When the 2016 election results were announced, I was devastated. I was angry and sad. Trump wasn’t just anathema to everything I believed in–he seemed like a danger to everything I loved about America.
But I never once allowed myself to believe fantasies about Hillary getting reinstated halfway through the term, or conspiracy theories about the election results getting overturned. Not only because overturning the results of a legitimate election would be wrong, but because this just…was not…reality. And I knew that allowing myself to believe in fairy tales would only bring me pain and suffering in the end, when they turned out not to be true.
So instead I worked my butt off to promote my ideas and values on the local and state level, and volunteered as much as I could during the midterms and presidential election. It was sometimes discouraging and hard, but it was the only way to really make a difference and move things forward.
It’s rough–I know!–but the only thing to do when you’ve lost an election is to work to get the vote out and persuade voters that your ideas are the ones that will help them. Anybody telling you about a quick and easy solution is trying to sell you something. And threatening violence is truly the lazy person’s way out. “We can’t have our way, so we’ll have to shoot you.” Guess what: that only makes things worse, and more complicated. And it does not bring other people over to your side.
Please, don’t buy what the Russian bots are selling you. It will only make your life, and all of our lives, more difficult.
06/21/2021 at 7:20 am
Amen! A huge chunk of the GOP is delusional.
06/21/2021 at 7:56 pm
I wish they would realize they’re ultimately hurting themselves, too. You can put off facing the truth, but it tends to make the pain worse in the end.
06/22/2021 at 4:47 am
I believe some have realized their foolishness, but there remain the puppeteers—rich elitists who, while they might not believe in the Big Lie, are more than happy to propagate it since they are the benefactors of the delusion.
If you have a chance, Google a guy named Russ or Russell Ramsland. He’s a wealthy entrepreneur who happens to be married to my oldest and once dearest friend.
His name pops up in tandem with the My Pillow Guy and on occasion with Rudy Giuliani. Russ is even named in the Dominion lawsuit.
I’d blog about him, but I still love Kathy, his wife, like a sister, and I’m not willing to burn that bridge in case she ever comes to her senses.
06/22/2021 at 10:32 am
Oh no…are you serious? I’ll take a look at this guy… Sorry to hear about what I’m sure is serious damage to your friendship.
06/22/2021 at 1:22 pm
It’s so odd. She comes from wealth, but we lived in a small town and there were no private schools or snooty clubs, so no one paid attention to stuff like that. Her first husband was a heck of a guy, but she became convinced he’d married her for her money. So when she married Russ, who is also wealthy, she kind of went the whole entitlement route. Noblesse oblige and all that jazz.
The thing is, aside from his money he seems like a big phony. He’s a Harvard law grad, but made some pretty egregious mistakes when making a case fit voter fraud in 2020. He claims to have been a courier for the CIA. Says he’s written a book (can’t find it anywhere).
06/23/2021 at 6:32 pm
Oh WOW. He’s the guy responsible for that false narrative? It must be so, so hard not to say something to your friend sometimes. I applaud that you are willing to be so patient in order to save your friendship…..
06/24/2021 at 2:29 am
Yep, Russ is THAT guy. I’ve only been around him a couple of times, and that was two too many. Talk about an elitist asshat…
06/24/2021 at 4:10 pm
Ugh….
06/24/2021 at 4:10 pm
Ugh is the right word.
06/25/2021 at 10:02 am
You may not want to start anything with your friend, but I have no such worries, so I’ve introduced my FB friends to the story of this lovely man 🙂
06/25/2021 at 10:02 am
👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
06/25/2021 at 10:03 am
Just don’t mention my name or my blog…He’s used their Christmas letter to peddle his theories!
07/04/2021 at 6:47 am
Did not mention your name or your blog! Only a link to the news article about the guy’s craziness.
07/04/2021 at 7:25 am
I figured you’d leave me out of it! Thanks fir spreading the word about this entitled asshat.
06/25/2021 at 12:16 pm
I should follow you on Facebook….
07/04/2021 at 6:47 am
Well….I’m Karolina Stepkowski Newcombe on FB if you’d like to send me a friend request 🙂
07/04/2021 at 7:26 am
I shall do that! What a gorgeous name!
07/04/2021 at 7:31 am
Aw, you’re too kind 🙂
07/04/2021 at 7:32 am
I typed mine in and thought, “how blah!” Oh to be a Karolina!
07/06/2021 at 2:36 pm
Hah, if it makes you feel any better…my name is very blah in Poland! (The Polish version of Caroline). And the American name of Leslie would be considered very exciting if you visited elsewhere in the world 🙂
07/06/2021 at 2:36 pm
Well, there you go! I’d be exotic in Poland!
07/04/2021 at 7:29 am
I just added you as a friend. I’m Leslie Hall Noyes on FB.
07/04/2021 at 7:32 am
Ah, cool! Thank you 🙂
08/20/2021 at 6:09 am
I really appreciate Your having worked hard to make ppl see better ways. …For a long time I hv held the view that mankind is Slave to Apathy. That view is much reinforced now. Do ppl listen? Take note? Act? …Ppl expecting the US to lay down the life of its young in Af.than, where their own ppl hv bn lax in protecting their own country (as I see it), is an example of what I am trying to say. …But let us, You n I, Keep on, keeping up the gd fight. Regards.
08/24/2021 at 7:43 pm
Thank you, we will! It does seem like a lot of people just don’t care, doesn’t it? We are mired in indifference, just staring at our phones. It’s sad.
08/25/2021 at 7:55 am
You said it. Concur with You with All my heart! Keep up Your good work Love n Blessings. 🙂
08/24/2021 at 11:49 am
Follow your dreams, not russian bots 🙂
08/24/2021 at 7:43 pm
Great advice!!