Trump Depression Hotline With Reverend Billy
Hey Billy,
I’ve been watching West Coast forest fires on my computer, and I’m freaking out. There are whole towns being consumed by flames. Giant smoke clouds covering cities hundreds of miles away. Then there’s the hurricanes and the ice sheets cracking up faster and faster. This is some scary shit. I didn’t doubt the science of climate change, but I thought it was something that would happen in the future. Now it feels like we may have raced past the last off-ramp and we’re on the highway to hell. If there’s still hope, tell me about it, please.
MITCH
Astoria
Dear Mitch,
The Earth can absorb a thousand Donald Trumps and spit them out before break-fast. Along the way, lots of us will die and we’re dying now in droves. Wealthy white people are moving to the Adirondacks and they think they are safe. Safety is no longer a realistic goal. For so many years, the USA’s safety was based on the theft of the safety of much of the world. Now our imperialism and racism are backdrafting at us in the form of wildfires, monster storms and waves and waves of invisible animals sneaking into our oxygen supply. What a drag!I apologize, Mitch. I should respect your question. I’m scared too. And, yes, there is one thing that can bring a measure of safety in this world. Get Donald Trump out of office.
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Dear Reverend Billy,
I’ve waited almost four years for the chance to vote Trump out of the White House. And now it looks more every day like Trump and his buddies are going to steal the election. If that happens, what should we do? What will you do?
EVELYN
Crown Heights
Dear Evelyn,
Yes, it is very likely that Trump will take the White House hostage. He has many scenarios there with the Republican Sen-ate and a stacked Supreme Court. Trump will send militias to more cities, which will embolden local racist police. He will sign off on assassinations, increasing pollution, the rich getting richer. I fi nd myself looking to David Graeber and John Lewis and RBG for answers. In their dramatic lives, they persevered and won the day. God knows — it wasn’t easier for them than it will be for us. Wouldn’t they counsel us to stay steady, make trusting, sharing relationships, to-ward a social movement of resistance and love? From death, I hear them saying, “Don’t fear death — be bold!” Lovealujah!
REVEREND BILLY IS PASTOR OF THE CHURCH OF STOP SHOPPING. HAVE A QUES-TION FOR THE REVEREND? JUST EMAIL REVBILLY@INDYPENDENT.ORG AND UN-BURDEN YOUR SOUL
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