DIDJA"?

 Anyone originating from that wonderful place known as Brooklyn knows this title. It is one of the timesaving contractions we Brooklynites create to expedite process. Did you? Didja'? The same, yet different. The second version is usually said at times of heated temperament, particularly during discussions of hot topic issues ranging from local to the universal. Most often those discussions are begun with a version of the following: “Didja' think, didja' ever stop to think?" Obviously, the target of that question was perceived as a transgressor, a wrong thinker and/or doer in some matter. That colloquial term carried far more weight and meaning than did the more grammatically correct version. 

Hence, a giant DIDJA!? addressed to the world and in particular, to the citizens of this country. How the hell did you, me, all of us, come to think it okay to re-elect a perverted demented dangerous man to presidential office and power? Those who voted for him will reap the poisoned crop of his sowing. Those who opposed, perhaps we needed to fight more, to get out more, to make the choice clearer. Perhaps too many of us gave up out of a bone deep despair that this was what this country could present to its electorate as presidential choice. Those of recent immigrant descent, those of color, those of the LGBTQ+ movement, women who voted for this man will soon rue the day you checked that box. This man is no friend of yours. 

The unthinkable was now to be a realized state of being. Lydia Polgreen, a well-known opinion writer, has always advised calm in the face of this disaster. Surely, our country's basic foundational principles would be strong enough to counter any of this man's voiced rants and threats. However, this most unfit president-elect continued, even ramped up his threats of revenge and retribution and presented an ever more detailed wide-ranging plan of mass deportation (your spine should shiver with that policy). A growing number of Americans   eagerly bought into it, to partake in this Evil. Rants of directed prosecutorial persecution of those he deems enemies” and all the changes he plans to make in and to American society, well, here are her words now. " Despite myself, I am panicking.” Let them ring deep within your soul and your hitherto sleeping minds. Didja' ever stop to think of the consequences? Didja' comprehend the corruption of this man and his clear intention to do all he spoke of and even more? Didja' follow the thread to the end? Apparently not or not deep enough. 

Note the egregious things he has done up to this point. He is a sexual pervert, a convicted criminal, a felon, man of no morals, a boor of the first order, a man who cannot sit till long enough to either read or hear a folder of critical information, a man who throws temper tantrums, who would rather lie than tell the truth. A man who dove deep into conspiracy theory and claimed his loss in the election of 2020 was a stolen election. A man who incited treason against his own nation. A man who spit in the face of peaceful transfer of power. A man who resisted signing the vow to avoid conflict of interests as President-and we know well how he abrogates that principle. 

He has gathered around himself a crew of incompetent negative thinking and acting people totally unqualified for the positions to which they have been appointed. Amongst the garden variety of definitely not Grade A category, we have sexual perverts, some financial frauds, a man who concocted a nasty scheme against his brother-in-law and was jailed for it, and others so 'overly' qualified to serve the people!  Equally as 'devoted and equipped' to run their departments - to drive them into the ground. To destroy legislation and rules meant to better the situations for Americans. Oh, so much better and more fun to destroy rather than build and improve. 

Racism, all biases in fact, will be more open and public than ever before. Other than his "beloved Christians". and his White Power adherents and all those who favor teaching lessons via the Bible in public schools, who benefits from this man and his inhumane policies and ambitions? Creeps who love the idea of capturing immigrants, having enormous power over their lives, destroying dreams, sending young people raised here from early childhood, who are American - back to their "Home"! Perhaps there will be a surplus of those wishing to work in the American concentration camps, even working a system where these 'nasty' drug and infection riddled humans can work their old jobs, this time as slave labor. So much better for the economy, right!   Maybe the children as well.  

Know this too. Tables of Americans will be lighter. Fruit and vegetables will be harder to come by for their labor has gone missing. If they can even be found, they will be out of possibility of purchase for the standard American. The Uber wealthy - not a problem. In fact, much food will be rarer, more expensive, as packaged foods will also be in short supply. Their workers are gone too. So is the seamstress. Your handy man and home construction crews. That good restaurant and that interesting store along with the doctor and the lawyer that you have been seeing and using. 

The tariffs. We will be paying from 10 to 25% more than what we pay now. Such a great deal for us. All for a good cause, right? The growth of an authoritarian fascistic nation bereft of a nonpartisan honest judiciary, an independent legislative branch, with a population afraid to voice opposition, struggling in life, even as there are those who clamor for positions within the new ugly America. 

 No wonder Polgreen is panicking. So am I. I do not trust that man, nor his crew. Not one bit. He and his are anathema, enemies of democracy, a proponent of authoritarianism. 

 What have we done? Didja' ever stop to think before buying into his story and his false promises. Do you feel the treads and pressure of the wheels of the bus under which you have been tossed? His promises are as chaff in the wind, unless it bodes well for his nefarious plans for this country and its residents.

He says for Israel, yet all can be changed on a whim. That is how he works for trustworthy he is not. Even as the harm he causes rises to the surface there will be those who will continue to buy his lies, excuse his crimes, his inhumanity. When does this end? People are foolishly relying on the law, on the Constitution, to stop him in his tracks should he go too far. But laws will have no power to rein him in for he pays no attention to laws. 

He can change the world. This man can change the future. This man will definitely change America, and not for the better. We will have to be highly attentive and strong. Certainly, at this point I am not seeing a rosy view. and my glass is three quarters empty.

We, the people of America, are responsible for this situation. We are equally as responsible to find a path out and to keep the damage to a minimum.       

Didja' ever stop to think? All the way through?

Gotcha'!