Meanwhile, the 24/7 Horror Show that is the Trump Administration doesn't need a single, special day in the year set aside for scaring and terrorizing Americans. With Donald Trump, every day is Halloween. For our dear friends on the right of the political spectrum, it's a nonstop, year-round binge. Every time they say their boy, bellowing and braying at his enemies, real or imagined (mostly imagined), they gobble down that strychnine-laced white supremacism he feeds them, hoping his next empty, spiteful act will satisfy their craving for the ultimate white rage high.
For my brothers and sisters on the left, it's another anxiety-filled day, wondering when the nightmare will ever end. All too understandably distracted by the daily geyser of white hatred, they fail to see that much of what Trump is clumsily rushing to do - rollback of civil rights for people of color and LGBTQ folks; demonization of immigrants and asylum seekers; dismantling of environmental, worker and consumer safety regulatory frameworks; and the degradation of the basic norms of our democratic institutions - is part and parcel of a process that began long, long ago.
Fredrick Douglas told us that power concedes nothing without a demand but he may not have realized just how quickly power lashes back against any progress - however incremental or just it might have been - once it has been accomplished. That's what I've experienced in my lifetime. I was born too late to witness the major gains of the 1960s' liberation movements; instead, over the past 50 plus years, I've watched the power elites plot and carry out their slow, steady claw back. Sure, it's scary. Yes it's hurting and even killing people, innocent people, but let's not fool ourselves. It's nothing new, and it's unlikely to stop anytime soon, and certainly not with the election of scary clowns from the other side of the aisle.
On that note, the best way to overcome our fears is to laugh at them. Here's my contribution. Enjoy the 'toon!
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