American Thanksgiving: How To Survive The Horror Of Trump

It's Thanksgiving Day in America. A day for our neighbours to watch the floats in the Macy's parade, or just enjoy some quality time around a dinner table.

And of course, stuff themselves with turkey.

But as we all know, the U.S. is not a happy place these days.



Some floats are more monstrous than magical.

Even the turkey can be tainted...



And of course, the ghastly Donald Trump can be so ignorant and so criminal... 



As he cheerfully torches the planet.

Especially when he thinks he's a "stable genius" and all the others are fools. 

President Trump is surrounded by fools.

There’s that fool William H. McRaven, Special Operations commander of the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, and the other fools in the U.S. military, who should have brought down bin Laden “a lot sooner,” because “everybody in Pakistan” — all 208 million of them — knew the terrorist leader was living in “a nice mansion.”

There are the fools in the CIA, who have concluded based on so-called evidence that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered last month’s killing of Post contributor Jamal Khashoggi. But Trump alone understands that we’ll never know the truth, because the crown prince denied involvement “maybe five different times.”

From Washington to Finland.

There are the foolish Finns who, after Trump claimed Finland avoided forest fires because “they spent a lot of time on raking,” are now mocking him by posing with garden tools in the woods. But Trump knows Finnish forest-raking is real because Finland’s president, Sauli Niinisto, told him about it just last week (even if Niinisto can’t remember this).

And when I read stuff like that, and even though the Great American Resistance is growing stronger every day, and on its way to a glorious victory...



I can understand why so many decent Americans might wonder how they are going to survive two more years of Trump.

Because I sometimes wonder the same thing myself eh?

So I thought I'd share a recent column by Charles Blow that I have been saving for this occasion. 

Do we have a right to weariness in an era of animus? More precisely, can we afford it, or is exhaustion a luxury reserved for those whose wealth, privilege and status insulate them from the losses the rest of us could suffer? Does patriotic defense of country require perpetual, obsessive vigilance, or is it permissible to retreat occasionally for one’s own mental and spiritual health?

One that asks some hard questions:

How could we not have registered fully just how hostile a substantial portion of America is to inclusion and equality? How could we not have registered the full depths of American racism and misogyny? How could we not remember that American progress has always been like a dance with a disagreeable partner, stumbling backward as well as moving forward?

But ultimately leads to a good place and some wise advice.

The struggle for goodness and decency is an eternal struggle, not a seasonal one. 

Don’t beat yourself up if you need to tune out every now and then and take a mental health break. There is no shame in it. This is a forever fight. Once you have recharged, reapply your armor and rejoin the fight with even more vigor.

And I think today would be a good day for our decent neighbours to take that break, for they do deserve it.

So from this Canadian, to my readers, family, and friends in the U.S.

And of course to The Great American Resistance.

Happy Thanksgiving !!!

And please save some turkey for me....