September 11, 2020

"But as the election approaches, I know I can’t rely on a President Biden to cure my Trump-era depression."

"If he wins, it will simply represent a return to the normalcy favored by Democrats and the lie of American unity. A Biden presidency would not bring with it the same level of incompetence-meets-evil that we have suffered under the Trump administration. But without an agenda aimed at radically transforming (or in some cases eliminating altogether) the institutions that have caused so much harm, the best we can hope for is four years of bipartisan compromises that leave us facing the same challenges.... I can imagine coming out of this depression when I think of examples of people acting together to make the world better and fairer for themselves, but also for strangers.... This is perhaps the greatest lesson of the Trump era for me, one worth repeating to myself every day even when this presidency is a distant memory: We need one another.... I can look through the fog of this Trump-era depression and imagine what could be next — regardless of who wins the election — and feel almost giddy."

Writes Mychal Denzel Smith in an adapted excerpt from his forthcoming book "Stakes Is High: Life After the American Dream" (NYT);

94 comments:

Howard said...

He drinks the same Kool-Aid as you people, the effects differ. Sad

Michael K said...

Another lefty who wants to tear down the country and start over. Of course, he wants to keep all the amenities that white men created while he does it.

rehajm said...

I think of examples of people acting together to make the world better and fairer for themselves, but also for strangers...

The problem, the fatal flaw, is your idea of fairer is unfair. Also, acting in self-interest gets a bad rap. Turns out most humans have similar self-interests....

Eleanor said...

There's going to be a need for a lot more psychiatric social workers after Trump wins in November or December or January.

Swede said...

If this guy has any friends, they better be ready for an intervention after this election.

He's not going to like the results.

And not just him. Lots of people who have been rabidly anti-Trump are going to be facing 4 more years and, honestly, most of them won't have the energy to "resist" after that.

Buy shares in pharma companies now.

rehajm said...

...and I reject the notion of having to fundamentally transform productive human existence because you're 'depressed'. Take another handful Prozac or jump off a fucking bridge so you don't destroy the rest of us.

MayBee said...

This is perhaps the greatest lesson of the Trump era for me, one worth repeating to myself every day even when this presidency is a distant memory: We need one another.... I

This guy needs to realize that his depression is his own. It is not being caused by Trump. It is his own choice.

And if he feels "we need each other", then he is going to have to find a way to stop blaming Trump for his depression, stop thinking other people have to bring about some change for him to get what he wants. He has to be ready to extend kindness In thought, word, and deed to the people he currently is indulging himself by blaming.

Trump is not your problem, people. I, too, have had presidents I deeply disliked. Presidents I greatly disagreed with. Presidents I watched others adore while I could not stand one more word out of their mouths. But my happiness belongs to me, and not to my president. And to keep that, I keep a focus on the fact that nobody else has to agree with me, and nobody else has to think like I do, and if I want to get mired in hate for them for not being the way I want them to be, that is on me.

Cheryl said...

Wow. A whole book like that. Can't wait to buy THAT one.

Joe Smith said...

'Stakes is High'?

The proper title is 'Stakes be High.'

This guy is a writer?

Wince said...

A psychologist, Jennifer Panning, has even assigned a name to mental health problems attributed to this presidency: Trump Anxiety Disorder.

Better known as Trump Derangement Syndrome? His list of particulars against Trump.

I know well that this moment in history is not an aberration. But I’m haunted by thoughts of the tens of thousands of migrant children who have been held in detention and away from their families, 100-degree days in Siberia, people dying alone of Covid-19 and the astronomical infection rates among American Indians and Black Americans. I feel an overwhelming sense of powerlessness.

No, I never assumed that in my lifetime we would defeat the entrenched forces of white supremacist heteropatriarchal capitalism. But I had come around to believing that a slow, frustrating but ultimately sustainable victory and all the jubilation that would come along with it was something my friends’ children might someday experience.

Greg The Class Traitor said...

But without an agenda aimed at radically transforming (or in some cases eliminating altogether) the institutions that have caused so much harm, the best we can hope for is four years of bipartisan compromises that leave us facing the same challenges

IOW: If you elect Biden, the riots will continue

In fact, they will spread. Because the Biden DoJ will support the rioters, and will attack any police department or private citizens that try to stop the riots ("civil rights" charges)

Do you want rioters to burn your home down? No?

Then vote for Trump

MadisonMan said...

Mr. Smith, I will point out that if Biden is elected, the Bad News Spigot from the Main Stream Media will be shut off. Suddenly the Press will be distinctly incurious about anything bad happening in Government. The COVID death ticker on CNN will vanish. The Press will be full of stories about how bad Deplorables are, and you can gloat and feel good about yourself in comparison to these 'others'.

Michael said...

Gibberish.

JAORE said...

"Never Enough"

An evergreen motto of the left.

Orange Man Bad.
Demented man not good enough.

ga6 said...

High building fronting an empty parking lot. Gravity will end your depression. Just a suggestion, and I have others.

robother said...

He's depressed that he won't witness the "defeat [of] the entrenched forces of white supremacist heteropatriarchal capitalism."

Well, Utopia may not be at hand, but look on the bright side. The MSM and Democrat mayors and governors everywhere have covered for you this year as you looted and burned thousands of businesses and have driven big city police forces into literal retirement (even before outright defunding). The NFL, NBA and MLB have all adopted the message of BLM demonizing all cops as racist killers, and Joe Biden has adopted the message that the entire US "System" (i.e., private property, free speech, individual accountability) is irredeemably racist, and must be rooted out.

To quote that Korean business owner who lost everything in the second round of Minneapolis looting, "Fuck y'all."

Jupiter said...

"This is perhaps the greatest lesson of the Trump era for me, one worth repeating to myself every day even when this presidency is a distant memory: We need one another..."

I certainly do not need Mychal Smith. If he needs his suicide assisted I'll be happy to help.

Anonymous said...

Nothing creates unity like calling half the population racists.

Jersey Fled said...

The psychosis is strong in this one

Yoda (paraphrased)

Howard said...

Blogger Swede said...

If this guy has any friends, they better be ready for an intervention after this election.

He's not going to like the results.

And not just him. Lots of people who have been rabidly anti-Trump are going to be facing 4 more years and, honestly, most of them won't have the energy to "resist" after that.

Buy shares in pharma companies now.

Maybe... Maybe not, but like the way you think. Even if Biden wins, the serious TDS head cases will still need haldol on steroids

Dave Begley said...

We don't want radical transformation.

Who is this guy? He's no Ann Althouse.

Fernandinande said...

National News! A mulatto has psychological problems as well as regular-logical problems.

cubanbob said...

Another tiresome pompous ass. How wonderful would it be if these insane poseurs would literally stroke out after Trump gets re-elected.

Paddy O said...

Preach, Maybee. Exactly right.

Sebastian said...

So, in one fell swoop he goes from: "lie of American unity" to "radically transforming (or in some cases eliminating altogether) the institutions that have caused so much harm" to "We need one another." I.e., we need one another to fall in line behind the prog agenda.

No more lies about unity (forget it, Althouse), support radical transformation, and help yourself to other people's money.

Nonapod said...

But without an agenda aimed at radically transforming (or in some cases eliminating altogether) the institutions that have caused so much harm, the best we can hope for is four years of bipartisan compromises that leave us facing the same challenge

Does he truly believe that "radically transforming" America will somehow make everyone happy? He sure seems to believe that an extreme revolution is not only the solution to our current state of divisiveness, but that it will lead to some sort of better world. It makes you wonder if this person has actually read any history or critically looked at other countries throughout the world. If he did he might actually question his notion that a better world can be obtained through such extreme measures.

Drago said...

Howard has been so grumpy since his democratical masters and betters ordered him to shut up about his Howard's Heroes antifa/marxist rioters.

Bob Smith said...

Helpful Hint: Trump is an effect not a cause. The cause is 50+ years of politicians and public employees “enhancing their lifestyle” by skimming off the top. Sometimes it’s blatant like the guys from Chicago Inc. John Kass described stealing steaks from his family’s market. Sometimes it’s more subtle, like the guy from a local alphabet agency wondering about “discounts” on some of my company’s product while overseeing an asbestos remediation project. Sometimes it’s the Vice President protecting the mechanism by which an army of palms get greased. But we can’t talk about it because the grift is bi-partisan.

Mark O said...

The sweet, sweet sound of liberal pain.

West Texas Intermediate Crude said...

Depression is a mental disorder.
PDJT is living rent-free in your brain.
Ironic, for a real estate developer.

Texan99 said...

The ability of Democrats to think that only they have the secret of caring about other people never ceases to amaze me.

It's like having to rely on a doctor who constantly says how much he cares, but can't be troubled to learn how to do surgery without killing the patient.

MikeR said...

It's sad that the person is clinically depressed over a delusion. But it's especially sad that the NYT thinks his words should be published, instead of gently telling him to get a therapist.
Same with the commenters there. They are upset over nothing.

madAsHell said...

Where do you find such stupid people?

Krumhorn said...

This is the self-absorbed mental illness specifically cultivated like a moody craft beer that is so characteristic of the perpetually unhappy left. So gloomy. So angry. So frustrated. So psychotic. So disconnected from reality. And, on top of it all, the lefties are hateful little shits to boot.

Wouldn’t it be best for everyone if they would simply leap from the Tappan Zee bridge and float down the Hudson in peace? My daughter says I need to be a better human. That’s my attempt.

- Krumhorn

Narr said...

I'm on the verge of losing friendships of long standing over shit-commentary like this.

An old friend sent me stuff about Trump and comments about how Trump was driving him crazy, I replied, "No, you're driving yourself crazy." He stopped sending the stuff to me, but still sends it to my wife, who has some social media presence and will never vote for Trump.

Narr
The best I can do is cancel her vote

DanTheMan said...

America is not perfect. So we must blow it up and start over.
But this time my side will be in charge.

John henry said...

Biden is essentially running on a platform of "nice city you got here. Sure would be a shame if something happened to it"

I suspect pdjt is waiting for the right moment but I expect the he will say the above.

Then he will say something like "I know about this first hand. When I was building I'd get these people coming around all the time offering to protect me from bad things.

You know what? I never paid. Paying only makes it worse.

Instead, in the 90s, Rudy Giuliani and I went after these guys and put them in jail where they belong.

Now you don't need protection anymore except from govt and as president I'm working on that.

You've got a choice. Vote for me and you won't need protection. Vote for sleepy Joe and you'll be paying protection the rest of your life and it will never be enough"

John Henry

Freeman Hunt said...

Get a grip, man.

Skeptical Voter said...

Incompetence meets evil! What a line---and what a load of codswallop. Old Slow Joe is the very definition of feckless incompetence---other than in feathering his own and his son's nests. And I do take a dark view of the existence of Evil. It lives in the world--and knowing that makes me a conservative. And Evil is one thing that Biden is absolutely incapable of facing down--he is no more than a leaf floating along a stream, pushed this way and that by whatever eddy he passes by.

But I agree with Madison Man in that if Old Slow Joe is elected, the press will turn off the bad news spigot, and they will tell us that we're all eating rainbow stew and drinking that free Bubble Up out by the Big Rock Candy Mountain. In the meantime, in the real world, Evil will persist.

MadTownGuy said...

Smith:"After the American Dream."

The American Dream: "The report of my death was an exaggeration."

wendybar said...

Back to the same old same old. Politicians getting rich off of our hard work, whilst they take money from their buddies to vote away our rights. He can go live in Cuba and get his warm and fuzzies there.

rcocean said...

Making the world a better place = Implementing the Left-wing agenda and destroying America 1.0.

Just more blather from a Media Leftist clothing her left-wing agenda in noble sounding words. I'm sure Lenin felt he was making "the world a better place" too.

dreams said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
JMW Turner said...

If Trump succeeds to win a second term, I have a fever swamp vision with hundreds of these insane drama queens forming a conga line dancing like lemmings off the side of a very high ocean side cliff. Crazy but wildly entertaining!

Todd said...

"But as the election approaches, I know I can’t rely on a President Biden to cure my Trump-era depression."
"If he wins, it will simply represent a return to the normalcy favored by Democrats and the lie of American unity. A Biden presidency would not bring with it the same level of incompetence-meets-evil that we have suffered under the Trump administration. But without an agenda aimed at radically transforming (or in some cases eliminating altogether) the institutions that have caused so much harm, the best we can hope for is four years of bipartisan compromises that leave us facing the same challenges.... I can imagine coming out of this depression when I think of examples of people acting together to make the world better and fairer for themselves, but also for strangers.... This is perhaps the greatest lesson of the Trump era for me, one worth repeating to myself every day even when this presidency is a distant memory: We need one another.... I can look through the fog of this Trump-era depression and imagine what could be next — regardless of who wins the election — and feel almost giddy."


Talk about cramming so much crap into such a small bag! If you don't see it, replace "Trump" with "Obama" and swap Republican/Democrat. Then read it again. It should now be obvious.

All of that was a long winded version of "I will be happy again when I get my way!". The rest is just BS.

a return to the normalcy favored by Democrats and the lie of American unity. He is happy with the lie when his side is in power.

A Biden presidency would not bring with it the same level of incompetence-meets-evil that we have suffered under the Trump administration. Absolutely, middle-east peace is SO much worse than "fast n furious", Benghazi, pallets of cash to mullas that hate us, private email servers, etc.

But without an agenda aimed at radically transforming (or in some cases eliminating altogether) the institutions that have caused so much harm... Sure, why should be make any changes to institutions that targeted American citizens (IRS, FBI, CIA, Dept ED), wasn't your side getting targeted!

the best we can hope for is four years of bipartisan compromises Sure, it is ALWAYS the Republicans that are supposed to compromise. I remember a famous man talking about his pen and phone...

What a vacuous partisan hack!

Jupiter said...

Wow. Checked out his picture. I didn't know they made soy-boys in beige.

I'm Not Sure said...

"Mychal"? There's your problem, right there. Your parents are pretentious asses, and rather than doing the hard work of teaching you about the world as it is, gave you a cutesie "Aren't I unique!?!" name and called it good.

tim in vermont said...

Can you imagine being depressed because you have been denied the power to dictate how your fellow Americans live?

Big Mike said...

Dumb bastard doesn’t even know how to spell his first name correctly.

JAORE said...

"Trump is not your problem, people. I, too, have had presidents I deeply disliked. Presidents I greatly disagreed with. Presidents I watched others adore while I could not stand one more word out of their mouths. But my happiness belongs to me, and not to my president. And to keep that, I keep a focus on the fact that nobody else has to agree with me, and nobody else has to think like I do, and if I want to get mired in hate for them for not being the way I want them to be, that is on me."

Yea!

Sam L. said...

Poor, poor, pitiful him! I am SO not bummed for him.

Freeman Hunt said...

"Wow. A whole book like that. Can't wait to buy THAT one."

Ha! Exactly. Who are the readers for these tedious political tomes? Remember when the Mueller report came out, and people were buying the book? There is even a 19 hour audiobook version. Who buys that?!

It's not only this author, but a great number of Americans need to get a grip. Despite internal efforts to dramatize one's life, we do not live in some bleak dystopia. Look at the other places one might by chance live. Or, worse, other times. Be thankful and chill out.

Bilwick said...

If your happiness depends on having more statism and less liberty, you're pretty screwed up mentally to begin with.

Mike Sylwester said...

I would not spend any money or time to read such a book.

Gospace said...

MN Irish said...
Nothing creates unity like calling half the population racists.


63.4% according to wikipedia. That doesn't include any "Latinos" who might identify as white, or white Hispanics like Zimmerman. Also don't know if hey include "Asians" in the racist category.

NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...

Sounds like a ringing endorsement of Biden.

William said...

I feel sanguine, maybe even cheerful. There is nothing about my life that should lead me to feel cheerful. The appropriate response to my life's challenges would be to lay in bed in the fetal position with the covers over my, and yet here I am making chipper comments. Is this some kind of psychotic lesion? Are they any psychologists who can help people resolve issues of irrational good cheer.

Unknown said...

Depression never goes out of style.
-willie

Marshall Rose said...

Is half of this country completely delusional? Or is it that people with megaphones are allowing the most unstable amongst us to shout their delusions?

RBE said...

I love in the comments how campaign finance is still a big thing with NY Times readers. They are fixated on donors who are mostly irrelevant to Trump and his supporters. What about Soros and all the big tech companies that do the bidding of the Dems. These people are delusional not to see how their side is financed.

I know several people who may have a mental breakdown if Trump wins...I'm serious! I may hide on election day or the days or weeks or months needed for the winner to be declared...if ever.

Leland said...

the same level of incompetence-meets-evil that we have suffered under the Trump

I keep hearing statements like this that are empty. They contain no context in which to support them. No examples of incompetence or evil is presented. We are told, but not shown. And if shown, it is usually an out of context statement construed to the point of lying, such as "At Charlottesville..." That's why these people are easy to ignore. Empty comments are boring. Some people may like boring, but most tune it out.

Milwaukie guy said...

That Trump is a "divisive" and Biden will be a uniter pisses me off the most.

Who is it who pushes separate Identities like White, Black, Hispanic, Asian, Native, some special, some not? Who pushes Identities like Men, Women and LGBT+, some special, some not? Who pushes Identities like Jew, Christian and Muslim, some special, some not? And, then, uses a strategy of divide and conquer?

Who is that says we are all children and all Americans?

Are. You. Fucking. Kidding?

I'm Full of Soup said...

When Obama was in office, I never saod or thought "Not my President". But liberals started that shit when Bush won in 2000 and they think it's just fine to wear hats and shirts that spout nonsense like that. In fact, just yesterday, I saw a few high school girls protesting their Radnor Raider mascot by wearing shirts hat read "Not my Mascot". I blame this crap on whoever started the everyone gets a trophy in little league.

And would it be ok to this writer if white people went to Africa and complained it was not diverse enough?

JaimeRoberto said...

A Biden presidency would not bring with it the same level of incompetence-meets-evil that we have suffered under the Trump administration.

No, it would bring a worse level.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

The collective left: We will ignore Biden's crooked family enriching illegal, corrupt, and unprincipled behavior because we cannot abide by our team on the losing end.

buwaya said...

I believe that part of your problems are due to terrible overuse of psych drugs.

Cause or cure? Nobody on earth uses them so much, and nowhere on earth is there such a high rate of psych problems.

cubanbob said...

wendybar said...
Back to the same old same old. Politicians getting rich off of our hard work, whilst they take money from their buddies to vote away our rights. He can go live in Cuba and get his warm and fuzzies there."

Amazing but true, Havana is a step up from Caracas. Let them go to Caracas.

PhilD said...

"the astronomical infection rates among American Indians and Black Americans." ... "defeat the entrenched forces of white supremacist heteropatriarchal capitalism"

It is because of the population explosion caused by 'white supremacist medicine' (formerly known as Western medicine) being exported over the whole world that there that many "American Indians and Black Americans" in the first place. You just can't win with some people.

"people dying alone of Covid-19 ", he must be thinking of white supremacist Cuomo who not only did a hit-job on granny but also ensured with his 'Orwellian' lock-down that granny died alone.

Josephbleau said...

I don't know why these people think that a communist America is going to be better than any other communist nation. Cuomo doesn't think America has ever been great. They want to be the "to each according to his needs" but not the "from each according to his ability."

What horrifies me is the "if we can't have it, burn it down" principle. If I can't graduate from college, destroy the college. If I am not rich, confiscate all the wealth. How about, if I can't be quarterback for the Cowboys, burn down the stadium. Tantrums are not attractive.

The poorest today live better than the kings of the past in access to healthcare and technology, yet all people see is someone to envy. Their solution to envy is to make everyone equally miserable.

Jon Ericson said...

A Biden presidency would not bring with it the same level of incompetence-meets-evil that we have suffered under the Trump administration.

lol

mikee said...

Richard Nixon, in his 1968 campaign for president, reached over my 9-year old self at a campaign rally to shake the hand of voting-age guy behind me. For a nauseating moment, my head was shoved right under his suit jacked and into his sweaty, sweaty armpit. I never forgave him this indignity, and laughed with glee when he was forced to resign.

I feel my animus against Nixon has more basis in reality and logical thought than the hatred most leftists feel against Trump. Convince me otherwise if you can.

BUMBLE BEE said...

Prager mentioned this very day that many people choose to be unhappy. They want it and need it. Whether it is to attract attention to themselves for any variety of motivations, they need unhappiness in their life. Also, I'll take the opportunity to point out that powerless means POWER LESS. Mr Henley sez "Get Over IT" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2n0GiW68I1U

Jim at said...

Again, leftists are the most miserable people on the planet. They deserve it.

Clyde said...

I don't trust a "writer" who titles his book "Stakes Is High" rather than the grammatically correct "Stakes Are High." If he's wrong on the small details like that, I doubt if he is right on the bigger things.

Milwaukie guy said...

That should have been children of God up there. And I used to proofread.

Mary Beth said...

Biden isn't far enough left to please a good portion of his party.

Mike of Snoqualmie said...

Big Mike said: "Dumb bastard doesn’t even know how to spell his first name correctly."

Damn right! His parents were probably too lazy to look it up. Michael is a Biblical name, get it right!

tcrosse said...

In the unlikely event that Biden wins, BLM and Antifa will go the way that Code Pink did when Obama was elected. They will have fulfilled their purpose and outlived their usefulness.

Mike of Snoqualmie said...

The left complains on how DJT is not a "uniter" while all the time yelling at the top of their lungs: "Trump evil! Do not work with him! He's a dis-uniter! He's totally incompetent! Western Civ is White Supremacy and so is DJT!"

Michael K said...

buwaya said...
I believe that part of your problems are due to terrible overuse of psych drugs.


There used to be an English psychiatrist who has written several books and gave talks on the epidemic of antidepressants. In his talks he had a series of slides showing ads from women's magazines for antidepressants. Early on, then ads showed unhappy women who obviously needed help. Gradually, the ads transitioned to showing happy young women who were obviously happy because of the drugs. Quite a marketing job.

stever said...

"bi partisan compromise" ??

the way Barack did?

Mea Sententia said...

These people who blithely speak of 'radically transforming' society terrify me. I hope to be dead before too many of them gain power.

Bob Loblaw said...

How did the left accumulate so many mentally ill pseudo-intellectuals? Is there some secret Paul Krugman Society where they meet and discuss how terrible life is?

Banjo said...

The Winner:

'Stakes is High'?

The proper title is 'Stakes be High.'

This guy is a writer?

Phil 314 said...

I'm not sure he'll happier if he just settles.

bagoh20 said...

This makes me appreciate the fact that I don't know most people personally.
I bet I have a lot in common with this person, because I doubt very much that he will be happy regardless of who is President, and I will be happy regardless of who is.

gadfly said...

Anyone who titles an album "Stakes is High" will never get my attention.

Grammar rule on subject-verb agreement:

Basic Rule. A singular subject (in this case "stake") takes a singular verb (is, gets), whereas a plural subject takes a plural verb (are, get).

donald said...

He should kill himself.

Greg The Class Traitor said...

tcrosse said...
In the unlikely event that Biden wins, BLM and Antifa will go the way that Code Pink did when Obama was elected.

Nope. Code Pink wasn't burning houses down. BLM and Antifa will continue doing so, and will dare the Democrats to start arresting them

Rusty said...

"I certainly do not need Mychal Smith. If he needs his suicide assisted I'll be happy to help."
As my old friend Carl used to say," I can rent you the gun, but you're gonna have to buy the bullet."
Some people view their life's unhappiness as always someone elses fault.

Mr. D said...

“Stakes Is High” — Mychal Denzel Smith

“Stakes are high and so am I/It’s in the air tonight/It’s a free for all” — Ted Nugent

Choose yer moral philosopher.

Sam L. said...

Buuuuuuuuuuuuummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmer for him!

loudogblog said...

I don't think that we can have a "return to normalcy." Too much has changed. Race relations are in the toilet. Government debt is through the roof. So many business have gone belly up and this Covid situation is nowhere near reaching an end. Think about this, if people start filing lawsuits about workplaces giving them, or their relatives, Covid, and they win; that will set up a culture of businesses having to protect their employees from all communicable diseases in the future. We may be wearing masks, socially distancing and constantly disinfecting at work for the rest of our lives.

Jack Klompus said...

Wow, thanks gadfly, for that amazing Grammar 101 lesson. Our lives are so much richer thanks to that piece of obscure education only intellectuals like you have to offer the masses.
Idiots like you who actually think they're intelligent are the modern day sideshow performers people would pay a dime to gawk at. I'm going to go look at the bearded lady and lizard boy now. Let us know when your handlers pull the curtain in front of your cage for the next show.