Is anyone else having nightmares and anxiety about the...

I'm not having nightmares but I'm sitting on the bench with you. Very upsetting.

I wasn't trying to point AT YOU specifically---just an observation of what's gone on!

Thanks on the royals--never heard that before, learned something new!

I am very worried about Trump being our president.

Every time I hear about another cabinet appointment, a tweet storm, his kids being involved with making decisions, and his businesses making money from him being president, I keep waiting for someone to say there is a way to stop him. There has to be something in the constitution or a law to stop this nonsense. Unrealistically, I keep waiting for the people who voted for him to decide he's gone too far and start causing a ruckus.

I'm absolutely flabbergasted that we are in this mess.

I am as well. A feeling of impending doom, hopelessness, I've never had this feeling about a president elect before. Going through the motions of Christmas but not really enjoying it.

Me. My hubby tries to downplay it, says everything will be okay, but I'm VERY upset and anxious still.

I'm not having nightmares or anxiety, but I am quite concerned for the direction of the country. Anyone who assumes that "it can't happen here" may learn that it very well could happen here.

So much that Trump has done has been normalized. So many of his supporters are quite happy to either ignore things that they would have been apoplectic over if Hillary or Obama had done them - but Trump gets a pass. So many people are willing to do mental gymnastics to explain why it's entirely OK for him to do things that are blatantly corrupt or bad for the nation's security. Once you normalize things like mocking disabled people (even if it's just a 'standard retard' impression), bragging about sexual assault or calling for violence against anyone who doesn't support the regime 100% (at the rallies), it's not a big jump to the next step. Yes, I know Hitler gets brought up too often in situations that don't apply - but in this case, it absolutely does. Hitler never started with concentration camps. It was the little things - 'those people' are ruining us with their different ways, maybe we shouldn't associate with them. Then 'maybe we shouldn't do business with them' to 'maybe we should make it illegal to do business with them' to 'maybe they should have their own places to live, in certain sections of the city' and then 'maybe we should clean them out of the city and send them someplace else.' The first step didn't sound all that bad, and by the time the second step happened people didn't think that sounded bad either. We are one terrorist attack away from some very bad things happening to people, and sadly there are many who will go along with it because they think that safety is more important than liberty.

In this case, we've already gone from 'some media don't like me very much' to 'maybe the press shouldn't have access' to 'you can't trust the press because they lie about me - I (and my approved sources) are the only ones you can trust.' Net neutrality - Trump's team seems likely to end that. What does this mean? It means that your ISP gets to determine the speed of data. Want to read the Trump-approved websites? Those can load right up. Want to read the NYT or WaPo? Well, that's going to take a while to load because your ISP doesn't agree with those stances. Maybe you can switch to a different ISP - but many people don't have an option, as some areas are only served by one ISP. So while we may still have 'freedom of the press' it may look very different - only certain press will have access to the president, and you'll only be able to read about events on certain sites because if it takes 20-30 minutes to download the front page of the NYT, how many people will be willing to wait to read it?

Gingrich has already started making statements that we need to rethink the rules about corruption because Trump is such a new and different case. He's just so gosh-darned rich that he couldn't possibly abide by the same laws and regulations that every single president has before him.

I read the transcript of an NPR report on Trump's views on Putin. It's kind of long but worth the read. It talks about how Putin dislikes Hillary - not because of what she said about the elections in 2011, but because of his dislike of the Bill Clinton/Yeltsin stuff that took place back when the USSR was collapsing. Putin became president in 2000. The rules limited him to 2 terms, so he became prime minister in 2008. He became president again in 2012. When the rules didn't allow him to be president, he found a way to stay in power - it was agreed that while Medvedyev would be president, Putin would be named prime minister and be the one calling the shots. I have no doubt that there are plenty of people who would not mind Trump staying in power for as long as possible - and they will justify it rather than saying "hey...this isn't right, there's a reason why we added this to the Constitution." It will be "well, we added it because it served a purpose at the time...but we can take it out since we never had as wonderful and glorious a leader as Trump before! After all, we repealed prohibition, we can repeal this amendment too!"

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I really appreciate your fact- and experience-based point of view.  I am also quite concerned.  What has happened in North Carolina can happen in any state now, and indeed at the federal level.

I haven't watched the news since election night. My mornings are much more peaceful as a result. 

I go to BBC online and click on the "world" tab only so I can keep up with Syria and everything else going on overseas. And I go to one of our main local radio stations' website for traffic and weather. But no news at all, except right after an event such as the truck attack in Germany. I knew CNN would be covering that exclusively so I felt it was safe to turn it on to find out what happened. 

I have a couple of reliable people on Facebook, and my dh, who keep me up to date on Trump's cabinet picks (omg).

I think this has been a good strategy for my mental health. 

What scares me the most – with a president, Congress, and eventually Supreme Court all controlled by republicans – is that they will do everything they can to make sure that they stay in power forever. No – I'm not talking about trump becoming a dictator. But I am talking about passing more laws that suppress voter turn out, do more gerrymandering, do away with more campaign finance restrictions, etc.

Is it too much to ask that we just have open, fair, and free elections? Do we have to play games? The gerrymandering in my state is absolutely ridiculous, and I cannot believe that it is legal. But it almost guarantees that Democratic candidates will never have a shot at statewide office. Even though there are enough supporters in districts that make complete sense both geographically and community-wise, , the Republicans in my state – and no I am not making a generalization, just stating a fact – have split those districts up into ridiculous little slivers and shapes in order to split the more progressive vote.

I promise you that they will pass more laws in the name of "voter fraud" that are really just to suppress the votes of people who tend to vote Democratic. Again – I know that so many people will think "But… But… But… All those dead people voting! ". There have been many Republicans over the past several years that have fully admitted it's to suppress the vote of poor and minority people. Then there is that pesky little problem of there being absolutely no evidence whatsoever of widespread voter fraud. Not even up in Wisconsin, to the dismay of many Hillary voters.

What is happening in North Carolina also scares the crap out of me. When did it become OK to strip people of power just because they are not the people you wanted to win? How is that OK?! That should scare every, single one of us! And if it doesn't scare you – just because you are a Republican – it should.

I want desperately to believe in checks and balances – but there are no checks and balances right now. Who is going to check him? The Republican House? The Republican Senate? The Supreme Court, which is currently deadlocked but will very soon be right-leaning? Who is going to check them?

There's a reason why I have certain people on block.  They never have anything constructive to add to the conversation. Just more of the same old, same old.

No matter what, there will be people who are entirely willing to overlook anything that "their" guy does. Just because it's their guy.  It's hard to admit that someone you stood behind and made part of your identity would do a bad thing - so there will always be a reason why it's ok just this time and for just this guy. I hate when the whole "but Hillary....!" argument is used to excuse Trump's behavior, but in this case it can be used to show the hypocrisy of the situation.

If Hillary were putting people in charge of the FCC who were trying to take away net neutrality, it would be seen as "she's going after your freedom!  She's going to outlaw Fox news and Breitbart and Alex Jones!"  But if it's Trump's people, it's cool because why should anyone's ISP be forced to carry something they might find offensive or disagreeable? Really, it's the best way to keep America safe.

If Hillary were setting up business deals with other nations that looked even the slightest bit shady, we would hear all about pay to play and corruption.  But Trump?  He's a businessman!  He's just so darn rich that you can't expect him to abide by the laws of mere mortals. What did you expect, you can's ask him to stop making money just because he's also the President!

If Hillary were getting cozy with an autocratic leader in a country that has been an enemy/major rival for 50+ years, we would hear that she is a traitorous bitch who needs to be tried for treason and hanged.  Immediately!  But Trump?  Now, he's just trying to be friendly.  Just because we've always been at odds with Russia doesn't mean we have to stay at odds with Russia!  After all, they aren't communist anymore - so we can totally be friends!  Yeah, maybe Putin has had a few people who disagreed with him murdered along the way, and maybe he's got some really corrupt business dealings - but you can't make an omelet without cracking a few eggs.  There are some journalists here who maybe should be made an example of.  You really shouldn't talk that way about the President, he deserves respect and deference - amirite?

Well said ... Thank you pyccku I really appreciate your posts. 

And after thinking about my anxiety I think maybe I'm most anxious about the new lack of checks and balances. He's getting all sorts of slack because he is a "business man" and is not being held to normal standards. Stifling/delegitimizing the press leads to dictatorship.
In previous administrations I might not have been happy with the results, I knew we'd generally be ok, but I'm almost terrified with the results this time. Proof is North Carolina. 

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