Discussion: similar thoughts

as an immigrant from the UK , green card holder and a citizen of planet earth I also wonder about this week's events and where they are going to take common decency, truth etc and humanity in general . When visiting overseas it's not going to be easy and I expect i will have a lot of explaining to do .

Yes indeed. Curiosity has given way to incredulity and worse. In the past I've felt comfortable looking and acting American. Last week I went back to being a European, so as to be hidden in plain sight!

I'm bolstered by the hope that there will be tremendous negative feedback to the Trump administration's decrees - and this only the first week. I believe Bush got away with crimes against humanity. I think it being "presidential prerogative" to make harmful decisions (or history shows one to have been harmful, eg, climate change) will be transcended by the hard glare of accountability-responsibility. Be a good steward -- or don't get out of the way and suffer
consequences.

Come 4 years, I like to fantasize that more than half of America's towns & cities might post signs w/ something like "Trump is not welcome here" - not at a hotel, a movie, a play, a sports event etc.

In any event, as Interesting as disheartening.

Bob, great to hear from you (hope you are doing well with recovery). And yes those are words of wisdom worth heeding. Don't give up is the battle cry: both Ros and I feeling the pull to activism.

On our first O-trip to Europe 2007 - Bush years, we were wandering through some little shops in Folgaria, Italy, the center of the event, quietly chatting about some of the possible gifts we could bring back. As some know, Lyn has a some kind of Englishy accent and I probably have developed something in that direction. Neither of us advertise a strong impression of any particular origin. The elder owner of the shop came by and asked where we were from. Slightly hesitant, we said US. He lit up. Ah, we like Americans, just not your government to which we both agreed and had a nice chat with him.

:-)
On my recent trip to Perth back in November (returning to the US on election day as it happened) we were browsing an Antique stall in Fremantle and the owner engaged us in conversation. When he ascertained that we had not voted for a certain DT, he not only breathed a sigh of relief, he also gave us a memento (a rather cuddly teddy bear that I gifted to my Mom as comfort in her care unit).
The metaphor of humanity seems to resonate!

In agreement with all of you. We can only hope in less than 4 years the damage will be repairable.

Yes and we can only wonder where the new equilibrium point will be. I am starting to feel that donating to just causes, while helpful, may not be enough!