Name something the Trump years have taken from you.

[Funtatlaguy]

Besides, at times, my sanity, Trump has taken several good relationships from me.
BT, the land of time Before Trump, I could generally tease and jab about politics with close friends who just happened to be Republican.
But, what Trumpism has done to these people (and that they have allowed to happen to them) has either ended or severely diminished several personal friendships, both family and friends.

It’s just a whole new kind of hatred and cult worship that I can barely tolerate.

[murielm99]

1. My sense of security.

I keep feeling like we are going to lose everything. Of course, I mean my small cushion of property and money. But I mean on a larger scale as well. We could go up in a nuclear fire any time. Even if that does not happen, our democracy and rights may soon be lost forever. I worry. We are responsible to the rest of the world as well. What will happen to our allies?

[TreasonousBastard]

2. All hope.

[alittlelark]

3. Faith in my fellow countrymen.

[Martin Eden]

42. That, and peace of mind

Both are relative terms with shades of gray, and both are immeasurably worse due to this POtuS.

[Demovictory9]

145. yeah

[JustThinking...]

4. My faith in reality

I can't figure out why folks who are normally kind and reasonable switch over to selfish, cruel opinions when any current talking point come into the conversation.

The trump years have taken my sense of reality away from me. What used to be basic, commonly accepted facts are now just one opinion in a whirlwind of infinite possibilities.

5 years ago the idea that the US would accept the mass abuse and neglect of childen as an inconvienient side-effect of ANY national policy was unthinkable, but now...

[Funtatlaguy]

48. Yes. It's like living in the Twilight Zone.

[demosincebirth]

156. I used to have some sense of respect for many Republican members of congress, now I have zero! Also,

I look in the mirror, and for sure, I look 10 years older.

[Richard D]

5. Hope (eom)

[pazzyanne]

6. The beauty of the natural world

sacrificed to the corporations in the name of the almighty dollar!

[True Blue American]

8. Hope

That our Country will return to sanity, dignity and respect for our Government in my lifetime.

That is all gone.

[pazzyanne]

129. Agree.

[madaboutharry]

7. My belief in the basic goodness of people.

I know that sociopaths and psychopaths walk among us, but I had always believed that most people possessed a basic goodness. I don’t believe that anymore. I now think that somewhere around 40% of the people are not good in any way. It has left me bereft.

[Funtatlaguy]

49. True. Very sad, but very true. 40% are batshit crazy.

[RVN VET71]

75. It's worse than that.

The 40% of the people who love Trump and cackle and drool over the abominations he and his soulless vassals in office visit upon the most helpless and desperate of us nevertheless sit down at table and say a heart felt prayer to Jesus, thanking Him for the blessings -- however diminished -- of America, speak sweet things to their children and encourage them in their schoolwork, hope and dream a brighter future for them. Then they rise up from the dinner table and watch Fox to recharge their batteries of anger and mindless hatred. They see pictures of children in cages and scowl at the way the MSM make it seem like it's their Leader's fault when he has said over and over again that it's all Obama's and Hillary Clinton's and, of course, the parents of the children.

Then they say good night to their own children, kiss the little ones on the forehead, smile sweetly at their spouses as they turn out the light and sink into restful sleep.

Maybe not all of the 40% you reference, but easily half of them live lives that are normal in every christian way but for their acceptance of outrages against humanity and the basic moral fabric of America. There's a historic precedent for this type of behavior among the population of a country the world had always thought to be civilized, even sentimental, a country which almost brought European civilization to its knees.

I worry, today, whether there is enough of that revitalized, post WWII civilization left to successfully combat the resurgence of the destructive impulses and vicious appetites of fascism present today throughout the western world.

[pansypoo53219]

9. luckily my republikan brother is not THAT stupid. he hates the moron.

[empedocles]

10. Speaking for some friends who love cruises.

They don't go on cruises any more because the old congeniality despite differences is gone.

[kimbutgar]

105. Ouch, going on cruise in September in the Mediterranean

Was on a cruise last October to Alaska and there were some fat donnie supporters but almost an equal amount who detested him. I will be curious to see what the mix is on this upcoming cruise. When I’m in Europe I never say I’m American but from San Francisco.

[empedocles]

117. An Obama cap or shirt might draw some of the 'great minds think alike' crowd

[kimbutgar]

120. My hubby has a t shirt of Mohammed Ali punching out fat donnie

He has threatened to bring it. I might bring my resist t shirt. I also have a sorry for our President in several languages that might end up in suitcase!

Last cruise there was a man from New Jersey who wore t shirts with quixotic quotes that made you think on the last two days he wore an obvious anti fat donnie t shirt. The president is an idiot was one of them. I gave him big hugs whenever I saw him.

[empedocles]

122. Good humor there. On a more subtle level would be a button sized campaign pin,

for Obama, or a Donkey for dems, women's rights, some deep quotes, etc.

I have a t shirt with huge NY Daily News type size, 'FOLLOW THE MONEY', that I wear with some discretion.

Enjoy your trip.

[marlakay]

134. Tell them to go to Europe

I am in Ireland and have done many things with my age 60’s and up, the Irish super friendly, the germans same, all other countries from Europe wonderful. No one talks politics its great!

The only time was when i first got here 3 wks ago and Trump had just left they asked me about him for a few days. Now nothing nada, its great!!

[Croney]

11. Several close relatives, including my oldest daughter.

We're cordial when we see each other, but that's much less often now, and we have an unspoken acknowledgment that we're standing on opposite sides of a wide rushing river.

[samnsara]

15. i have one sister that i consider dead to me now because of this...

[Efilroft Sul]

36. I have my late father's brother and his entire family I consider dead to me as well.

I also consider half my college fraternity dead to me after Sandy Hook, when they were more concerned that Obama would grab their guns than for the families of the slain children. Those worthless shits are all in Trump's cult of personality, too. Big surprise, huh?

[Funtatlaguy]

50. That is heartbreaking. I'm sorry

[JustThinking...]

100. YES!

My own sister is one of the people I know who have completely embraced the whole psychotic "ME! ME! ME!" "I'M BEING VICTIMIZED!" mindset that has infected that segment of our society.

It's proven to be a very convienient and (criminally) profitable stance for her in ways beyond just national politcal issues but costs her every ounce of basic morality we used to share.

I have had to completely cut her out of my life for my own safety, seriously.

[N_E_1 for Tennis]

12. My Naivety...

I’ll admit to wearing rose colored glasses in the past. I truly thought that as a country we were heading in a correct direction. Then a very hard 2x4 smacked me right upside the head. When starting to recover from that dazed states was dumbfounded by the extreme intolerance of some citizens against others. I childishly thought we were starting to work on our differences, to accept, understand those differences. Those feelings were viciously ripped from me...probably for the better... but the hole is still there.
I miss the scabs that covered the wounds from witnessing my friends dying in service to this country, watching the ideals we fought for melt away. They shouldered the responsibility of protecting our freedoms now we shoulder the shame that has been cast upon us. Sometimes I fall asleep to the question of “Was it worth it?”. That is not right.
I miss having political discussions with my republican acquaintances and leaving each other no more convinced of each other’s beliefs...but still friends.

There are times that I thank him for ripping the curtains back allowing me to realize not was all I thought...time will tell.

[Corgigal]

13. The trust in our intelligence agencies.

How they allowed Trump to actually enter the Oval Office, ill never know.

However, I found out during these Trump times, that I have never needed music more.

[hughee99]

127. Given that this all occurred on Obama's watch, is this one really Trump's fault? Nt

[pazzyanne]

130. Was this sarcasm?

Asking for a friend.

[hughee99]

138. Can you actually blame Trump

For the intelligence agencies “allowing him to enter the Oval Office”?

Agencies that he had no control over, at that time.

[Corgigal]

142. I'm not naming Obama or Trump.

I just thought we had better protection in this country. NSA/CIA should have a shelf on the Trump family alone.

[samnsara]

14. my peace of mind and sense of security...

..can we all file a class action lawsuit? Any lawyers here on DU that can handle the case?

[True Blue American]

20. The anxiety

In this country has gone sky high. Something has to break the fever,or, well we all know what happens if it does not.

Complete loss of faith in Organized Religion.

[Ohiogal]

16. I am no longer proud to say I am an American.

[Funtatlaguy]

53. Ouch. Yep.

[roamer65]

91. Yeah. Like pre-civil war times.

I think of myself more as a Michigander than an American.

Before the civil war, folks thought more of themselves as state residents, than as Americans.

[llmart]

93. Except for there's a huge contingent of gun humping, Trump loving Michiganders.

I have lived here for 27 years and will probably die here, so I have never considered myself a Michigander. I had a wake up call back in the Clinton years when I learned all about the idiots in the Michigan Militia and their part in the Oklahoma City bombings and killings of babies and children.

[roamer65]

99. True, but Dump is turning Michigan much bluer.

The 2018 midterms were a harbinger if the shift in Michigan politics.

Justin Amash did what he did to try to save his seat in 2020. He sees the polling data.

[llmart]

121. I'm just hoping we can keep the momentum up.

I'm hoping the Democrats that came out in the mid-terms don't fall back to complacency.

[samplegirl]

17. Family and friends

And my security about my grandchildren’s lives!

[kacekwl]

18. The belief that good triumphs over evil.

And the rule of law is a thing.

[smirkymonkey]

19. My serenity, my sense of security, hope for the future and my belief in the basic

decency of my fellow citizens. I also honestly believe he has done some damage to my physical health as well. This constant stress and anger flowing through my body has to be taking a toll.

[Tech]

21. My health, physical and emotional.

[2naSalit]

63. Same here, and that's not all...nt

[ArcticFox]

22. Belief in the ballot box

We can't say whether votes are counted or counted accurately or manipulated. Actually this loss happened with the election of Bush II.

[happyaccident]

23. Just about every person I knew growing up was racist, some violently so ("rolling queers")

My experiences with my friends from "the black side of town" ( "n**ggertown" )showed me the fundamental role racism has in our society, my decade as an homeless (rentstrike!) mutual aid activist showed me the fundamental role class plays in it and my 30 years of adult experience in talking with conservative farmers and rural republicans showed me the basic ignorance and cruelty of "real" americans to anyone not like them. So what did trump take from me? My belief that democrats were either naive or complicit. These Democratic primary candidates are the best I've seen and are finally realizing the need to actually be PROGRESSIVE. And I honestly don't think I would have come to DU if I wasn't being driven crazy by trump and the national media(not the info so much as that "ratings" bias.) Maybe start a thread asking what trump has given us, like showing us what the gop(grifters -of -people, trying to make that a thing) is really about, and how this fear and pain we feel can translate into political and social action.

[marked50]

44. I like your suggestion at the end

Approach the feeling of loss with what can be done to remedy it

[happyaccident]

59. It comes from decades of fighting for progressive causes and mostly losing

You meet and befriend awesome people and build community through these fights, win or lose. As I get older I find it easier to deal with setbacks and keep chugging on. I kinda dealt with this with the Patriot Act. I lost liberal friends because of my vocal opposition to that assault on our rights.

[Duppers]

133. ❓ "Lost liberal friends" because of your opposition?

That act was passed by the Bush administration. "Act passed the House by a vote of 357–66, with Democrats comprising the overwhelming portion of dissent."

So, I don't understand your liberal friends supporting the Patriot Act. I must be missing something.

[happyaccident]

140. Right after 9-11 when the Patriot Act was passed people went crazy

It was fear I think. There were pockets of dissent but at that time even liberals wanted to hit back. It shocked me to my core how fast people I knew and worked with fell into line and agreed to give up their rights so easily, without even knowing or caring how . I was 30 when it happened and read part of the Patriot Act at a local hippie arts and farmer market. They turned off the mic because of the anger of the crowd. It's easy to be a liberal when it's safe. To stand up when our rights are threatened is harder. I just found out who was who.(Hint:the more money, the less fight back) Can I ask how old you were at 9-11?

[Duppers]

143. Wow. Yes, I can believe that. Thanks.

You were brave!

My age when 911 happened? 53. I'm an old gal. Why do you ask?
Geographically I'm surrounded by wingers and the few libs I personally knew then opposed the Act, even back then. I had joined online political forums to share my frustration way back when the election was stolen from Al Gore, so I had much exposure to a very liberal cyber community of folks then. That's why my experience differs from yours.

[happyaccident]

148. That makes a lot of sense, I didn't get on the internet till 2014 when I was 44

I asked because I wanted to know if you were old enough to experience 9-11 as an adult. Obviously you did.It was such a strange time, those first months. I do wish I had online support then. DU helps a lot.And it was more anger and my temper than bravery. I just don't like bullies.

[Duppers]

149. Totally understandable.

Glad you've found DU!

[TruckFump]

24. My pride as an American.

I cringe now. Especially more so because of of the father and toddler who drowned in the Rio Grande. I have cried so many tears over this and over how low the image of our nation has become.

[dchill]

101. That's it.

[Alwaysna]

25. I'm 60, disabled and widowed still raising kids (ages16 & 20) and now without medicaid.

I suspected when Trump grabbed power with his greedy grubby doll hands that the insurance I depend on would be in jeopardy. Sadly I was right. My monthly meds total around $400-$500 per month from a social security check of $1450 per month. Oldest child has one more semester of college (A+ college program) and younger one works part -time. I'm in the process of fighting trying to get it back.

[lunamagica]

26. Faith in humanity, peace of mind

[Mc Mike]

27. My 'retch' reflex has been numbed. I have to lose the sound on the tv sometimes, when he's talking.

Just to maintain equanimity. But I don't really miss the sound of his ranting blubbering voice.

It's the weekends I miss the most. He's sure to sail in on Friday night being an asshole, then he'll be an asshole a few times on the weekend, then news of his assholery will greet us on Monday. So we spend all weekend thinking about him, considering the fact of his existence and influence, going around all weekend thinking 'tRump tRump tRump tRump tRump.' Can't retch, can only muster up a feeble bleh.

Sense of humor and defiance still intact, though.

[ehrnst]

28. Family relationships. The hope that climate change will be addressed.(nt)

[Botany]

29. The notion that despite my differences w/some Americans they are down deep ....

.... they have some good in their character. How the fuck could anybody support that hell beast?

[wendyb]

30. name something

my sanity

[Raven]

31. All of the above:-(

[2naSalit]

66. +1000000000000000000000000000000000000!!!

[SammyWinstonJack]

71. Yes.

[Delmette2.0]

32. So many responses hit home for me.

I worry about everything, I escape the WTF news by watching movies. I have an overwhelming sense of doom for me and my great nieces and nephews. I don't have any grandchildren and that's ok for many reasons.

We have depended on institutions like the Supreme Court to protect the general well being of all of us with the Constitution, the Senate and House to pass laws to help the environment and so many other issues, a President who was thoughtful and open to information from our greatest minds. It is all slipping away.

[HAB911]

33. Many "friends"

of 20+ years

Forcing me to live through a Nixonian nightmare AGAIN

[paleotn]

34. The idea that we're all Americans and believe in her core ideals

That's simply not true anymore. The rift is now irreconcilable. I really can't see us functioning as a country in our current state.

[happyaccident]

39. The bill of rights was adopted to hold off a second american revolution

By everyone who got shafted by the founding fathers. There are two america's - their core values are not only completely different but one side has the money and power. america was invented to hold on to it. Have a lovely morning!

[paleotn]

65. The Anti-Federalists....

They advocated strongly for the Bill of Rights. But many of them, like Sam Adams, John Hancock and Patrick Henry were also very wealthy. At the same time, they were true believers in personal liberty and representational democracy.

[happyaccident]

74. There's a reason the bill of rights was adopted after the constitution

The very real fear of working class riots. And every right we have was the result of struggle and actual death. Sam, John and Pat may have believed in personal liberty (because to do otherwise would guaranteed endless revolution)and representational democracy(for women, non-whites and working class people?) but all of the founding fathers were wealthy and believed wealthy men should run the government. Anything else they did was secondary to holding onto power. My point is that the majority of our government didn't pass it until they had to. We always have to force them.

[paleotn]

81. The class warfare model. I know that one.....

It fits the American experiment if you beat on it hard enough. Like virtually all models, it fits to a degree, beyond which it diverges from reality and goes off into infinity.

[happyaccident]

90. I honestly don't understand what you're trying to say

It's either class war or it isn't. And what is experimental about america? The rich guys just came up with better p.r. to sell what they used to get from force, compliance from the general population. I guess that's an improvement over feudalism and kings. Maybe because the problem of human power dynamics is unsolvable and we are doomed? It's scary to realize everything that was taught to me about my country was a lie.

[Paladin]

35. The notion that the vast majority of Americans are decent people. (nt)

[Freethinker65]

38. +1000

[Freethinker65]

37. Faith in this country and its citizens

[ananda]

40. My sense that most people are fundamentally decent.

Many Reeps aren't and never will be, and dealing
with them always ends badly.

[sinkingfeeling]

41. It has taken away my pride in US history. I was raised in a time

where the world thought of us as the guys in the white hats. The good guys who saved Europe from the Nazis.

[kimbutgar]

107. +1

[phylny]

43. My health. My sense of normalcy. My ability to focus on other things.

I gained 20 pounds after he was elected - binge eating. I developed high blood pressure and am now prediabetic. I am working with a doctor to correct all these things.

I'm unable to wake up without dread or fear of what the idiot is doing. I've lost respect for so many people - those I know and those I don't - who think he's the greatest president. I wonder what the hell is in their minds? How dense can they be? I've stopped talking to some family members.

I have always been interested in politics, but was able to go about my life not worrying. I worry all the time now.

I hate him.

[pnwest]

45. Hope.

[mountain grammy]

46. Reading this post and thread I can only say.. all of the above

I can relate to every single post here. We lost our country. I don't believe we'll recover.. Yesterday, a trump hater friend said he . was discouraged by the debates. I said how? What do you want Democratic candidates to say that hasn't been said? Nothing is normal anymore, even 20 intelligent candidates, any one of whom would be a better president than this raging moron..

I've lost hope.

[Bear Creek]

47. Sleep

No sound restful sleep

[Duppers]

136. Same here. nt

[keithbvadu2]

51. Respect for the president.

Respect for the president.

[captain queeg]

69. Yep

Even with Bush II I respected the office. Now it’s obvious totally unworthy people can hold the office.

[Afromania]

52. The hope that the election of Obama was the dawn of better race relations in this country.

Boy, oh boy I was wrong on that account.

[Funtatlaguy]

57. Yes, it's like some white people now seek repayment for

“Letting us have” our one half black President.

[Afromania]

61. That's it exactly. So now they got "their guy" and he's a total piece of shit.

trump was payback for us having the audacity to elect a decent, thoughtful, intelligent, charming, hardworking ass dude; his race was besides the fact. Their reaction to a man that is better than them by every measure of what it is to be human. Was to immediately elect a a man without merit, worth or anything that comes close to humanity. He's an ignorant, petulant, crass, ill tempered pile of rubbish and that's before you get to the fact he's a rapist, bigot, thief and liar. The whole country was set back at least a decade thanks to their. "anxieties" and I'll never forgive any of them for this.

[Bettie]

54. There's a lot

I used to believe:

That our system worked, that we were indeed a nation of laws. Now, I know that isn't true.

Good doesn't eventually triumph over evil.

That the Democratic party would be willing to act when faced with utter disregard for the law or a president owned and operated by a hostile foreign government (or several HFGs).

That most people are basically decent, even if we have differing opinions.

That there would never again be concentration camps in our nation.

That our elections were reasonably fair and honest, imperfect, but at least not utterly corrupted.

There is so much more, but ultimately, I don't believe in anything anymore. I just wait for the next disaster and become angry, but that quickly fades with the realization that nothing will change and that, no matter how often I call my congresscritters, they don't care at all, because average people do not matter one little bit.

[NNadir]

55. The sense that my people were fundamentally decent.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

56. Any remaining sliver of unity across the country.

It's as if everyone has chosen sides and are now sequestered in their preferred bubble......

This is exactly what the GOP and their billionaire paymasters want for America....

[Funtatlaguy]

58. Rupert Murdoch & Roger Ailes must be given a huge

amount of the blame.
Fox News really has brainwashed a lot of Americans.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

62. Agreed. They've built an enormous propaganda machine and....

Faux and talk radio are their 100% right-wing controlled mouthpieces. Started out with a bunch of radical think tanks and increased in power exponentially from there, thanks to their media.

The GOP could not have done it without them.....

[MustLoveBeagles]

98. Don't forget hate radio

When I first listened to Rush Limbaugh as a teenager I honestly thought it was parody. When my mom told me it wasn't I was stunned but comforted myself with the fact the most American's would be smart enough to see through the BS. Boy was I wrong.

[kimbutgar]

108. Divided and conquered was the goal of the fascists

Sadly they have succeeded.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

128. Yes, and we must slowly reverse that if we are to survive as a democracy.

I think it has to start at the bottom and work its way upward in the town halls, churches, city councils and courts where battles can be won to gradually reunite everyday people. So long as we have the massive inequality in income and asset ownership all over the globe that's getting worse with time, a top-down approach won't get it.

Right now, they own the farm and they own the GOP and control its massive right-wing media. It's a global cancer that's recently been rapidly metastasizing.

In addition, the U.S. must reestablish itself as the world leader in peacekeeping and basic survival aid to poor nations, rather than the guy that only knows the use of big sticks and that is a perpetrator of war. If we don't, climate change and resource scarcity will eventually force it to be.

Just some Saturday thoughts to toss about........

[elias7]

60. I agree with all... maybe a big can of Williamson love is what we need to fight back

[Funtatlaguy]

68. I just imagine her with some sage cleansing the White House.

[2naSalit]

76. Ha! That's the FIRST thing I'd do as I entered the property!

If I didn't need to just burn it down completely... some bad juju requires that and I'm sure we have that firmly embedded in the very timbers of it's structure. Just like our citizenry.

[NRaleighLiberal]

64. Hope. Joy. Peace of mind

[Hermit-The-Prog]

67. the hope that my country would outlive me

[BlueDawn]

70. Healing from some PTSD.

Having grown up with a cruel, sadistic parent who targeted me for his cruelest abuse (and who was exactly like Trump, albeit without the money), and having worked so diligently throughout my adult years to heal from the horrendous wounds he inflicted upon me daily, I have to say that what Trump took from me was a sense of having somewhat healed from PTSD.

Every day, every single day, he says or does something so cruel, so thoughtless, so mean, so vicious, that it is a throwback to my eighteen years of abuse growing up in a household with a man who did exactly the same things: the gaslighting, the lying, the misogyny, the racism, the hatred, the belittlement, the taunting, the glee whenever he causes someone to cry/hurt, the meanness, the womanizing/raping/sexual abuse. I know all too well the damage inflected, especially on the young, the oppressed, the disabled, the elderly, the poor, the hurting.

Trump has brought all of my pain back. I have had flashbacks and nightmares, anxiety, sadness, hopelessness, and rage.....a white-hot, boiling, seething rage that I used to feel toward my own parent.

I dare say that I am not the only person in America who has experienced reawakening of old childhood wounds.

If my sister and I did not talk daily on the phone in order to discuss our fears and feelings, I don't know where I would be at the moment. Well, yes, I do. I would still be keeping on, moving forward, doing my very best in my lifetime to always work on behalf of the oppressed, the underdog, the hurting, the abused, the lonely, the lost. I never give up.

I can tell you this. I made up my mind a long, long time ago that I would never--and I do mean never--hurt another human being or animal as long as I am on this planet.

However, I cannot abide bullies.

Thank you for asking this question. I totally relate to what all the other posters have shared.

[2naSalit]

79. THIS!!!

I was enslaved and brutally abused by my father, though he chose a different sibling for his sex abuse, and have been trying to live with PTSD for over half a century but this last few years have been a return to my private hell. The sex abuse victim killed herself eventually.

What really hits me are the caged children, reminds me of my own childhood horrors... but it also makes me certain that these children are to be sold into slavery of the most abusive kind because if the abuse kills them, nobody other than the abusers will know and they will get away with it only to purchase more. These children are seen as disposable by MF45 and his kkklan.

The reason they need to be filthy rich is so they can belong to the kkklub of human slave owners/child sex abusers/murderers with impunity which they see as some kind of right that comes with having a shitload of $$$.

[Funtatlaguy]

85. That's horrible. My heart hurts for you

[2naSalit]

89. Thanks, but I'm not the Lone Ranger here...

there are countless others who suffer like this, we are outcasts for not having the "leave it to Beaver" family experience, or that was out caste as children. Now we have this to remind us of what we were trying to leave behind.

It will end soon, one way or another. We can only live like this for so long and then survival instinct kicks in, and that usually isn't pretty. Personally, I'm pretty burned out on living the "survival" game, as abuse victims do, and will welcome it when it's my day marked on the calendar finally gets here. I can't seem to make it happen so I must watch all this while I wait. I feel like I'm just "doing time" now so parole will be interesting to say the least, I don't care if I have to leave the planet for that.

But this psychological and spiritual atrophy is what the kkkabal is aiming for, makes it easier to dominate us.

[Bettie]

83. You are right

I was abused by both of my parents and I have been having flashbacks again recently, something that hasn't happened in years.

I feel so hopeless most of the time.

[Lonestarblue]

72. Please, could I just wake up in 2016 to the announcement that Hillary won!

We all lost decency and sanity in government that day. I have not personally lost relationships, but I definitely gained something: a much higher level of anxiety over the future and intense anger at a large part of our country for placing their minority religious and racist views that minorities have no place in their country and women have no right to make their own medical decisions. That anger will not abate until this religious minority slinks into obscurity.

[2naSalit]

73. My desire to live beyond next week...

and ongoing awfulness that makes me glad I'm getting old and won't be here to see the worst of it though I fear for those who will be here to endure it.

[llmart]

95. That's my reality too.

I think I've even stated it here on DU. I've lived the majority of my life and those of us that have, have witnessed a lot of history. This is history that I would give anything not to have witnessed.

[2naSalit]

96. Indeed...nt

[True Dough]

77. Good thread

Trump is in position to take some wealth away from the middle class and those in poverty and give it to his one per-center friends, but I refuse to allow him to take away my hope or my morals or my standards.

FUCK HIM!

[wryter2000]

78. My passion for writing

I've always told myself stories in my head, always with happy endings. Thirty years ago, I started writing them down. Now I've had lots of stories published and have real deadlines. It's harder and harder to concentrate on life- and love-affirming stories because of all that bastard's evil. It's like I'm holding my breath and praying he'll be gone in 2021.

[nolabear]

87. You and me both.

I’ve been a fairly successful writer by small standards and my brain feels broken. I am, of course, working on it but I call it the Harrison Bergeron effect, from Vonnegut. If an ear-shattering noise is going off in your head every few moments it’s bloody hard to craft anything.

At the same time I think telling one another stories about things that are still worthwhile and bigger than this monster and what he’s summoned has never been more important. So I try. Hope you do too.

[wryter2000]

112. I can't give up

It’s just so much harder. Stories used to write themselves in my head. I hope that comes back when the monster is gone.

[nolabear]

115. It would sure be nice if it was easier. Keep reading!

That’s what I’m trying to do, things that require an actual attention span and have some nuance and complexity.

[ooky]

80. That's a hard question, he's taken so much.

To pick one thing I guess I would have to say he has taken my faith in American society. The apparent acceptance and/or apathy to his evil opened my eyes to how much evil, greed, and hypocrisy we are surrounded by every time we leave our house. (If we are still fortunate enough to have a house.)

[redstatebluegirl]

82. my sense of security and safety.

Not to mention my sleep and my liver.

[grumpyduck]

84. Faith in our Congress.

[mtngirl47]

86. Me too....I'm just so sad and angry

My stomach hurts to think about what he will do today...what fresh hell will come our way.

So sad that I can only talk to my parents and brothers and sister about the weather and the family. Some days I won't even answer their calls because the asshole just did something that has me shaking and I only want to scream at them and ask how the hell they could have voted for him. Unfortunately---the inability to communicate with their fox right wing brains started during the Obama administration. Who knew my family were stupid racists? No wonder one of my sister's friends told me I was the black sheep of the family.

I have started meditating and taking CBD---both of which have helped with my anxiety and anger.

[roamer65]

88. The belief that the republic can continue.

It cannot if he steals another term.

I believe in liberal democracy. It may need to survive in an expanded Canadian confederation.

[spanone]

92. A secure, fair nation for my children and my grandchildren.

Peace of mind.

[greatauntoftriplets]

94. My sense of belonging in this country.

[llmart]

97. Everything that everyone else on this thread has mentioned.

I've always been accused of being an optimist and seeing everything through rose-colored glasses, but nobody I know accuses me of that any longer. I don't even recognize myself any longer. I keep to my own small world of people I know and trust and who are as dismayed as I am by how far this country has sunk in our lifetimes.

You cannot be born in the late 1940's era of WWII generation parents, started school in the 1950's when that sense of patriotism and pulling together on so many things with a strong sense of community and not be completely and utterly gobsmacked by where we are now.

[nancy1942]

102. Respect toward anyone who calls themselves a Republican.

Belief in our country.

[Duppers]

141. Bingo! ⬆⬆

They're happy to remain so stupidly ignorant, so cruel.

I wonder what percentage of the total media across the country is actually RW? (With the exception of AM radio, which is almost 100% wingers.)

Do wingers not realize that most major media opposes their inaccurate worldviews? And that's why they keep themselves cloistered, viewing only Faux and other winger distortions of news.

As Bill Maher says, "they live in a bubble."

[at140]

103. Destruction of Environment

Like never before! Trump has given the green light to drill baby drill, even in pristine Alaska. I never in my 79 years of life thought I would see the day when we would pump more oil & gas than Saudi Arabia and Russia.

Did you notice it was 115 in France yesterday?

[kimbutgar]

104. I'm no longer proud to say I am American

And I am embarrassed and saddened what our country has become.

And when someone says the are Christian and support fat donnie I think they are evil and blasphemous. My view of religion has became even more distorted.

[mr_lebowski]

106. My wife, my liver, and my will to live ... (nt)

[Funtatlaguy]

110. We have a WINNER!!!!!!!

[mr_lebowski]

113. Cool, and if I may ... can the prize be a new liver? I have a feeling I'm going to miss it (nt)

[Funtatlaguy]

114. Well, we normally give chicken 🍗 dinners but

Maybe we could make it chicken livers.

[WhiteTara]

109. That the values that I had worked for and believed in

were deeply repudiated by my fellow Americans. I believed that women were humans and now we're not.

[Baltimike]

111. My civility...because I take a HARD PASS at treason nt

[C_U_L8R]

116. My capacity to tolerate rightwing idiots

I used to laugh them off, now I just cut them off. Enough of their heinous self-serving bullshit.

[Runningdawg]

118. My confidence in America. My faith in her people. Any hope left I won't die in the next civil war.

[3catwoman3]

119. I could say "Yes, me too," to almost every post here.

Fortunately, no loss of family ties, which is a good thing as I don't have very many - my 97 yr old mom saw the light during the Clinton years, and switched from being a lifelong moderate Republican to being an independent, altho I would classify her as an attitudinal liberal. She can't quite make herslef use the liberal/progressive label, but she has become one.

My dad died in 2011. Staunch but silent Republican. I like to hope that he may have chosen not to vote rather than vote for Trump, but that it strictly a guess - he pretty much never talked about anything except sports, and certainly not about how he felt about pretty much anything. He was a man of very few words. My only sibling, my younger brother, died in 1978 when he was only 23. We had similar outlooks on most things back then, and he tried growing his own marijuana plants on his bedroom at my parents' home, so I think he would have remained one of us. My closest in age cousin lives in Maryland and actively campaigns for Democrats. Not much contact with any other rlatives. We live all over the country.

I find myself hesitant to make any new friends, fearing that somone whose company I enjoy will turn out to be Trump supporter, which would be a deal breaker.

I have been a glass-half-full person most of my life. It feels as if that glass has been shattered into a million little pieces. Prior to President Obama's election, I really had no idea there were so many irredeemably horrible people in our country, and having Trump in the Oval Office has only made things worse.

[eppur_se_muova]

123. The hope that things were inevitably getting better ...

... I've heard more than one person express the hope that race relations will improve once the older generation dies off. Nope. The backlash to Obama's election, and particularly the support for 45, show that homegrown racists are reproducing at least as fast as they are dying off. Waiting things out isn't gonna work.

Race is only the area where the rollback has been most glaring. Every other sort of chauvinism has suddenly become openly acceptable for right wingers as well.

[AncientGeezer]

124. Not a goddamned thing..I won't give the Dumpster that power.

[LibDemAlways]

125. Thinking that people have good bullshit detectors

and know a con artist when they see one.

[lanlady]

126. Clean air to breathe

I have severe asthma. Maybe it's psychosomatic but I swear the air quality has been deteriorating rapidly. Or it could be the toxic fumes emanating from the White House, which is just 30 miles north of me. Either way, the Trump era has made me physically ill.

[Grasswire2]

131. my blood pressure...and COUNTLESS hours.

But then George W. took countless hours, too...

....and so did the attacks on Bill Clinton.

[marlakay]

132. Naivety about other Americans

A lot of hope, I am getting by on a tiny reserve.

[Lady Freedom Returns]

135. My pride of being a US citizen

[aikoaiko]

137. I agree with a lot of people in this thread about what we've lost, but...

....and I've been thinking about to write about his without sounding pro-Trump, but in terms of day to day things like work, family, home, community, leisure, income, etc nothing has changed. The worst thing that happened was that I didn't deduct enough out of my check to offset taxes.

I worry about how the personal experience of voters may impact us in 2020. I lot of people vote on whether they are worse, the same, or better than the previous election.

Of course, I'm a middle-aged, middle-manager in a secure profession who drives an older Volvo and sends his kid to a good school. There may be lots of people how are hit directly by Trump administration. I am ashamed of the tax code for the rich, the immigration policy, our president cuddling with vile dictators, EPA off the job, and the changes in SCOTUS which heralded in the anti-abortion laws at he state level.

[SWBTATTReg]

139. Christianity, respect for the media, the so called GOP ...

I guess I expected too much from the GOP to stand up for at least decency and human rights, and so forth. I still recall John McCain correcting a member of an audience that Barak O. was not a muslim. Most GOP members I noticed are leaving this party. I don't blame them. I'd leave too.

First and most important belief I have is that all of us are Americans. I don't think a lot of the so called GOP think this at all.

[Demovictory9]

144. belief that the country would never tolerate a president who makes $ off the office, gives kids jobs

behaves like a buffoon, etc..

[mnhtnbb]

146. The belief that I could turn out to be different from my mother.

I've told this story many times here on DU. I grew up in a rabid Republican family. My parents did not like Democrats and particularly did not like JFK.

The day that JFK was assassinated I came home from school to find my mom and her mother (who was visiting us from California) sitting in the kitchen having tea. I asked them if they'd heard what happened. No, they said, what? I told them the President had been assassinated and my mother's response was "It's about time."

I was 12 that day when it dawned on me that I did not want to grow up to be like my mother. I did not understand how she could possibly say such a thing.

And now? If someone were to tell me Trump had been assassinated, I suspect I would say the same thing--for many different reasons, of course--that my mother did before I could stop myself.

While I'd prefer the man die a natural death, I cannot truthfully say that I would regret hearing that he was dead, no matter the cause. I don't care if he's brutally ripped from his family. I have no empathy for his family. None. It wouldn't bother me if they were all wiped out together at the same time.

I look upon him--his family and Republican supporters--as traitors. Unbelievable damage is being done to this country. It has to stop. I fear it's already gone too far.

Many of the things that others have mentioned--hope, belief in the goodness of fellow Americans, pride in the country--have also been taken from me. I used to enjoy watching the news, reading newspapers, keeping up with current events. Now, I can hardly stand to look and see the latest awful thing he's done.

But the worst thing that has been taken from me is the belief that if he were to experience a violent death while President of the United States I would not be able to stop myself from saying, "It's about time."

[cwydro]

147. Stole my president.

The one I voted for.

Nuff said.

[MFM008]

150. Health

Ulcer.

[Vinca]

153. I'm ashamed of my country. I never expected to feel that way.

[underpants]

154. Comedy.

He and his coverage make jokes irrelevant

[gldstwmn]

155. Nothing. That grifting, orange POS isn't getting anything from me.

[Raine]

158. That's the way I feel too

he doesn't get that kind of power over me..

[Hekate]

157. My belief in the stability of my own country and its government is severely shaken. My belief that

...we can recover from Trump in what's left of my life is also.

Last time I saw my 43 yo daughter, she said something that gut-punched me: she thinks it was a good thing Trump got elected because he has shaken things up. Can you imagine what that feels like?