You know, it wasn’t that long ago that I was really optimistic about this country and looking  forward to the November election. Joe Biden had done the right thing and resigned; Kamala Harris had totally reinvigorated the campaign; Minnesota everyman Tim Walz had been chosen as our Vice-Presidential nominee; Trump was finally going to face justice in the cases that he had avoided so long with his “Roy Cohn” defense; and, despite the closeness of the race, we were going to win!

We would finally join countries led by female prime ministers (even if in our case it would be a president), including India (Indira Gandhi, 1966), Sri Lanka (Sirimavo Bandaranaike, 1960), Israel (Golda Meir, 1969), the United Kingdom (Margaret Thatcher, 1979), and Pakistan (Benazir Bhutto, 1988).

Other countries have since joined the parade of female prime ministers, including Bangladesh, Turkey, New Zealand, Australia, Germany, Iceland, Norway, Finland, Italy and Denmark. 

Germany had its most consequential prime minister in Angela Merkel; New Zealand had the most welcoming in Jacinda Arden (Stephen Colbert’s visit with her back in 2018 is still one of the most adorable things ever); Finland’s Sanna Marin was definitely the hottest; Italy — always a country willing to do things differently — has the first fascist female prime minister in Giorgia Meloni; and Denmark’s Mette Frederiksen is the prime minister who is currently denying Trump’s long-standing desire to purchase Greenland. 

The United Kingdom has had three (even if Liz Truss only counts as half a prime minister); New Zealand has also had three; Poland has had three; Norway has had two; Sri Lanka has had two, and Bangladesh (Sri Lanka and Bangladesh!) have also had two. I mean the first female prime minister was 64 fucking years ago. It’s not like we were going to break some radical new ground here in electing Kamala Harris.

Instead we have this.

As long as I live, I will never get over the fact that half the country (or at least half the voting public) chose this shitweasel, President Asshole, the Obergroppenführer, to be the president of the United States.

We may survive the next four years intact, but it’s going to be a shitshow of unprecedented proportions.

Back in the summer and fall, I had MSNBC playing on my TV while I worked, and when something interesting came along, I would turn the sound up. I’m sorry, like a lot of my friends, I can’t watch the news no more. 

Now I have Norwegian “slow TV,” where you can watch things like an 11 hour train ride up the Norwegian coast from the caboose of the train, or I watch the live stream of Shadow and Jackie, the two bald eagle parents where two of their three eggs just hatched today.

Today!

That’s so much better than watching Trump lie his way through a 90 minute address to Congress. Or watching the gleefulness with which Republicans get to “own the libs,” which will soon turn into owning themselves, as Trump’s tariffs and economic policies start to take hold.

Trump’s approval ratings are now slightly below water. His approval rating stands at 47.6%, while his disapproval rating is slightly higher at 47.9%. The 17 million Americans who voted for him in the Republican primaries are hardcore MAGA. They will always stand by their man. But that represents only 11% of the voting electorate. Trump’s approval ratings can still get much, much lower (although I won’t be satisfied until they drop into the single digits, which, let’s face it, is never going to happen). That  would be like the 4% approval rating that Putin and Trump claim Zelensky has (his actual approval rating is around 53%).

It’s never going to happen. But a boy can dream.

So, for the most part I’ll be ignoring the news and watching baby eagle hatchlings or Norwegian trains while I try to get through the next four years.