Buckleup Buttercups.
We, as a country, may not have bought this particular ticket, but we are all taking this fucking ride together. Again.
Presidential inaugurations normally instill a sense of patriotism and sense of belonging with all of the pomp and circumstance that accompany the ceremony stretching back centuries. I have quietly wept during a few past inaugurations. I’ve gotten goosebumps during a few others. I in no way fully respect the role of the modern president, they are all bought and sold by corporations and have been for decades, but I did hold respect for the office itself.
Did. Until today.
This is the first inauguration of my adult life that I just pretended didn’t happen. I scanned Twitter for a few comedic updates of the event. Hopped onto Bluesky to see the voices driven off the oligarch’s X and stayed in bed. I tried to blame my lack of desire to leave the warm confines of my bed on the weather, it’s below zero outside, but if I’m honest, I just couldn’t face today.
My coping mechanisms for today’s reality looked like this:
I set up a fully encrypted document system for my writing over the weekend and am migrating my work to a fast and smooth publishing processes that is sort of open source. Hopefully, within a few months, I will also have an onchain integration for my publishing as well.
I am simultaneously reading Atlas Shrugged (to tap back into the libertarian vibes), Undertow by Sharlet, Age of Surveillance Capitalism and in the evenings rotating between Hollywood utopian presentations of public service, like Madame Secretary and American President, The Family docuseries, Severance and The Morning Show.
I am slowly locking down most of my devices and computers and embracing my hacktivist ways of that brought me into tech pre-Tr*mp era. Time to return to my cypherpunk roots.
Trying to find work in tech that is non-toxic, quasi-fulfilling and secure enough to navigate the coming economic upheaval.
Trading crypto to play the game and continue my “funemployment” sabbatical.
Enjoying cannabis, baking goodies and cooking up some crockpot madness.
Lots of cuddles with my little pupper, the main source of joy in my life right now.
We all need coping devices right now-- and we need to NOT judge ourselves when we just have to tap out for a day-- or three. Or five. Or a month or two.
We are all collectively hurling towards unchartered territories and, like it or not, we’re in this together. Those who voted for a racist, rapist, felon who commits crimes, at scale, in the open and free of punishment just stepped back into office and we all know how this is going to go. He told us straight up. He’s showing us on live TV. The oligarchs who gained their wealth through surveillance capitalism’s extraction methodology are now in charge and literally standing behind the dictator during his swearing in. I’ve been in tech for 15 years, and I know how these oligarchs think and what drives them.
Those who didn’t vote for any of this must still live with the consequences. A situation brought to us by biased algorithms created by the oligarchs, delivering disinformation campaigns to uneducated and angry populations who internalized the tsunami o9f disinformation and formed a cult to help them navigate the anxiety and fear of class warfare.
And that’s exactly what has happened. Those in power weaponized culture wars through algorithms to shatter our communal bonds and separate us all. In doing so, they hid the fact that it was never a culture war-- it was always class warfare. It always has been and always will be.
The visuals from today simply enforce the reality of that classwar fare and are a giant middle finger to those cult members who voted against their own best interest because they believe the racist hatred that falls from the dictator’s mouth.
Here we are. Separate. Together. Vulnerable. Bewildered. Resigned. And...dare I say...resolute?
Many of us who didn’t vote for any of this are in a “FAFO” kinda mood, myself included. The uneducated masses who voted for this are about to find out just how little their cult leader cares about them. I am here for it.
I am also here to try and hold space for those who see the error of their beliefs and seek a different reality-- one grounded in facts, unbiased algorithms and community. I hold little hope that this will become the norm, that masses of MAGA cult members will wake TF up. But I have to hope that they will wake up as their social safety nets are shredded, their neighbors are deported and their eggs rival the price of an entree.
For some odd reason, I still harbor optimism. Even though I’ve documented and bore witness to some of the worst aspects of humanity, I still believe that we have the capacity to course correct. I have to hold onto that belief as we all enter this dark night of the soul. Because the only way out of that darkness are the little slivers of light that fall from our humanity.