--Deb Boyken

We’re in Hell I’ve spent all morning trying to think of more meaningful and graceful words to write, but I’m at a loss so I’ll just say it: this sucks. We woke up today and found out that Americans are a lot worse people than we always hoped they were. And a psychotic senile extremist criminal is going to be President of the United States (again). Like the rest of you, I have no explanation for why 2024 saw record high turnout, yet something like twenty million fewer votes than in 2020. There will be abundant theories about this, and there will be a temptation to chase them, but I’m not sure it matters. The bottom line is that a stunning, jarring number of people were willing to vote for a monster, even after they knew full well that it was a monster. These people are never to be forgiven. It also needs to be pointed out that the media once again screwed us royally. With a hundred days to go the major media outlets (on both sides) suddenly decided to use dishonest pretenses to force President Biden out of the race, at a time when he was still within the margin of error and was in far better cognitive condition than Trump, simply because the media felt it could get better ratings by forcing Biden out. It forced Kamala Harris to enter the race very late, and while she ran a historically inspiring and incredibly competent campaign, winning on such short notice proved to be unrealistic. The media’s dishonest last minute railroading of Biden was a criminal level of election interference on the part of the major media outlets, and they are never to be forgiven either. If I can offer you one piece of advice right now, it’s to try to take this one day at a time. If you start thinking too far ahead about the worst case scenarios… let’s just say that in times like this it’s vital to keep yourself sane. One day at a time. One fight at a time. It’s okay to feel sick to your stomach. I know I do. Right now I’m thinking in particular of women, minorities, immigrants, and the LGBT community, all of whom are in danger. All I can tell you is that it’s been an honor to fight alongside all of you – and I’m going to keep fighting. Whether I want to keep fighting is irrelevant. I have to keep fighting. I have to try. Much hope is lost, but not all hope is lost, and that matters. This is too important to simply give up because things have gotten harder. And I hope you’ll ultimately be willing to keep fighting alongside me.