COVID wasn’t the only major happening of 2020. It was unexpected, but we knew what was coming—those of us in the US, at least. The 45th President of the United States, a title that still makes my mind spin when I see it below his ugly mug on Wikipedia, was running for re-election. His candidate? Mr. Milquetoast, the Big Expected himself: Joe Biden.
We saw what happened the last time the dull ran against the disaster. The thought of four more years of that buffoon in charge, while his cronies and opportunistic vultures ran roughshod over our country filled me with dread. Dread and anger. This time, I wasn’t making the same mistake I did in 2016—for all the good my singular efforts would do. Pointless or not, I was making sure even that walking bar of Ivory soap Joe Biden won.
I volunteered, I advocated. I focused more on swing states, as my home state would’ve only gone Biden if Trump changed his name to it. Whenever I slowed down, I’d do three things. First, I would load up the video of Trump’s infamous ‘nuclear’ excerpt. I’ll not do you the disservice of having to read that nonsense or see his face, Bobrov. But I’d watch it and remind myself that yes, that was the caliber of man who was our elected leader. Then I’d load up the video of Trump holding a presser for COVID, and receiving a simple question from a reporter:
“Mr. President, what would you say to people who are scared right now?”
“That’s a nasty question. You’re a terrible reporter.”
That’s all the motivation I needed. Then, just to remind myself it wasn’t just about one buffoon I’d look at the webpages for my elected representatives. I’d remind myself they were complicit, and that this didn’t start with Trump nor would it end with him. I was fueled by shame and didn’t care about the odds; I wanted to redeem myself for my mistake.
Ultimately, I doubt my efforts had any impact. As I said, I live in a deep red state. The few people I may have convinced certainly didn’t convince anyone else. It felt good though, to volunteer. To take an actual stand and work towards making our country better. I figured I might keep this feeling, and look local. That’s where the real change happens, I thought, and the bad actors within the Republican party have known that for decades. I doubt my efforts locally had, or have had any effort either. I’m in a deep red state, and this place is known for not liking change. As a matter of fact, we are the only state who had a Governor who was assassinated by his own police force. While he was a steamrolling son of a bitch, he did do a lot of good for Louisiana.
Oh, right. One more detail about Huey Long: We still have the bullet holes from the shots his assassins missed. They’re an exhibit at the Capitol in Baton Rouge. The fact we (at the time of writing) still have Bel Edwards as Governor is mind-boggling to me, but I’ll take it. Better him than that used-car fuck Rispone.
