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So... who else here keeps having to get over moments of major anxiety and dread about the U.S. election next week?

And it won't even be over on Tuesday no matter who wins.

I just have to start distracting myself when it happens.

93 comments

  • And it won't even be over on Tuesday no matter who wins.

    I feel this part the most. Recent elections have obviously been chaos. But the dread of what could happen afterward has me stressed more than anything else. I'm looking forward to the political adds being over and all of the junk mail (I live in a swing state). But those are just noise compared to the potential social/economic fallout that feels like it's looming in the distance.

    • And the absolute saddest part is how we'll simply do this all over again in 4 years time, plus smaller versions before then for the Congressional midterms.

      This likely will never end in our lifetimes. Like COVID it will become our new normal.

      The good news there is that Trump really is something special. No really, bc like everyone on both sides hoped for Ron Desantis to replace him, but nobody can hold a candle to Trump's outright cult appeal.

      And he will end in our lifetimes:-). After that, the likes of Ivanka and Jared won't be nearly such a force to be reckoned with. Like COVID, perhaps it will fade away into the background:-). (The caveat: we need to develop a vaccine against disinformation first, and that may prove tricky... but in any case, being forewarned is forearmed and without Trump, it may be easier to make headway.)

  • I'm hoping for good results on election night so I can unplug for a bit. I feel like I'm going have a heart attack most days.

    • I'm worried that even if Harris wins, it won't be announced on election night. Remember 2020? It took several days for them to eventually call it. And then there was the whole multiple failed lawsuits and trying to overthrow the government thing on January 6th.

      My hope is that Harris wins. By a lot. A lot a lot. Like, Karl Rove demands Megan Kelly go to the election desk because he can't believe it a lot.

  • I’ve been gnawing my nails off for a couple of months now, something I hadn’t done in almost 10 years. Politics and general world dumbfuckery are definitely high up in the list of causes.

  • Trying to mostly put it out of my mind. Have faith in the electorate, and all that jazz.

    If things go to shit, things go to shit. My panic isn't going to change several thousand votes in a non-safe state short of self-immolation in front of the Washington Monument, and even then it's dubious. So, just trying to survive until then, when the US electorate rewards my limited faith in them and delivers Harris a victory in the electoral college.

    If not? I've... made my peace with my eventual fate. Maybe I'll make something of it. Either way, not really scared of death anymore. Que sera sera, at least insofar as my own fate is concerned.

  • Well look at Mr. Perfect over here, "getting over" these major panic attacks?! :-P

    On a more serious note, we're not okay. Even those who think the most strongly that they are - including black, gay, women etc. planning on voting Republican, thinking that surely the leopards won't eat their faces off? (and legitimately they might not... for a time)

    Ironically, we all would have been better off if we had had more fear, especially back when it was possible to make more of a difference. e.g. that women's march after Trump's election and others like it the following year(s) was iirc the largest simultaneous collective gatherings of human beings that have ever occurred on planet earth before in the history of... literally ever - but what if it had been 5-10-50x larger than that even? Could the billionaire-bought media have so easily pushed it aside then?

    Or we saw what happened when the powerful people asked Biden to step aside - he did. What if similar had happened to Hillary Clinton... or what if she had actually bothered to campaign in the midwest battleground states?

    But all we can do is keep moving forwards. That's all that is (ever) possible. Live and learn, and keep fighting the good fight.

  • I work for an organization likely to be directly targeted by Trump. I'm holding my breath right now for what that looks like. I'm lucky I live in a state that respects its population, so that'll maybe blunt some impending problems.

  • 2016 set off my ptsd something horrible. I don't have the healthiest coping methods, but I have the tastiest.

  • Everyone remember that even if Trump loses, things aren't great. A vote on Election Day is a beginning for action, not the single responsibility of a citizen. Get familiar with your representatives that win their spot, get their contact info, find out what their positions are on topics (you already did that anyway, right?) Make that a regular thing, and let them know what your position is. Give them praise when they side with you, give them reasons you're unhappy when they don't. Keep notes and don't give up when you get back form letters or nothing at all. If everyone did this, they'd look into why all the fuss if for nothing else to stop people bugging them. They would rather people not call and email.

  • Yep, and my normal escapes are skateboarding and bike riding, but I can't do either of those things because the shitty, faulty fender on my ENGWE EP2 Pro failed (thanks so much ENGWE!) and broke my arm. Tired of this insanity.

93 comments