I'm starting to emerge from my mental fog but the feeling of 'what now?' isn't gone.
We've lost both the House and the Senate. This basically means that unless there are 10 GOP Reps and/or 7 GOP Senators who have a moral compass, we are screwed. Whatever Trump wants will be rubber stamped, unless it requires a Supermajority, which most legislation does not. The most we can do is try to slow things down with appeals.
It's rumored that Trump will pressure Justices Thomas, Alito, and Sotomayor (all 70+) to retire so he can appoint younger conservative justices, thus determining the course of decisions for decades. Sotomayor won't retire, of course, but I'd say that there's a good chance Thomas and Alito will, although not until close to the next election (2028). And speaking of that, if 'Vance 2028' doesn't strike fear into your heart, I don't know what does.
Here's the thing. The Democratic party has sort of painted itself into a corner. Now, I'm not preaching 'yes' or 'no' on gender politics and I don't want to start (or re-start) a big 'thing' on our thread, but it's pretty obvious to me that it's an extremely divisive subject within the party and apparently within the Dem electorate. The Party is going to have to decide if or to what degree they are going to compromise or temper their stand in order to regain the votes of those who either believe that you cannot change your gender or if you do, that you should be denied/restricted from certain areas and activities. Do they compromise or do they stand firm knowing that either stand will gain and lose them votes? It's rather a 'Sophie's choice' scenario, isn't it?
The next four years is going to be terrible. The four, possibly eight, years after that will be even worse if the Dems don't make some really hard decisions. Because even if we find the perfect candidate, the party's stand on social issues may keep them from being elected.
Eeyore is now returning to the stable to 'doom and gloom' more privately.