American Absurdities

2025-07-02 7:34PM -0700

Living in "interesting times" sure is exhausting. I keep trying to write thoughts on whatever horrors have most recently come to pass, but I never capture it as well as others. So please accept my listicle instead.

The famous Voltaire quote keeps coming back to mind:

Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.

The absurdities:

• Trump is the Christian candidate.
• Trump has no knowledge of Project 2025.
• People voted for Trump because they were worried about the economy. (Totally NOT racism and sexism!)
• DOGE is going to remove government inefficiencies.
• Trump is going to fix the economy. (Though, I suppose that depends on which definition of "fix" you believe is in use.)
• The most pressing problems of America today are illegal immigration and "wokeness".
• Whatever Karoline Leavitt said today. (I don't even need to check.)
• (broadly gesturing) The people who have been appointed to positions of power.
• The right to an abortion is settled precedent that Trump appointees won't reverse.
• This isn't fascism.

The atrocities:

• Unidentified, masked men disappearing people off of the streets and taking them to other states, or concentration camps in foreign countries, without (and in contradiction to) due process of law.
• Building and boasting about inhumane concentration camps.
• Blatant, open, shameless corruption.
• Kicking trans people out of the military.
• Musk leading DOGE to unconstititionally infiltrate and dismantle institutions holding him and his companies accountable.
• SCOTUS granting presidential immunity from prosecution.
• SCOTUS limiting the power of judges to provide injunctions to block blatantly unconsitutional abuse of power.
• SCOTUS overturning Roe v. Wade, and any right to privacy.
• Mobilizing the National Guard against protestors.
• Police openly (live, in a TV broadcast) threatening to kill protestors.
• Keeping a dead woman on life support, against her family's wishes, to use as an incubator.

I'm sure I've forgotten some. I'm sure there will soon be more to add. I'm not sure I'll have the energy to come back here and do it.