Life in the USA, January 2026
This blog entry contains swearing.
I was thinking I’d start my blog off on a more personal note than this, but… I can’t. I have to talk about the bullshit.
We’re just over a week into 2026 and already, Trump’s people have abducted Venezuela’s President and his wife in order to get to Venezuela’s oil and an ICE officer shot and killed an innocent person (not the first time; Keith Porter was killed on New Year’s Eve) named Renee Good and the whole Trump team lied and claimed she attacked him first despite there being video of what actually happened. When peaceful protesters came out, ICE attacked them with “less than lethal” weapons at potentially lethal closeness, and some agents have verbally outright threatened to kill again.
Meanwhile, for the past few months, ICE has been abducting people, putting them into camps, torturing them, and disappearing them for the crime of not being white enough. The Neo-Nazis scream about Trans and otherwise Queer people being “groomers” while openly supporting pedophile politicians and their policies. Trump keeps threatening to take over Greenland and Mexico, and a bunch of politicians from both major parties recently denounced socialism because that’s really what’s important to them right now apparently, and they’re also talking about possibly ending free speech on the internet because I guess they’re tired of the criticism. (Credit where credit’s due, in the days it’s taken me to write and look over this, several politicians are actually trying to abolish ICE and Impeach Noem, and I appreciate any politician that’s actually trying.)
Before you tell me that I forgot to mention another thing that’s happened recently or is in the process of happening currently, I’m sure there is something I’ve forgotten. There’s too much to keep up with at once, and they’re doing that intentionally. (I didn’t even mention Musk or Theil! Or the forming media monopolies! Or ai!)
I hesitate to say “this isn’t the place I grew up” because it very much is, the age we’re in has been brewing for a long time, I saw the red flags. But, the extent of the masks coming off—whether removed voluntarily or via their own stupidity and cowardice-- is new. The corruption being so naked and obvious to most, the number of corporations that are proudly supportive of what’s going on, the number of rich people who have been to Epstein’s pedophile island resort, the number of politicians either supporting Trump or saying they don’t but doing fuck all about it… It’s absurd. It’s ridiculous. It’s the dumbest time to be alive.
Living in the USA right now is like watching a train wreck in slow motion. Everything’s catching fire, falling apart, blown up from the inside. Being a passenger on this ride, I can say it’s terrifying and chaotic, but above all else, I’m angry. I’m so fucking angry.
What gives me the most hope is, it seems to me like all the people around me are angry, too. Over and over and over again, there have been record breaking attendance numbers of nonviolent protests nationwide. There has been continuous public outcry, with countless calls and emails sent in that actually changed how some politicians handled a few things. People are talking and coming together like never before. They’re flooding town halls and calling it out when politicians or media conglomerates capitulate. They’re running ICE out of hotels. They are risking their health and safety to stand up to fascists. The people are NOT just waiting for it to end. The people are not being silent or complacent. They are doing what they can.
And it makes me feel hypocritical sometimes when I feel like I’m losing faith in humanity. There’s plenty of reason to right now, but the people that are worth believing in are all around me. I’m trying hard to remember that when I read a clearly tilted or censored news article, on the days when it’s business as usual out there (if there is any “usual” anymore), or the days it feels like fascists are getting away with anything and everything. I know every gesture they make these days are displays of desperation. They know the people are enraged and determined and strategizing. They’re pushing so viciously right now because they know they’re going to lose. No matter how long it takes, the fascists are going to lose. The people aren’t giving up until they make it happen.
And if they aren’t giving up, how could I?