January 7th, 2026
Goddamn it.
I try to be a voice of reason and sense, of kindness and decency for the people in my life who are close to me; but what happened today, and what has been happening in this country for years under the watch and thumb of the man responsible for this administration, is unreasonable and nonsensical, unkind and indecent, as well as cruel and inhumane.
How do you explain the inexplicable?
The comment sections are full of people who clearly would have sold out Anne Frank for a seat at any table; this isn’t surprising but it is always disappointing, today and through every instance in history.
If it wasn’t clear that this nation is not a Christian one, or one that follows its own ideals or carefully crafted Constitution, but is definitely one in the grips of authoritarianism, here’s your final sign. You can disagree with me in the aforementioned comment section, but all it will do is prove that you do not know the definition of several important words and phrases. It will do more to undo you than me. I’ve already pledged my allegiance to the decency and kindness I sang of before, and no nation or party above man; too many are too deep in the weeds to notice that they have lost their humanity, the deep connection we have to each other when all the other bullshit disappears.
And make no mistake about it: this is all bullshit.
I am proud to be a Minnesotan and so heartbroken and heartsick over the state of our state. I echo the sentiments shared that highlight the strength we gain from the diversity of our neighbors; I strongly refute the idea that trouble comes from specific places as opposed to certain individuals.
If you don’t believe me, please look up the list of white male U.S. citizens who have both orchestrated massive fraud and been pardoned by the Trump administration. You’ll only be surprised if you haven’t been paying attention. (Happy Insurrection Day yesterday to all who celebrate.)
So what do we do? I don’t know. I have never known. Shit, I stopped drinking at least ten years past the date I should have. I’ve been thinking about the concept of naive reality lately; the idea that we all believe our individual perception of the world is the objective one. I also read something lately that hasn’t let me go: that it’s likely that everyone we meet, including the people we dislike, are more intelligent and complex than we think they are.
But not everyone has the same motivations. I feel like I’m driven by empathy and connection and understanding and truth but others seek the exact opposite: power and polarization and misinformation and control. It’s been suggested we can’t find common ground because we’re living in different realities when the truth is we just want different things.
And some of us want truly evil things.
An evil thing happened today. Some people will try to tell you it wasn’t. Those people are not stupid. They just have different motivations than you. You will just have to ask yourself what they are, and what it is that drives you.
I hope it’s light and love and compassion, and I hope there are more of us driven by that than it feels like right now. So what do we do? Again, I don’t claim to know. But I’m choosing to continue to love my neighbors, even the ones with different motivations, to continue to try to talk to them and understand them and connect with them; god knows none of us get out of here alive, but when I do, I want my motivations to be clear:
I was a human. I cared about other humans and this planet as I cared for myself. I fought to keep my humanity, even when it was unpopular.
Especially when it was unpopular.
Goddamn it.
The Den 