A nightmare is a disturbing dream associated with negative feelings, such as anxiety or fear that awakens you. But you DO wake up and realize it wasn’t real.
What happens when our nightmares become real?
July 27 was the first nightmare. Joe Biden failed to perform well in the debate with Donald Trump. I didn’t think too much about his performance because I remember Obama’s lackluster debate against Mitt Romney. The media ran with this as if it was the end of the world and then others started to pile on. They’ve misquoted Congresspeople, celebrities, and local officials, leading readers to believe one thing, when in reality it was another.
Why? They found it got them attention; views and clicks and more money. The right wing media owners were delighted. Influencing elections, anyone? They don’t care as long as the money keeps flowing into their bank account. Corporate media tried the same thing with our last incumbent Democratic President as they are trying with Joe Biden today. Tell them to STFU and go to work.
My advice to the media is, “you report the news, you don’t get to create it.”
We’re already seeing certain Congresspeople, like Jerry Nadler and Mark Warner, walk back their original statements insisting that Joe Biden drop out of the presidential election in November. Maybe they should think before they speak to media, huh?
SCOTUS’ rulings were the second nightmare. To rule that Trump was immune to prosecution from his official acts was ludicrous to most of us. It gave him the powers of a king. Getting rid of that “divine right” was one of the reasons for 1776, and now we’re going back there? It brings to mind the words of Richard Nixon, “When the president does it that means it’s not illegal.” Like Justice Sotomayor: With fear for our democracy, I dissent.”
The Chevron decision was equally ridiculous (and probably more affective) because it will demolish government agencies (with experts) from doing their job. It affects everything from our safety, to our food, and our environment. Every new regulation will lead to a tsunami of court battles, and we all painfully realize how slowly the courts respond.
And in the recent rulings, SCOTUS officially criminalized being homeless. There are no words for this at all and no justification. Another nightmare to add to the nightmares of those who are too poor to have a place to sleep. It’s rubbing salt into a wound.
The public’s long-delayed realization about Project 2025 is another nightmare. Americans finally had an epiphany, albeit delayed, about this. This document produced by the Heritage Foundation and by former members of Trump’s own staff are a harsh reminder of how another Trump presidency would snuff out our Democracy completely and permanently. In typical Trump fashion, he claims to know nothing about it. He lies so easily.
So what do we do when our nightmares become real? Exactly what we do when our nightmares are merely bad dreams.
We wake up and we go to work. And we vote for Joe Biden in November.
