To: The Evil Ring Master

Blessed be, we’re finally within spitting distance of 2021 and will soon be officially putting 2020 in the rearview mirror along with the previous three years of your reign of terror. I can’t hold my breath until tomorrow midnight and live to tell the tale (let alone until noon EST January, 20 2021), but gosh is it lovely to have the new year and the new administration both be so right around the corner – finally.

In other news, I see that Missouri Senator, Josh Hawley, has formally pledged to tango with Rep. Mo and challenge Pennsylvania’s Electoral College vote on the 6th. Do you know what happened between Hawley and Mr. Potato Head (one, Mr. Tommy Tuberville)? Did they flip a coin for the boot licking honors or are they going to hold hands and make the objection in unison?

Ruth Marcus made some thoughtful comments about this whole GOPP*-challenging-the-Electoral-College-vote farce (https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/12/30/let-josh-hawley-put-republicans-uncomfortable-test/) earlier today, ultimately concluding that making all of them show their cards is a good thing on balance. As you know, I agree with her on that count, but the counterargument she entertained does give me pause. She said that a possible outcome is that if enough GOPP brethren vote along boot licking lines it’ll further fuel the outrage over Biden’s presidency, which “risks more normalizing of what should be abnormal.” It would also keep your dreams of paying down your debts alive since it would help keep the donations to your PAC rolling in, though this angle is getting short shrift as far as I can tell.

While this nutso, and dangerous, miasma is brewing in Ring #1, we have the size of the stimulus debate festering in Ring #2, and in Ring #3 we’ve got the scary as shit Covid variant smacking into the much slower than should be the case vaccine distribution. In other words, no matter which way one turns, it’s bleak – even with the countdown on 2020 so close.

Having learned more about how the larger, proposed stimulus distribution would work, it actually seems to me that the whole debate over the amount per person is a jacked up way to keep us distracted from the real issue of how lame the federal response has been and will be no matter which way this shakes out. If I’m following correctly, it appears that if Congress were to approve the max $2,000 per person payout, it would mean that families making up to $300,000 would get checks – not the full $2,000, but it’s absurd that people who aren’t in economic straits would get anything at all. Why the hell was the bill written that way? Apparently it’s too late to fix it and the Grim Reaper (aka Mitch McM) isn’t going to green light a vote so it’s moot. Still, I want to be on record saying that it’s idiotic that a relief bill 1) isn’t exclusively centered on those who need relief, and 2) isn’t actually capable of providing anything but a tiny, temporary Band Aid to those who need relief.

I’m not going to tackle the horror show that is Ring #3 tonight except to say that ALL the energy that you and yours are pouring into Ring #1 and the fantasy that you can subvert the election needs to be diverted to the absolute life and death issues of Covid spread and vaccine distribution. All of it. Now. Full stop.

May we be safe from bullshit political games.
May we be willing to see past and through the shiny objects.
May our stomachs be strong enough to tolerate the rollercoaster days ahead.
May we accept that we can’t even fathom how much work there is to do.

Sincerely,
Tracy Simpson
*GOPP = Grand Old Pathetic Party