Well shit…

There are a few ideas that guide me as a critic: use comedy to deconstruct power; consider the intention of the author and evaluate how said intention played out; raise the discourse even when shitting on something. I don’t really know how to do my job today, or maybe I just don’t want to. Today, intentions and execution seem like some sort of shambling Cthonic nightmare; it’s too ugly to look at. The desert of the real is beyond my ability to parse, and yet something compels me not to look away.

I’d quote “Angry” Joe Vargas’ favourite line, “You fucked it up,” but even that seems to fall short of an accurate election day summary. I could do my Abed routine and make a reference to Gaius Baltar winning the election as a single-issue candidate whose rhetoric was stronger than his actual policy, but that puts too shiny a veneer on things. The American President-Elect makes Baltar seem an appealing alternative. The horrible reality, a state of affairs that will no doubt become worse as time marches on, seems to be that America didn’t so much fuck it up; instead, Trump voters confirmed they are on the wrong side of history, and they want to drag the idealism of America down to their level.

Fear led to anger.
Anger led to hate.
And now we hold our breath and hope that hate won’t lead to suffering. It probably will.

If Trump follows through on his promises, people will die as access to health care vanishes, as protections for minorities evaporate, as police militarization goes unchecked, and as the planet continues to convulse against us. Federal protections will give way to narratives of states’ rights that can legislate people out of existence. All this is before the President-Elect deploys American military power as if we are living in a Frank Miller graphic novel.

To my American friends, I say only this: protect each other from what is to come. If you have the means to support people, here is a list of organizations that need your help. There are too many monsters and not enough witchers.

All we have in the darkness is each other.

Finally, to any alt-right, would-be brownshirt-in-training who is feeling smug about a Trump victory, and I mean this with every ounce of whatever essence makes me the man who I am, go fuck yourself.