Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears.
What the hell is happening to our country? After the jubilation we all experienced on Saturday, when the count was done, and Joe Biden had narrowly beaten the incumbent, I felt about 30 pounds lighter. There was a bounce in my step, and in the step of everyone I saw on the streets and sidewalks of New York.
I saw the fireworks in London, heard the bells pealing in Paris, saw the relief and joy that I too felt all over the world.
And then. Like a loud, bratty bloviator whose 6th grade teacher has told him to sit down and let someone else talk, he acts out, and sulks and finds ways to punish the other kids, the teacher, the principal, and the entire school district. If the stakes weren’t so high it could almost be funny, but there’s nothing funny about a mentally disturbed tyrant.
No matter what he does it seems he’s got people who will cover for him, support him, and agree with his crooked plans. We’re all reading about how “Trumpism” will survive even when he leaves the White House. I’m furious that we’re normalizing his behavior.
There’s nothing even remotely acceptable about cheating and lying.
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Lisa Birnbach and Dahlia Lithwick
Anyway, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris won the election, and that feels great.
But I wanted to discuss the president’s malfeasances, and the way the Department of Justice and the Supreme Court seem to have been politicized with a brilliant lawyer whose career it has been to write about laws and the courts for Slate. It’s Dahlia Lithwick, and we are so fortunate to have her here this week. Spoiler Alert: She made me feel better.
But first the five things that made my life better this week:
1. Joe Biden. A calm, soothing politician, who isn’t perfect, but is the person we need to be our president right now. How can the other 70 million take offense when he says he wants to heal the divisions in our country? As Lindsey Graham said, “if you don’t like Joe Biden, there might be something wrong with you.”
2. Kamala Harris. The ceiling has burst open. A woman a woman of color who can express joy as well as she can probe with ferocity. I’m still speaking, says Kamala Harris. She will be a wonderful vice president.
3. The weather! It’s been in the low 70s every day since Saturday. A gift! I’ve been walking and wait for it – smiling – as I do my chores.
Photo used with permission by Culinary Hill: https://www.culinaryhill.com/classic-tuna-salad-sandwich/
4. Tuna fish salad sandwiches. I forgot how they are the great lunch. With or without a pickle. Preferably on toast. Photo by Culinary Hill:
5. Poll watchers, vote counters, Secretaries of state, and state election workers. The unsung heroes of the democracy. Thanks to all of them for caring about doing their jobs well.
Dahlia Lithwick
Dahlia Lithwick’s 5 Things:
1. Voters. Despite all odds they showed up, stood in lines, rejected nihilism, licked stamps. Amazing.
2. Arbie our new kitten (named after RBG natch). Photo attached. She annihilates me. My boys are smitten. She has increased lockdown joy by a factor of 2000000%
3. Eloquent Rage by Brittney Cooper. Rebecca Traister told me to read it. I've had such a hard time with rage/fury/anger/spite these past years. This was like straight to the veins.
4. My parents. Halfway across the world, stuck in almost endless lockdown. Complicated haircuts. And yet doing fine, still in love, full of joy, modeling grace under crazy.
5. Team Tyranny. This is for real. The people who started warning about authoritarianism the day after 2016 election. We didn't know what to make of them. Masha Gessen, Steve Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, Tim Snyder, Jason Stanley, Bandy Lee. So many of them were prophetic in the broad strokes. For me it was better to be informed than just scared, to see patterns and moves rather than chaos.
Arbie
The 5 Things That Make Life Better podcast is recorded and produced at The Field in NYC https://thefieldtv.com
My team is Shpresa Oruci, Michael Porte, Sam Haft and Boco Haft.