Donald,

Thanks to Mitch McConnell you have five more days, or a little over 120 hours, left in office. It should bring some measure of comfort that the time left is so minimal, but honestly, it really doesn’t. I’m picturing a graph where the time countdown is plotted against the desperation ramp up, the former decreasing in a linear fashion but the latter increasing geometrically or exponentially. Translated – time will just unfold as it always does minute by minute but as the time ticks closer and closer to Inauguration Day, your desperation, and that of your crazed followers, is increasing much more steeply. For example, if you started at a 2-level of desperation on November 4^th, you’d be at the 18,889,465,931,478,580,854,784-level at this point, or 2 to the 74^th power (2^74th), which is obviously wildly desperate.

On the one hand, each hour that we get through without another self-coup (or autogolpe, a word that it sucks to have had to learn) there’s a modicum of relief, but on the other hand, the tension and dis-ease of not knowing what’s coming the next hour just keeps ratcheting up. So well done – if your goal was to f*ck with us like we’ve never been f*cked with before, to shake our foundations to the breaking point, and to unleash and embolden White supremacist vitriol, then you can congratulate yourself on mission accomplished.

I know there’s a lot of chest thumping going on that democracy prevailed because the Electoral votes were officially counted and President-elect Biden was confirmed as our next POTUS. These are important markers to be sure, but I was reading about how the White supremacist seditionists compromised the scaffolding set up for Inauguration Day and weaponized the parts in their assault on the police officers as they tried to take the Capitol on the 6^th and it feels like this is what you and your cabal have done to our entire system – compromised the undergirding and weaponized it against us.

Specifically, we now have Congress people in the House of Representatives who are f*cking QAnon acolytes. They’re spouting the sickest of sick conspiracy theories about their congressional peers, are bringing loaded, concealed weapons onto the floor of the House, refuse to wear masks, and appear to have provided intelligence and support to the seditionists. This isn’t a sign of a little rot or a little slippage – no, this is sign that our governmental system, our democracy, is struggling, that it’s compromised to its core.

During her telephone Town Hall last night for WA State District 7, Pramila Jayapal (bless her, seriously bless her – she’s got Covid, was terrorized during the siege, and is still showing up for US) was asked for her thoughts on trying to work with the people who fit the description above. She didn’t even try to come up with something soothing or reassuring. In essence she told us she really doesn’t know and is really concerned about having to work with such people, people who would betray their colleagues and who would betray democracy and America. She was fairly diplomatic about it, but it was clear that she is angry and that she is scared for US all.

Heading into this long weekend, we should about celebrating Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’s win and honoring the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., but I don’t think I’m alone in feeling sick to my stomach with anxiety over what might happen at the various Capitols across the country and over how many more Americans will succumb to Covid.

This is a dark, scary time and sadly, it doesn’t seem likely to pass quickly.

May we be safe.
May we cherish any flashes of happiness the universe bestows.
May we be strong and healthy, including being willing to lean on one another for support.
May we accept that when the opportunity comes to rebuild, we must think outside of all the boxes.

Sincerely,
Tracy Simpson