counties of their rights over the bathroom thing.

Weren't shopping malls a business in the first place, but more a communal space indoors, that when brought and failed/bought in America turned into a business?

Uh... nnnnnno, I'm not sure what you're talking about. Shopping malls were designed as businesses first and foremost, with the communal space itself being a (very very effective) gimmick to get people to shop more.

I see what you're saying. I hear people say Macy's is overpriced, and kmart no one really goes to. It was just a random comment that some person made. Which I am thinking she is trying to see if Trump can create jobs for thousands of people.