I am checking in at the end of the year to just be on the record.
Though we have not seen the GOP do well in a single election after Trump became president, the press seems to have decided, via polls, that he is a contender for next year's GOP nomination. He may well be, pending convictions notwithstanding. With that in mind, it's going to be a bad year whether he wins or loses. Though I truly think he is unelectable, I'll never consider it unthinkable like I did in 2016. The lead-up to his loss will be brutal. The response to his loss will be also brutal.
That's as optimistic as I get this year. 2024 is going to be hard, but I strongly believe that women and others who will be victimized by a GOP win will step up.
I am genuinely disappointed in my generation to have allowed us to reach this point. Hell, someone I went to high school with is literally Trump's lawyer. It's disheartening to have the optimism of my young adult life about the future of the country turn out to be so staggeringly wrong in just about every conceivable way. If it weren't for the compassion and empathy of the kids who I've taught (the oldest of them are in their 40s now, sweet Jesus), I'd think that there would be no hope. But the youngest, most empathetic and potentially progressive of the youth have never seen a fuctional political system in their lifetimes like we oldsters have. I get their cynicism. I think that one of my goals will be to convince those who want to hear it that I have seen better and help them see what I saw.
So, knuckle down. Keep living. Keep worried. Keep active. Keep going.
RJB