A Scot’s opinion on the USA political meltdown
For weeks I’ve been trying to write a column about life over here. It’s a strange and volatile time where where a day lasts a week, and a week lasts a month. A number of us have a few more grey hairs than we did at the beginning of the year. Some of us might have upped their Balvenie intake.
Others might be spending far too much money on fabrics for quilting, trying to shut everything out. None of those people are me (wink wink).
The word that comes to mind right now is ‘surreal’. I don’t really know what to write about because once one government catastrophe is over, the next one is in full swing. But the feeling I have most of all right now is disgust. Disgust over all those people who have lost their jobs, and probably illegally too. Disgust at the way the awful ‘Space Guy’ (sorry, I can’t even type his name) is now in charge. Then there’s the ‘Chief Wotsit’ just sitting around looking dazed or falling asleep, planning more carnage. The way this country has split up and divided down the middle is depressing. The way all the major newspapers in the country are kowtowing to the government feels like something out of the Soviet Union.
The Ross-Shire Journal printing this, is doing a lot more than many papers over here.
Halfway through writing this, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy walked out of the White House after being treated despicably by a bunch of rats. To tell you the truth, I can’t bring myself to watch the whole thing, because the sixty seconds I did watch was so shocking I had to turn it off. And this is what’s been bothering me for the last five weeks. What happened to respect and dignity and humanity? Instead, in charge of this country are shameless bullies who act like toddlers in a strop. But if you look at their supporters, they’re lapping all this up and thinking it’s great. It’s beyond me how many people in this government call themselves Christians, but behave like this. It’s disgusting. (That word again).
People have speculated there couldn’t be a worse president than George W. Bush. I disagree on that one.
With air traffic control staff fired, there’ll be more plane crashes. Thousands more will lose their jobs. The social security benefits needed to survive will be cut. The bird flu that’s runningrampant will get worse. Need a vaccine? Not with RFK, the notorious anti-vaxxer in charge of health. People are going to suffer and die.
It’s easy to get sucked into hopelessness and despair. But there’s a glimmer of light. People don’t like being fired unfairly, and they certainly don’t like unelected chainsaw-wielders charging around like a manic bull in a china shop. Folk are starting to wake up. Nationwide protests and boycotts give me hope and make me feel a little less helpless. And I’ve never seen such collective anger like this before.
At the beginning of the pandemic I know I was not alone in struggling to adapt to an unsettling new reality. By the end of the pandemic I was used to it, then struggled to get back to pre- pandemic norms. It’s the same now. There’s no rule book to help navigate this life. I don’t like the uncertainty and the constant feelings of impending doom. Maybe by year four I’ll have found a way to cope with it all. I really hope so. But in the meantime, there’s always quilting and Balvenie.
Well, that’s until the tariffs come in. Then it’s just quilting.
