By Butch Freedman
Well, it couldn’t be worse.
2025 was a bitch. (No offense to female pups.) Trump and his toadies turned every good thing upside down. I’m not now going to elaborate on all their evils and cruelties. And if you believe that Slobberman and the maga hordes are doing even some good things or expect them to be better the next three years, I feel sorry for you.
It is what it is, as the saying goes. But that doesn’t mean it has to stay that way. Already the walls are crumbling. People are realizing about the emperor and the lack of clothes thing. And expect more of that to come to light in ’26 as health care costs spiral and more corruption and vulgarity gets exposed. Even his social media acolytes are are having second thoughts. I mean, the man’s a sociopath, and an increasingly demented one at that. Okay, enough name-calling, as tempting as it is. The existential question, the only one, is what do we do about it. Or do we just look the other way and hold our collective breath for the next three years? Hope not.
To be frank, my life is still pretty damn good. Yep, I’m one of the privileged. My wife and I live in a beautiful place where we like our neighbors and breathe clean air. We don’t want for food or worry about paying bills. We’re also old and retired. Not exactly in the thick of it any longer. We’re not going to get deported or face death threats from right-wing crazies. Aside from reading the news, we are generally quite content with our day-to-day lives. And still, we are outraged. We can’t ignore the insanity that is the U.S.A. of 2025. The daily degradation of our institutions, how the progress of climate control and medical research has been curtailed. What’s good is now bad. War is peace. George Orwell called it. Just happened a little later. Big Brother put his name on the Kennedy Center.
The time is now, though, to make the craziness stop — or at the least, slow it the fuck down. We have to win back the House! (And, as any of my writing students will attest, I only believe in using exclamation points where they are absolutely necessary.) And we should win it big, landslide big. Maybe there’s even a chance for the Senate. Sure, Trump and the sycophants will try to over-run a Democratic Congress, but it will be a lot harder. We’re fighting for a re-balancing, a returned belief in government by the people, due process, respect, checks and balances, decency. All that good stuff.
If you can, it’s time to contribute — either financially or through having your voice heard, or both. Join with like-minded neighbors and friends. There are lots of us out here. Collective action is stronger than individual. We don’t need to get crazy — as tempting as that may be. What’s needed, is more of a sustained and joyful defense. Standing up and being counted. (Please excuse the clichés.) Stop letting Trump and his “Truths” trigger us, and instead laugh at the clown as he falls to his knees. Oops, that was sorta mean. But what the hell Happy 2026, brothers and sisters.