Republican Senator who profited off of insider knowledge of COVID-19 threat panicked by "socialism."

As angry as I am at Trump voters, I have empathy for the ones who aren't rich fucks or Nazi assholes

Think about it - most of Trump's voters are not the Nazi/White Nationalist sickos who want to murder Jews and black and brown people for a white homeland. Nor are they the greedy rich POS who always benefit from Republicans in power, Trump included. No, most Trump supporters are just ordinary, middle-class and even poor Republican voters, with a smattering of former conservative, white Democrats.

Yes, a lot of Trump supporters - most of them, probably the vast majority - have repugnant views on race, gender, immigration, and other issues of basic social justice and equality. They should absolutely be held accountable for those views, and for allowing those views to steer them toward this demented garbage human being and con artist who passes for America's President.

But make no mistake: How many Trump voters truly benefit from his policies (and broader Republican policies)? Especially with the utter policy failures and moral bankruptcy of their response/non-response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the coming economic depression that has a not-at-all insignificant change of making Trump a one-term President (God or Fate willing).

The bottom line: Trump may say "I am your voice!" to his supporters, and they may believe it wholeheartedly, but cult members are victims of the cult leader even as they are perpetrators of his mendacity. Be firm, be strong, hold all Trump supporters accountable, confront them with the truth - but don't let them get to you to the point that you dehumanize them, because that only feeds their sense of victim-hood, and convinces them that the Democrats/liberals/whomever are the ones victimizing them, rather than the Scumbag-In-Chief whom they've put so much faith in.

This may not be a popular view, and you can disagree all you want and I'll respect that. But I don't want my anger to cloud my compassion for Trump's victims, regardless of whether they support him.

It's just horrible that the price we pay for Trump losing will be in deaths and economic depression.

Assuming he loses. *fingers crossed*

Not to mention all of the lasting, permanent damage he's done to our country and our world.

We have a very long, painful road ahead, and global catastrophe from the climate change crisis is basically certain. We have to hang together for all of it.

The true test of a President is how he/she handles a crisis. Trump has failed this test.

Among many, many others.

He was unfit for the office from the beginning; he's more unfit than ever now. That is why, more than ever, we need to get his dumb narcissistic criminal ass out of the White House.

Don't just vote him out, but get your family and your friends and your friend's friends and everyone you know to vote the SOB out. We won't survive another Trump term.

Michelle Obama encourages everyone to thank first responders.

Anyone who tells you that this crisis won't get worse is either wrong or worse, lying.

There's no help coming from the top, because this country has no leadership worth a damn. Certainly, we have no Commander-in-Chief. Oh, there might be a President there technically, but he's a bad, sick joke of a human being - let alone, a leader of any kind other than a cult leader and narcissistic con man.

It will get worse before it gets better, and we all have to help one another, and stay healthy and keep the most vulnerable healthy. Call your family and friends, especially the elderly, for they are more isolated than ever in these times.

Don't take anything and anyone for granted. We all need each other in these times.

We should all take this pandemic seriously. We should also resist authoritarian/illiberal responses.

The tide of authoritarianism is rising everywhere around the world, from China and Russia to the Philipines and India, from Iran and Saudi Arabia to Israel and Hungary, from the United Arab Emirates and Turkey to Egypt and Brazil.

Even the United Kingdom post-Brexit under Boris Johson, and of course, the United States under the narcissistic chaos of the Donald Trump regime, are not immune to authoritarian democratic backsliding — far from it.

We should take the coronavirus pandemic seriously and face it soberly and intelligently. We should listen to the experts and do our best to stay healthy and encourage others to do likewise. But under no circumstances should any of us (further) sacrifice our inalienable rights and freedoms to the worst authoritarian leaders, or wannabe authoritarians at the very least.

Absolute power corrupts absolutely. Donald Trump has been absolutely corrupt from the beginning - his father and grandfather before him paved the way, with further assistance from monsters like Roy Cohn and now Vladimir Putin, among others. Don’t give them any opportunities or excuses to take what they already feel entitled to.

They feel entitled to power, but they are not entitled to power over me or anyone else. Let them know that. No more of this madness, corruption, and flat-out lying.

Love in the time of COVID-19: A message from a relative of mine.

This is a forwarded email message from a relative from a couple of days ago. I wanted to share her words with all of you.

---

"Two nights ago, my fiance and I were unpacking a new set of plates that were recently gifted to us off our wedding registry. At the same moment, we were receiving the news that seemed to finally shake America into awareness around the severity of this coronavirus pandemic. A European travel ban, NBA cancellation, news that one of our close friends was tested, and Tom Hanks!?

It was surreal to be unpacking these plates--a moment we had been looking forward to after years of scraping by with the four dishes we scavenged from Craigslist--with excitement but also a sense of doom. We had scoured Internet reviews and gone to every homewares store in NYC to find the perfect plate, both stylish and functional, for the future dinner parties we'd be hosting in married life. And yet in this moment that should have looked toward the future with such unbridled enthusiasm, we were now looking to the future with fear and uncertainty.

While we washed the plates, we unpacked a lot of questions about our future, far more serious than most of the questions we've faced in our seven year relationship.

As the employee of a European airline on the eve of a travel ban, I feared for the health of my company and my job. We discussed what felt like a near certain reality that I could be unemployed any day.

We discussed the health of our parents, the state of our country, the state of the economy.

And we discussed our June wedding, a moment we (okay, I) have been meticulously planning for the last year. Just a few days ago a giant box of crisp, perfect invitations arrived to our door, and all I could think was how excited I was to send them. In a matter of days, the question became: do we send them at all? My mom asked, "Have you put stamps on them? I'd wait if I were you..." implying an invite with our date might be moot.

If you'd told me my wedding was at risk a few days ago, I'd be shattered. But after a few seconds of fear and frustration at not knowing what will happen, I was surprised at how quickly I was able to bounce back and adapt. Maybe we'll have a New Years wedding instead? Maybe we'll have a few smaller ceremonies to mitigate unnecessary travel for people? Maybe it will all be fine, but either way, I was surprisingly cool about it.

In that moment of unpacking our plates, we endured our first real trial of (almost) married life. And that's what it's all about right? In sickness (whether societal, economical, physical or all of the above) and in health, we've committed to being a unit that gets through it together. The tightest unit that falls back on each other when the fibers of society as a whole seem to be unraveling. A team that adapts when faced with crisis and disappointment."

I agree with this guy.

A thread of appreciation for all health care workers.

Thank you!