Today is Wednesday, December 4, 2024. As we struggle to accept the implications of a second Dump presidency, one early critic of what might occur over the next four years is ex-aide to former President Barack Obama Rahm Emanuel who makes a grim prediction for the HuffPost online today in an article written by Marco Margaritoff entitled “Rahm Emanuel Makes Dark Prediction About What Trump Will Do To The Oval Office.”

Emanuel sat down for a lengthy podcast interview on Monday and predicted what another Dump term will look like and, folks, it ain’t good. But you could have forecasted that without Emanuel’s input, couldn’t you?

On The Ezra Klein Show, Emanuel stated, “Donald Trump is going to turn the Oval Office into eBay.” To continue on this theme, Emanuel said, “He is going to sell it to every special interest, and you’re going to be left paying the tab. And the Democratic Party is the thin blue line between the pharmaceutical industry getting everything they want or you paying everything you have.” Which certainly means that all of those ignorant voters who voted for the bastard will be most affected by the repercussions of a second Drumpf term.

Emanuel vehemently claims that the GOP will use the White House as a profit-driven business.

Since Dump recently vowed to impose massive tariffs on China, Mexico, and Canada on his first day back in office, Emanuel points to how many economists say this move would only worsen already troubling domestic inflation.

“And whoever pays the highest price will get what they want, and you’ll be left paying through the nose,” Emanuel continued. The former aide to Obama said president-elect Dump is “a threat to democracy,” but we all knew this before we cast our vote for him, didn’t we? Emanuel believes Dump will sell favors “to every special interest.”

The former mayor of Chicago for two terms, Emanuel joined a chorus of pundits and politicians in sharing his take on the election, saying Dump won because “70% of the country thinks the economy is bad” and “the country’s headed in the wrong direction.” This situation paved the way for his brand of populism, which really is another word for fascism, in my book.

The prognostications here offered by the former aide to two-term president Barack Obama are not much of a revelation to those who follow the news and are not ignorant of what this Orange Menace has done up to now.

Another article that appears online in The Guardian closely mirrors how I personally feel over this stunning state of affairs that will devour this nation for the next four years. It’s called ‘People feel drained’: anti-Trump Americans face temptation to tune out,” and it’s written by Edward Helmore.

The article begins with the recognition that when Donald Dump was first elected in 2016, many Americans galvanized to voice their opposition to a man who recently boasted he could grab women’s pussies because he just could because of who he was. Then there was a sense of activism and engagement amid the shock of a Dump victory, as many ordinary Americans organized to oppose one of the most chaotic presidencies in U.S. history.

Now, eight years later – boy, are we tired! – “the response of many centrist and left-leaning Americans to a Dump second term has been more muted.” This is the line that closely resembles what Elliot and I are doing in the wake of this new reality: “For many anti-Trump voters – and even some institutions – the return of Trump prompts a feeling of just wanting to ignore it all, including politics more broadly, and focus their energy elsewhere.”

One of those immediate effects of Dump’s shocking second victory is the left-leaning media outlet MSNBC losing 47 percent of its audience since Election Day, according to Nielsen Media Research, while the Los Angeles Times and, especially, the Washington Post saw subscribers flee by the hundreds of thousands after the billionaire owners of each paper chose at the last minute not to make a presidential endorsement.

Executive Director of the National Organization for Women NYC, Sonia Ossorio, said, “Coming to terms with the election and feeling a sense of instability about the future is is personal right now, and people feel drained. It will take time and needed collective reflection to regroup.”

Talking about his reaction to the election results, Josh Marcus, a 39-year-old tech worker from El Paso, Texas, who was in New York, said, “For me, it’s an exhaustion.” He continued with his mood, saying, “We went from disappointment that Biden was staying in, which changed when he dropped out, Kamala came in, and we felt a little bit better and she had a chance. But it was the complete opposite when it came to Election Day.”

Marcus’s partner, Marisha Hicks, said she was in a period of mourning,” which is exactly how I feel over what happened three weeks ago. She reflected, “The first time it happened I was in complete shock. This time, I almost expected it. So now I’m personally focused on strategizing for the next four years.”

Both anti-Trumpers thought that the many negatives against Dump would stick, but were dismayed to learn that the Russia investigation, two impeachments, the failure of federal prosecutions and a felony conviction, and many other strikes against him, especially his Alzheimer’s-focused delivery on the campaign trail, still had no effect on slowing his momentum back into the forefront of American politics. To them, this all led to a sad sense of inevitability.

Hicks said she had hopes that the nonpolitically motivated, those who did not vote at all, would now be the ones to start a revolution. She said, “I voted, but I can totally empathize with those who didn’t. People are definitely giving Trump less attention. I certainly don’t want to read his tweets this time around.” Amen! I won’t either. Not a one.

So there you have it! The second article corroborates how Elliot and I feel after the election. Maybe I too will redirect my energies toward something else in the New Year, possibly taking up playing pickle ball.

As for my gay men’s reading club meeting last night, I did ask our organizer, “Jerry,” if I could discuss the results of the election at the meeting. As expected, he put a kibosh on that and I did not mention it throughout the meeting. But if someone did ask me how I felt, I did not hold back. I would respond with how I felt about Dump being reelected. The meeting, I felt, hummed wonderfully with articulate and mature reflection on the book read this month, Blackouts, by Justin Torres. I always come away with new perspectives on the book that I’ve just read and last night was no different. I met my old college chum, “Harvey,” at the IFC Center around 5:15 whereupon we walked a block to the Washington Square Diner in which I ordered a full dinner and Harvey just asked for a cup of Yankee bean soup and coffee. Then we walked to the Jefferson Market Library for our meeting at 6:30.

After the meeting, a group of us trooped to Julius’s, merely ten minutes away from the library, where we all had to show our identification to the brawny guy at the door. I always thought that was a joke; do I still look like I’m younger than 21?

When a small cluster of us seated ourselves at a table to order some food and drinks, that’s when I did bring up the election which seemed to engage only two members. One of them, “Simon,” mentioned that he was an early gay activist who was in ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power) and marched on the Capitol years ago and said he would do the same if called upon to do so by proposed actions taken by this lawless president. Then I mentioned my desire to start an organization of those anti-Trumpers who are still going through a period of mourning since November 5, and some members wondered what would that accomplish in the long run. I had no immediate answer.

Since it’s getting late, I’ll briefly mention that today Elliot got to drive our new Forester and this time he drove much longer than I did: he actually took the car on the highway and drove us to Jackson Hole, our usual brunch haunt on the weekends, primarily. There was no need to parallel park; we just parked on a street a block away from the eatery. I even took two calls on the Starlink Multimedia console, and it was real cool. I first called my friend “Gene” in Florida while Elliot exited the car to look for a plant at a florist near Jackson Hole. The second call was made to me by my friend “Seth” of Astoria. This is all new to us since we didn’t have this technology afforded to us from our 14-year-old Nissan Altima. Which now needs to be parked on the street until we can transfer it to Elliot’s daughter. Oh well, you can’t have everything!

Tomorrow we’re meeting our newest acquaintance, “Barry,” whom we met at the screening of Sebastian some months ago. We’re meeting him at Tavern on Jane, a place I’ve never been to before. It should prove to be quite nice, I think.

Have a good Thursday then.

And so it went!