Welcome to America, where, as has been so often the case, the GOP is preparing to unleash mayhem, and Democrats are standing at the ready with a bucket and a mop, prepared to fight the swill. Months of “nauseously optimistic” have turned into six days on the Gravitron. But the best of the blue state governors, mayors and AGs are here, preparing to protect their populations from whatever may come from the federal government.
Also there’s the Pentagon, which has been discussing what to do when That Man follows through on his promises to deploy soldiers against American citizens, have the military assist in mass deportations, and/or mass-fires the disloyal from the Defense Department and issues unlawful orders.
Leading the gubernatorial resistance shall be the governor of the largest blue state, telegenic Gavin Newsom, with his Attorney General Rob Bonta. You can tell Newsom’s effective by how much MAGA hates him, which is the very most. He’s even got a nickname in Donald Trump’s Truth Social rants, and Ben Garrison likes to draw him.
California’s responsible for about 14 percent of the GDP, and has zero percent interest in having the guy who wants to prevent forest fires with rakes and kill windpower bossing their state around. It also has a lot to lose should mass deportations and the end of federal environmental protections become a reality.
During the last administration of That Man, the state’s AG filed 122 lawsuits against his administration, and won 83 percent of them. At least the judiciary is not going away (yet)!
Newsom waited barely 36 hours after election results were in to call a special session of the state legislature to fund fighting the next administration in court; organized a Zoom call with his PAC; and he and Bonta got on the TV to speak out. Enjoy Bonta on MSNBC reminding everyone that in California, Trump was a BIG LOSER, and the state is ready and waiting for his loser ass if he wants to try some of his loser shit with them.
Also girded is Illinois governor JB Pritzker. “To anyone who intends to come take away the freedom and opportunity and dignity of Illinoisans, I would remind you that a happy warrior is still a warrior. You come for my people, you come through me.”
That’s the spirit!
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy also isn’t having it. Asked about the possibility of mass deportations, he pledged in a press conference that “if it’s contrary to our values, we will fight to the death.” YOU TELL THEM!
Tim Walz, still the governor of Minnesota: “The moment they try and bring a hateful agenda in this state, I’m going to stand ready to stand up and fight. As long as I’m governor of Minnesota, we will protect a woman’s right to make her own healthcare decisions.” He added Minnesota will still be "stand[ing] with the rest of the world in fighting climate change,” and, “As long as I’m governor of Minnesota, we will defend our kids’ freedom to go to school without worrying about being shot dead in their classroom.”
In Massachusetts, Governor Maura Healey pledged her state’s law enforcement will not assist the new administration if it goes through with mass deportation plans. “Every tool in the toolbox has got to be used to protect our citizens, to protect our residents, and protect our states, and certainly to hold the line on democracy and the rule of law,” she told Lawrence O’Donnell on MSNBC. Would she help the next administration deport immigrants? “No. Absolutely not.”
Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers: “To the Wisconsinites worried about what the future may bring, let me be clear: I will always fight to protect our LGBTQ families and kids, especially our trans and nonbinary kids. I will always fight for women, access to affordable healthcare, and reproductive freedom. I will always fight to reverse the climate crisis and to leave our kids and grandkids with a more sustainable, better world than the one we inherited. I will always fight to defend democracy and the basic institutions on which our country was built. And I will always—always—fight for our kids and for the better future they deserve.” Tammy Baldwin kept her Senate seat there too, which is nice.
And the last word to Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott, who isn’t just ready to protect Baltimoreans, but is also FUCKING DISGUSTED. Making people afraid to speak out on account of fear of a troll army is like job one of fascism, but fuck it, That Man already hates Baltimore and can only call it a shithole so many times. As soon as he won, Maryland was never going to get that new bridge or FBI headquarters anyway.
SCOTT: “I don’t know everything that a second Trump presidency will bring to Baltimore, but if he follows through on some of his dark and violent promises, we know that we are looking at challenges in the years ahead. Baltimore will always be a place that welcomes and protects our residents no matter what they look like, who they love, where they were born or how they choose to live their lives.”
If you watch only one clip, make it this one, because he makes online trolls’ heads explode.
SCOTT: “It is really on my heart this morning to say that as a man, but more importantly as a Black man, that this country does not deserve Black women or Black people, but specifically Black women. This morning, I woke up and I just gave my wife a hug because I know how heavy this is weighing on Black women. And they have carried this country and saved this country too many times and continue to be the most disrespected human beings on the planet. And it, quite frankly, it disgusts me.”
“I’m thinking about the world that we’re going to bring our daughter into in a few months. And I want the vice president to know that her and her team did everything right in the right way. But the unfortunate reality is that this country is still steeped in racism, sexism and misogyny. I am personally proud of her, and I know that so many others are the same. We appreciate her tenacity, her focus, her decency and how she handled herself throughout this campaign. And I don’t want to hear anybody saying that they should have done something different, she should have been running longer. The fact is, is that they did everything that a campaign can do and more. But we as a country really have a lot of soul searching to do.”
Agreed. Democrats ran against a firehose of anger-inflaming lies, of indecency, of racism, more lies, transphobia, even more lies, and billionaire-owned media outlets rushing to sanewash the lies. Plus some more lies. If you and the other guy are serving chocolate pies, and the other guy’s pie is actually made of poop, the solution is not to add poop to your own pie. You can try to warn everybody about that pie, but sometimes E. coli has to be its own teacher. Does anyone really believe that if Democrats “changed their messaging,” and threw trans people, immigrants, and women’s rights under the bus they would have won? Hogwash.
We won’t sugarcoat it, it is going to be some nasty pie. And if you also don’t have anything nice to say about it, come sit by me.
All this talk about the what the Democrats did wrong is belied by the fact that the country heard Trump at the debate smear innocent people with "they're eating the cats, they're eating the dogs" a and promised to get rid of them, and said to themselves, this is the man we want leading our country.
Don't forget about our great Colorado governor, who declared us to be "The Free State of Colorado" and put everyone on notice that we will do "everything in our power" to protect our residents. Basically, "don't f**k with me, bro."