I honestly thought I’d be completely jaded by TFG 2.0. After the clusterfuck and hate fest of the campaign, and then the not-really-surprising awfulness of his cabinet picks I really thought that I’d be angry but really not that engaged with the same old, same old.

Then I was reminded that an awful congresswoman from South Carolina exists, and that she LOVES attention. I had forgotten about her and I had forgotten just how dreadful she is. And she’s really gotten worse. I’m not going to post her name so the little attention hoarder can’t google herself.  Oh come on, you know she makes her staff do it.

So after years of being totally OK with LGBTQ people, including during TFG’s first administration, the Attention Hoarder decided to mount a full court press against Sarah McBride, the House’s first transgender member, who will be sworn in in January.

When you look at AH’s outbursts over the last few days in the context of the hateful transphobic ads TFG’s campaign ran, they’re part of the same pattern, but for some reason they just really struck me as really mean and out of step with the rest of the party—yes, even with the current version of the GOP. Part of it is that her tantrum is a waste of time right now because McBride isn’t part of the current Congress. And part of it is how it throws what a complete zero she is into sharp relief.

While other members of the House are being named to cabinet positions and other leadership roles in the upcoming clown congress, she’s just a nobody left to be nothing. And one thing the Attention Hoarder can’t abide is not being the center of attention, even if it’s just getting attention for being an asshole.

But the thing that really stood out to me was how angry she is over this because I realized that every trumper I’ve run across is angrier now that TFG won the election than they were before the election. It’s amazing–they got everything they wanted and they are still miserable.

The truth is that nothing is going to make those ghouls happy. They won’t be happy until everyone else around them is as unhappy as they are, and that’s just not going to happen. It’s not going to happen because we aren’t invested in a future that is about retribution and hurting people, about threatening people to force them to do what we want, or bullying them because we’re angry that life doesn’t cater to us.

I know I’m going to feel discouraged at times over the next 4 years, and furious, broken-hearted, and dumfounded. But after every incident that provokes those emotions, I know will channel that energy into doing something to help someone—by feeding hungry people, or clothing people, or providing support for groups that house people or fight for their rights in court. I’m not a Trumper. Thank God.

I am rewatching the incandescent HBO series Somebody Somewhere prior to beginning the third and final season, and I leave you with, first, the recommendation to watch this funny, moving, and real examination of family and real community, and second with this transformative moment from the first season and the healing power of music: