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This Is Not Normal

One of the messages that activists tried to warn everyone about before Trump took office was that when an authoritarian or fascist government takes control of a democracy, things will, in the very beginning, seem incredibly wrong, but as time goes by a normalization of events and atrocities happens.

We are 50+ days into a new presidency and that normalization has already grabbed hold. So many different things happen in a daily news cycle today, that in the past would have been scandals of an incredible scale- that just one story would have taken up the news for months. (Think Hillary’s emails.) We have multiple events like that that are progressively worse each day now.

We have a liar in chief who has repeatedly violated the constitution and numerous ethics rules and has essentially claimed that he is above the law. Since no-one in the GOP is standing up to him and they have control, that seems to be the case. We have heads of departments within the government intent on dismantling the very departments they run. Why? So they can remove any regulations meant to protect the people or nature or the animals, if it gets in the way of making a buck. Did I mention all the conflicts of interest that would have sunk any previous American government? One example: We have a leader in charge of the Environmental Protection Agency who does not “believe” carbon carbon dioxide is a primary contributor to global warming. This is basic science denial. He likes to make money off of oil and coal so he can’t listen to any science that would get in the way of that. And then there is Russia and Wikileaks and North Korea and travel bans and our friends being deported and the threat of walls and internment camps and no more art programs or public school funding or health care (except for the wealthy) and all those tax breaks for the rich and Trump’s business dealings with foreign leaders and his close circle being outed as agents for other countries and all the other stories out there bombarding us day after day, hour after hour, like a hail storm as we stare wide-eyed into the abyss.

Well guess what? This is not normal. This is not what Democracy looks like. Do not allow them to normalize this. Stay strong. Stay informed.

This was originally posted on my Patreon. Support me there for high rez downloads, stickers and more.

Amy Roth

Amy Davis Roth (aka Surly Amy) is a multimedia, science-loving artist who resides in Los Angeles, California. She makes Surly-Ramics and is currently in love with pottery. Daily maker of art and leader of Mad Art Lab. Support her on Patreon. Tip Jar is here.

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