Fear Won. That’s what hurts.

Oliver Willis of Daily Kos listed the seven worst things the nasty guy said he plans to do on his first day. 1. Mass deportations creating economic and social chaos. 2. Target transgender children and their mental health. 3. Reinstate his Muslim travel ban. 4. End birthright citizenship for children of undocumented immigrants, erasing a basic American value. 5. Cut funding to schools that teach real history, such as slavery and Jim Crow. 6. Oppose vaccine mandates, enabling childhood illness. Quite the contrast to saying how precious the unborn are. 7. Repeal emission mandates, increasing pollution and speeding climate change, even though Biden’s goal of making half of US auto sale be electric vehicles enriches the nasty guy’s buddy Elon Musk. Walter Einenkel of Kos posted Jimmy Kimmel’s opening monologue from Wednesday night. He talked about his disappointment in the election results. He does get a bit emotional as he lists all the people who will be hurt by the election results. That includes all those who voted for the nasty guy, though they don’t know it yet. The segment is 16 minutes. Einenkel also posted the opening monologue of Stephen Colbert on Wednesday’s The Late Show. He eloquently begins with a swear word. The video is nine minutes. He’s asked by people saying isn’t having the nasty guy in office a source of a lot of material for comedians? He replies that’s similar to someone with diarrhea giving the custodian a lot of material to work with. One would rather not. Also...

The first time Donald Trump was elected, he started as a joke and ended as a tragedy. This time, he starts as a tragedy. Who knows what he'll end as. A limerick?

Emily Singer of Kos reported several Democratic governors are trying to protect their states from what the nasty guy might do. Gavin Newsom of California wants his legislature to return for a special session to pass more funding for the California Department of Justice. He’s pretty sure they’ll need the money for lawsuits against the nasty guy’s actions. Important areas are protecting reproductive freedom and protecting LGBTQ people. Other governors getting ready include Massachusetts, Washington, New York, and Illinois. In a pundit roundup for Kos Greg Dworkin had a few interesting quotes. John Burn-Murdock of Financial Times shows a chart with the percent rise or fall in vote share for governing parties in national elections in developed countries. The chart goes back to the late 1940s. The caption says, “Every governing party facing election in a developed country this year lost vote share, the first time this has ever happened.” Perhaps we should be pleased Harris and Democrats lost the least, though we didn’t have any margin to spare. Burn-Murdock added:

The economic and geopolitical conditions of the past year or two have created arguably the most hostile environment in history for incumbent parties and politicians across the developed world.

Sharon Quinsaat in Hawaii told of her experience encountering a native she calls Lily who regards the nasty guy as a demi-god.

She showed me on her phone the stuff she reads and listens to everyday. I have never heard of them before, but we listened to them together. The conspiracy theories in these sites are WILD, to say the least. But she is convinced they are true. I have my research assistants look at these sites and influencer/analyst because they are so new to me. Lily and I are living in two different worlds.

John Sides tweeted:

Like clockwork, commentators interpret elections as ideological mandates. Trump wins, so voters hate progressives and want conservatism. Here's why that's wrong. 1) It doesn't help explain why parties *of all ideologies* lost vote share post-COVID. 2) It exaggerates how much voters vote based on policy. So much polisci shows how difficult that is, and how in fact it's often the reverse: voters choose polices based on whatever their preferred candidate is advocating. 3) The big LOL comes when the new party takes power and goes in the direction that voters allegedly "wanted." And then voters...go in the opposite direction! This is the thermostatic model of public opinion.

There are cartoons and memes in the comments. A couple of memes were posted by exlrrp. The first is from Mike Wise:

It’s not just that Trump won. It’s that Joe Rogan, Dana White and Brett Favre won. Jailed insurrectionists won. The Alitos and the Thomases won. Vladimir Putin won. Racism won. Misogyny won. Sexism won. Global warming won. Xenophobia won. Most of all: Fear Won. That’s what hurts.

And exlrrp quoted a meme by Mehdi Hasan that fits in with reports that when the nasty guy was declared the winner all talk of election fraud stopped.

So to be clear, Dems rigged the election against Trump in 2020 but then just ... forgot to do so again this time around?

Matt posted a cartoon of a man sitting on the steps of his house with a bat in his lap and crying. His wife tells the neighbor, “He’d set his heart on storming the Capitol.” Banx has a cartoon of a wife saying to her husband, “I though we were going to contest the result?” Margaret Atwood, author of The Handmaid’s Tale, tweeted a cartoon by Whamond showing a monther and daughter in handmaid robes and bonnets. The daughter speaks first:

But why didn’t you vote against them Mom? Why didn’t you try to stop them from taking it all away? Well, back then, prices were quite high, honey...

PittsburghLiberal of the Kos community lists twenty reasons why fascism may not take hold in the US. I note the “may.” This post begins with two truths. First, we are not to “blame” for the outcome. Republicans have been heading in this direction for quite a while. Many of us have worked hard to stop the slide and have had success in many areas. Second, there are many Americans who are not hyper-radicalized and don’t understand the dangers of fascism. We must face this moment by considering there may be tyranny and mass executions. Even so, there compelling reasons why fascism may not succeed here. I won’t list all twenty. We’re much more racially and ethnically diverse so isolating and persecuting minorities will be harder. Many states will lead resistance. Overall resistance is well-organized and well-financed. We have a well established democratic tradition that didn’t have time to develop in Germany or Russia. Germany was defeated by democracies, which helped discredit democracy. Major democracies are our allies. Modern technology makes capturing and sharing abuses of power easier. We know the nasty guy and we know the authoritarian playbook. We can prepare. Jailing or murdering celebrities who oppose him would be politically untenable. The nasty guy is in cognitive decline and his only ambition is himself. He’s not an ideologue. If he can’t go on he has no successor with the same draw and party support. Republicans are prone to infighting. They’re evil, but not smart. A lot of effort will go into denying reality, which will constrain them. There is no credible external threat to be used as a foil. The military leadership is apolitical and the many of the soldiers are people of color. Andrea Chalupa of Gaslit Nation has been hosting a salon over Zoom as a way of forming community and helping people work through their feelings. She sent an email Thursday evening with a link to the recording of Thursday’s salon. I don’t know if it is for members only. It begins with the image from the Sound of Music, the moment when Baron Von Trapp pulls down the Nazi flag and rips it in half. Then Chalupa offers a to-do list. And that list makes the situation of life under fascism a lot more real. Again, I won’t list everything in her list. Offer your talents to the resistance. We’ll need lawyers, security (including cybersecurity), health and mental health healers, archivist, and many more. Your talents might be needed. Commit to staying human. Don’t rip apart fellow resisters. Commit to the community and collective safety. Check in on the vulnerable. Take time for art. When scared turn to love. Ignore harassment. Get away and help others get away. If you can’t, film them. Assume your phone is a listening device and that AI is scanning everything online. Do sensitive things without technology. Commit to nonviolence. They want us to be violent so they have a reason to outviolence us. If we pledge to nonviolence we can tell those calling for violence are a regime plant. Create a bag in case you have to flee – passports, cash, ID, water, masks, solar charger for phone, protein bars. Keep a journal describing life now so over time you can tell how you and society have changed. Buy paper books of American history, including of the nasty guy years, because they will attempt to rewrite history. Local elections still matter. Vote and consider running. Be careful of what you drink and eat, especially meat, as consumer protections are rolled back. Give children and grandchildren a fascist free bubble for as long as possible. Remind teens of their power. All we can do is slow them down. If you work in government stay there to help slow down their work. I’ve been writing this resistance blog for almost 17 years. I’ve done it anonymously because this threat has been visible since I started. But I have no doubt that a determined official can figure out who I am. I probably should go find that post from a decade ago that includes a photo taken at a protest that includes me. Then again, with the internet archive I may already be too late.