His presidency was devastating to many of us. And his loss has driven many of his supporters into violent rage. If you’ve enjoyed the ad-free Signorile Report since it launched, or began reading recently, please think about becoming a subscriber supporting
I was listening to your election coverage in 2016 when Trump was elected. It should have been a celebratory night, but the sharp turn it took when key states failed to deliver Clinton was horrifying. I could hear the shock in your voice. And I knew the next morning that this election was bad for so many reasons. And so, the depression and anxiety began and was pounded in day after day with alerts on what horrifying thing he did or said. Sometimes the alerts were hourly. we were flooded with attacks everywhere from fellow Americans to the truth. And no one in the GOP stood up and said it was wrong. That was the surprise, and that is why, although Trump is gone, the anxiety remains, because Trumpism is embedded in the GOP. It's fascist, it's authoritarian and it's out to destroy everything we hold dear if we ever become placid again. I saw my country almost fail, and know we are not out of the water yet. I lost family members to a virus that should have been addressed and know a significant proportion of the population doesn't give a shit about their own or anyone else's health, so while I watch films more and read non-political books more, that carefreeness I enjoyed before 2016 was destroyed and will never return, thanks to Trump. May he and his accomplices rot in hell one day for what they did to Americans.
It made me angry. It made me question why I served this country. I hate that I even question it. And I continue to worry what the terrorist party will continue to do with all their rabid degenerate followers.
Well Michael, if screaming at the television every time I had to hear the lies and mistruths qualifies, then yes, it has affected my mental state profoundly. Perhaps not as much as the pandemic effects, but still pretty badly. The healing with the election of President Biden and Vice-President Harris will be slow, but is greatly appreciated as far as recovery goes. Anxiety remains with the QAnon party still trying to wield power, but that too will pass, I believe, once the American people stand up for what a democracy means and put that into action to rid the nation of conspiracy theorists and mental midgets!
I'm so glad you included Steven's call-in to your program. It felt both honest and heartening to hear his story.
I can relate somewhat to his feelings, yet I am decades older than he is. I lived with a husband who exhibited many of Trump's worst traits. Yes, I stayed married to him for 30 years - always thinking I was too weak to leave (they make you think that way) - and although he's been dead for over 12 years, the Trump years have awakened the anxiety and stress I lived with for so long. It's walking on eggshells, never knowing which way the wind is blowing, who's going to be on the hot seat, and who will take the blame for one of his fuckups. I don't understand the people who worked for Trump. How can they live with themselves? They weren't married to him, they could leave.
My own brother is in Trump's cult and I have blocked him now on FaceBook and no longer talk to him. He wrote me the vilest email in response to my New Year's email wishing all my brothers a Happy New Year and the wish that they would now be supporting Biden and his plan to resolve the pandemic. His response to me was that Biden is an evil child molester and he was going to do everything he could to keep him from the presidency. WTF? That is scary.
I already suffer from anxiety and take medication for it so the past 4 years was even more stressful. I constantly worried about my relatives in SC and GA. Every time I headed out to a store I felt fear if I saw a car with a Trump banner. I looked at news websites constantly throughout the day.
I’m much calmer now and sleep sounder. And cutting back on my news consumption. I am only listening to Michelangelo and one other program on Progressive. Everything else I read, watch or listen to now is for entertainment only.
I totally stopped listening to music. For four years there was no music in my life as I only obsessively listened to news. My husband and I would wake up and grab our phones to see what horrible thing he had done and we went to bed looking at our phones again. Then all of our conversations at dinner with our family revolved around trump talk. I am finally relaxing and trying to be optimistic and hopeful again ,but know we cannot led our guard down. There are still FAR too many crazies!
Trump still does his dirty work behind the scenes at Mar-a-Lago. Witness Kevin McCarthy's visit to his Lord and Master last week. Now the House Republicans have given a standing ovation to Q-anon supporter, Marjorie Taylor Greene. I don't know what to think. The GOP has turned into a cult.
It's been four years of stress and some sleepless nights, but it was all magnified in the last few months of the election, and then particularly from Monday, Nov. 9th, two days after the big parking lot celebration of Biden & Harris winning the election that Saturday, which was my/our first big sigh of relief / exhalation — all washed away with Day 1 of Trump's INSANE refutation of the election. It was like when Hillary said she was living rent-free in Trump's brain, remember? — well, Trump was living rent-free in all of our brains from Nov. 9th through about 11:00am on January 20th when we could see on television that the Inauguration was actually happening. Ok, so there was some initial relief when Twitter closed down Trump's account — no, YUGE relief! — I think we had no idea how harmful his tweets were to our psyche until Twitter shut him down. But, truly, after Biden & Harris were sworn in, and Amanda Gorman worked her magic, and Lady Gaga and Jennifer Lopez sang their songs, our backs were relieved of the weights. We're not out of the woods by any means, and I'm still paying attention to the news a lot, but I can certainly sleep better and not have to think about losing my rights anymore, and all I need to remember is that our President is Joe Biden and our Vice President is Kamala Harris and our Senate Majority Leader is Chuck Schumer, and Mitch McConnell is the Senate MINORITY Leader — and my whole body relaxes with that realization.
One additional word regarding "losing rights." I found it so perplexing, after the Insurrection failed, and some of the networks and newspapers were interviewing Trump folks (to Eric Boehlert's and all of our consternation!), and the audio clips that you played last week, Michaelangelo, how a lot of Trumpistas are now scared that, with Biden & Harris in office, they are "losing their rights" and they're scared and they're crying and they don't know what to do. And it just AMAZES me that they feel that way. With Trump, maybe they get their gun rights, and right-to-life rights, so to speak. But everybody else has so much to lose, REAL rights, real freedoms, Trump was slowly chiseling the Constitution and taking that away. We Democrats and non-Trumpers really had something to fear, everything to lose. But with BIDEN? Really, Trumpistas don't really lose anything — they have everything to gain. They're not going to lose their rights to just live and be happy. They'll be fine. They'll go on another day like they have for decades. They've been brainwashed. They have very short memories. They don't realize the cult leader they've been conned by. WE lived in fear under Trump (actually, Trumpistas did too, but just didn't realize it). Now, with the exception of some of this crackpot din, we can live in relative peace. At least for now.
Hi Michael. Thankyou for taking my call today. I reach out to fellow fans asking how they are dealing with siblings or other family friends who cannot accept Biden admin. I am heartbroken.
Good luck to Steven...he was a "survivor", certainly many others,unfortunately, were unable to deal with tRump in their lives,and I feel for them. Others, many others, were able to use the negative energy to fight back against tRump and his vile Repugnants, his cult followers and his media enablers, and to our misfortunate and probably shock, these people still exist in our lives, so our fight continues, but now we have "bounce" in our step to undo the damage this country has endured. I had, like many others, thoughts of leaving this country in a few fleeting moments, but instead I used what I had at my disposal that was: time.... ironically,thanks to the pandemic, I wrote, literally, hundreds of letters, comments to publications, online sites and to our political representatives. This was my "therapy" in dealing with the tRump psychological damage we all felt.Now we need to confront and fight the continuing hate, political fantasies,a dysfunctional opposition party , the home grown terrorists and the "clean up" of the tRump aftermath. Supporting Biden, and stubbornly fighting back at the cowardice of the GOP leaders, who have now become the QAnon Party. This is now our new battle. RESIST ENCORE.
I had to let this one sit for a day. So much pain we all experienced. On that night in 2016 I got in the car and drove to the store and bought a pack of cigarettes for the first time in years and by the end of the night had smoked half. Calling my friends, one had her face buried in a pillow crying and couldn’t even talk, another saying “Michigan, wait for Michigan” and then it just was awful. Shock. Unbelievable pain. Then four years of horror. I don’t always get to listen to Dean’s full show but I always tried to listen at least to the beginning for the countdown. Then I put my own countdown on my phone. Watching it tick down every day was how my husband said it was for them in Vietnam, and it actually was painful for them when they got the 30 day stick because you didn’t want anything messing you up those last 30 days. The last month of Twitler was the same here. Got to work and worked so hard for Dem candidates and Biden, but then the massive anxiety of having put in all that work and total fear of loss. But we did win. I did lose a nephew to suicide, and a good friend also, both attributable to the pandemic and nothing can erase the pain of both and the total incompetence of Fake Bone Spurs.
Can we come back? Little steps, Biden, work we can do for 2022, just having to keep putting one foot in front of the other. We have to keep trying to heal and find a daily joy, otherwise the Monster has won. In the wise words of Pete Townsend “we won’t be fooled again”, and that gives me hope. Thanks for the community here and on your show, Mike.
The RUMP effect is a global phenomenon which like any great freak show brings out the best and the extreme worst of humanity willing to humiliate themselves at any cost. It doesn't matter if PT Barnum is at the helm running the show or a malignant misanthrope like Commander Covid and his Lost Planet Airheads. Instead, focus on the bearded lady [Cruz] or the elephant in the room [Christie] or Max Headroom [Gaetz] not the Ringleader who commands them all.
Poor Steven's troubles began the moment the FOXNOISE, NOISEMAXXX, grOANN, Flush Limbo, Smart Alec Jones and the et al cabal, began polluting the airwaves with "Alt-FAX", once Kellyanne CONway breach birthed and coined this heretofore nonexistent journalistic aberration!
No one of sound mind, body and/or spirit slept a wink during RUMP's reign of terror. Steven was one of many, too sensitive to psychologically rebuff the machinations of an authoritative mad man. Me too, Steven.
Secondly, get the hell out of Simi Valley! I lived there for a couple of years during the Rodney King trials and found out the hard way. My partner and I ran a small R.E. business on Alamo st. and Tapo Canyon right around the corner of the Courthouse where RK's trial by fire began! The irony of it all was that the proceedings underwent a change of venue because LA County was deemed to be too discriminatory from the racial bias evident right from the beginning of the trial; so they moved it from the frying pan into the FIRE itself. And you may ask yourself, "Well... how did I get here?" And I may tell you from experience, "Same as it ever was, same as it ever was!" Because Simi Valley is where every John Wayne goes to die as every Mark Fuhrmann is born! It is the single most protected enclave of law enforcement [all branches] born from a once sylvan verdant bedroom community of working farms, movie sets [Hope town], Spahn's ranch, Corriganville and local barn dances…...alas, no more!
Sadly, because it always was a predominantly white community, the obvious migration of our boys in blue moving there was manifest destiny in accordance with the chronic dictates of a David Duke or a lesser underling of the White “Supremecyst” movement currently in fashion amongst the Rethuglikkklan fascistas!
I believe in law enforcement, “Andy of Mayberry” style. Let Barney keep his one bullet in his uniform shirt pocket as Andy cleverly negotiates the town's peace w/o insulting Barney.
I abhor this current SWAT/COMMANDO presence that no longer 'Protects' us, but 'Serves' us up in the most anti democratic manner possible abrogating our civil/human rights until they no longer exist. Steven, you’re better than Simi Valley [sorry Simi, I loved you back in the day until you showed your true colors-WHITE].
To "Protect and Serve" was a former meme that once calmed a wary population; more suited now to be a title of a cookbook, putting us all on the menu to be served up to the oligarchical hegemony as a figuratively prepared soylent green.
As an aside, I would like to briefly expound on Steven's mention of the "Ronald Von Raygun LIEbrary" on Madera road in Simi Valley. I was there for the grand opening in '91 and for the first time in my life, I had to pay to enter a Public Library and never went back.....kinda says something about those sneaky little Rethuglikkklans, doncha know!!!
I was listening to your election coverage in 2016 when Trump was elected. It should have been a celebratory night, but the sharp turn it took when key states failed to deliver Clinton was horrifying. I could hear the shock in your voice. And I knew the next morning that this election was bad for so many reasons. And so, the depression and anxiety began and was pounded in day after day with alerts on what horrifying thing he did or said. Sometimes the alerts were hourly. we were flooded with attacks everywhere from fellow Americans to the truth. And no one in the GOP stood up and said it was wrong. That was the surprise, and that is why, although Trump is gone, the anxiety remains, because Trumpism is embedded in the GOP. It's fascist, it's authoritarian and it's out to destroy everything we hold dear if we ever become placid again. I saw my country almost fail, and know we are not out of the water yet. I lost family members to a virus that should have been addressed and know a significant proportion of the population doesn't give a shit about their own or anyone else's health, so while I watch films more and read non-political books more, that carefreeness I enjoyed before 2016 was destroyed and will never return, thanks to Trump. May he and his accomplices rot in hell one day for what they did to Americans.
It made me angry. It made me question why I served this country. I hate that I even question it. And I continue to worry what the terrorist party will continue to do with all their rabid degenerate followers.
Well Michael, if screaming at the television every time I had to hear the lies and mistruths qualifies, then yes, it has affected my mental state profoundly. Perhaps not as much as the pandemic effects, but still pretty badly. The healing with the election of President Biden and Vice-President Harris will be slow, but is greatly appreciated as far as recovery goes. Anxiety remains with the QAnon party still trying to wield power, but that too will pass, I believe, once the American people stand up for what a democracy means and put that into action to rid the nation of conspiracy theorists and mental midgets!
I'm so glad you included Steven's call-in to your program. It felt both honest and heartening to hear his story.
I can relate somewhat to his feelings, yet I am decades older than he is. I lived with a husband who exhibited many of Trump's worst traits. Yes, I stayed married to him for 30 years - always thinking I was too weak to leave (they make you think that way) - and although he's been dead for over 12 years, the Trump years have awakened the anxiety and stress I lived with for so long. It's walking on eggshells, never knowing which way the wind is blowing, who's going to be on the hot seat, and who will take the blame for one of his fuckups. I don't understand the people who worked for Trump. How can they live with themselves? They weren't married to him, they could leave.
My own brother is in Trump's cult and I have blocked him now on FaceBook and no longer talk to him. He wrote me the vilest email in response to my New Year's email wishing all my brothers a Happy New Year and the wish that they would now be supporting Biden and his plan to resolve the pandemic. His response to me was that Biden is an evil child molester and he was going to do everything he could to keep him from the presidency. WTF? That is scary.
I already suffer from anxiety and take medication for it so the past 4 years was even more stressful. I constantly worried about my relatives in SC and GA. Every time I headed out to a store I felt fear if I saw a car with a Trump banner. I looked at news websites constantly throughout the day.
I’m much calmer now and sleep sounder. And cutting back on my news consumption. I am only listening to Michelangelo and one other program on Progressive. Everything else I read, watch or listen to now is for entertainment only.
I totally stopped listening to music. For four years there was no music in my life as I only obsessively listened to news. My husband and I would wake up and grab our phones to see what horrible thing he had done and we went to bed looking at our phones again. Then all of our conversations at dinner with our family revolved around trump talk. I am finally relaxing and trying to be optimistic and hopeful again ,but know we cannot led our guard down. There are still FAR too many crazies!
Trump still does his dirty work behind the scenes at Mar-a-Lago. Witness Kevin McCarthy's visit to his Lord and Master last week. Now the House Republicans have given a standing ovation to Q-anon supporter, Marjorie Taylor Greene. I don't know what to think. The GOP has turned into a cult.
It's been four years of stress and some sleepless nights, but it was all magnified in the last few months of the election, and then particularly from Monday, Nov. 9th, two days after the big parking lot celebration of Biden & Harris winning the election that Saturday, which was my/our first big sigh of relief / exhalation — all washed away with Day 1 of Trump's INSANE refutation of the election. It was like when Hillary said she was living rent-free in Trump's brain, remember? — well, Trump was living rent-free in all of our brains from Nov. 9th through about 11:00am on January 20th when we could see on television that the Inauguration was actually happening. Ok, so there was some initial relief when Twitter closed down Trump's account — no, YUGE relief! — I think we had no idea how harmful his tweets were to our psyche until Twitter shut him down. But, truly, after Biden & Harris were sworn in, and Amanda Gorman worked her magic, and Lady Gaga and Jennifer Lopez sang their songs, our backs were relieved of the weights. We're not out of the woods by any means, and I'm still paying attention to the news a lot, but I can certainly sleep better and not have to think about losing my rights anymore, and all I need to remember is that our President is Joe Biden and our Vice President is Kamala Harris and our Senate Majority Leader is Chuck Schumer, and Mitch McConnell is the Senate MINORITY Leader — and my whole body relaxes with that realization.
One additional word regarding "losing rights." I found it so perplexing, after the Insurrection failed, and some of the networks and newspapers were interviewing Trump folks (to Eric Boehlert's and all of our consternation!), and the audio clips that you played last week, Michaelangelo, how a lot of Trumpistas are now scared that, with Biden & Harris in office, they are "losing their rights" and they're scared and they're crying and they don't know what to do. And it just AMAZES me that they feel that way. With Trump, maybe they get their gun rights, and right-to-life rights, so to speak. But everybody else has so much to lose, REAL rights, real freedoms, Trump was slowly chiseling the Constitution and taking that away. We Democrats and non-Trumpers really had something to fear, everything to lose. But with BIDEN? Really, Trumpistas don't really lose anything — they have everything to gain. They're not going to lose their rights to just live and be happy. They'll be fine. They'll go on another day like they have for decades. They've been brainwashed. They have very short memories. They don't realize the cult leader they've been conned by. WE lived in fear under Trump (actually, Trumpistas did too, but just didn't realize it). Now, with the exception of some of this crackpot din, we can live in relative peace. At least for now.
Hi Michael. Thankyou for taking my call today. I reach out to fellow fans asking how they are dealing with siblings or other family friends who cannot accept Biden admin. I am heartbroken.
Good luck to Steven...he was a "survivor", certainly many others,unfortunately, were unable to deal with tRump in their lives,and I feel for them. Others, many others, were able to use the negative energy to fight back against tRump and his vile Repugnants, his cult followers and his media enablers, and to our misfortunate and probably shock, these people still exist in our lives, so our fight continues, but now we have "bounce" in our step to undo the damage this country has endured. I had, like many others, thoughts of leaving this country in a few fleeting moments, but instead I used what I had at my disposal that was: time.... ironically,thanks to the pandemic, I wrote, literally, hundreds of letters, comments to publications, online sites and to our political representatives. This was my "therapy" in dealing with the tRump psychological damage we all felt.Now we need to confront and fight the continuing hate, political fantasies,a dysfunctional opposition party , the home grown terrorists and the "clean up" of the tRump aftermath. Supporting Biden, and stubbornly fighting back at the cowardice of the GOP leaders, who have now become the QAnon Party. This is now our new battle. RESIST ENCORE.
I had to let this one sit for a day. So much pain we all experienced. On that night in 2016 I got in the car and drove to the store and bought a pack of cigarettes for the first time in years and by the end of the night had smoked half. Calling my friends, one had her face buried in a pillow crying and couldn’t even talk, another saying “Michigan, wait for Michigan” and then it just was awful. Shock. Unbelievable pain. Then four years of horror. I don’t always get to listen to Dean’s full show but I always tried to listen at least to the beginning for the countdown. Then I put my own countdown on my phone. Watching it tick down every day was how my husband said it was for them in Vietnam, and it actually was painful for them when they got the 30 day stick because you didn’t want anything messing you up those last 30 days. The last month of Twitler was the same here. Got to work and worked so hard for Dem candidates and Biden, but then the massive anxiety of having put in all that work and total fear of loss. But we did win. I did lose a nephew to suicide, and a good friend also, both attributable to the pandemic and nothing can erase the pain of both and the total incompetence of Fake Bone Spurs.
Can we come back? Little steps, Biden, work we can do for 2022, just having to keep putting one foot in front of the other. We have to keep trying to heal and find a daily joy, otherwise the Monster has won. In the wise words of Pete Townsend “we won’t be fooled again”, and that gives me hope. Thanks for the community here and on your show, Mike.
The RUMP effect is a global phenomenon which like any great freak show brings out the best and the extreme worst of humanity willing to humiliate themselves at any cost. It doesn't matter if PT Barnum is at the helm running the show or a malignant misanthrope like Commander Covid and his Lost Planet Airheads. Instead, focus on the bearded lady [Cruz] or the elephant in the room [Christie] or Max Headroom [Gaetz] not the Ringleader who commands them all.
Poor Steven's troubles began the moment the FOXNOISE, NOISEMAXXX, grOANN, Flush Limbo, Smart Alec Jones and the et al cabal, began polluting the airwaves with "Alt-FAX", once Kellyanne CONway breach birthed and coined this heretofore nonexistent journalistic aberration!
No one of sound mind, body and/or spirit slept a wink during RUMP's reign of terror. Steven was one of many, too sensitive to psychologically rebuff the machinations of an authoritative mad man. Me too, Steven.
Secondly, get the hell out of Simi Valley! I lived there for a couple of years during the Rodney King trials and found out the hard way. My partner and I ran a small R.E. business on Alamo st. and Tapo Canyon right around the corner of the Courthouse where RK's trial by fire began! The irony of it all was that the proceedings underwent a change of venue because LA County was deemed to be too discriminatory from the racial bias evident right from the beginning of the trial; so they moved it from the frying pan into the FIRE itself. And you may ask yourself, "Well... how did I get here?" And I may tell you from experience, "Same as it ever was, same as it ever was!" Because Simi Valley is where every John Wayne goes to die as every Mark Fuhrmann is born! It is the single most protected enclave of law enforcement [all branches] born from a once sylvan verdant bedroom community of working farms, movie sets [Hope town], Spahn's ranch, Corriganville and local barn dances…...alas, no more!
Sadly, because it always was a predominantly white community, the obvious migration of our boys in blue moving there was manifest destiny in accordance with the chronic dictates of a David Duke or a lesser underling of the White “Supremecyst” movement currently in fashion amongst the Rethuglikkklan fascistas!
I believe in law enforcement, “Andy of Mayberry” style. Let Barney keep his one bullet in his uniform shirt pocket as Andy cleverly negotiates the town's peace w/o insulting Barney.
I abhor this current SWAT/COMMANDO presence that no longer 'Protects' us, but 'Serves' us up in the most anti democratic manner possible abrogating our civil/human rights until they no longer exist. Steven, you’re better than Simi Valley [sorry Simi, I loved you back in the day until you showed your true colors-WHITE].
To "Protect and Serve" was a former meme that once calmed a wary population; more suited now to be a title of a cookbook, putting us all on the menu to be served up to the oligarchical hegemony as a figuratively prepared soylent green.
As an aside, I would like to briefly expound on Steven's mention of the "Ronald Von Raygun LIEbrary" on Madera road in Simi Valley. I was there for the grand opening in '91 and for the first time in my life, I had to pay to enter a Public Library and never went back.....kinda says something about those sneaky little Rethuglikkklans, doncha know!!!