Staring into the Abyss
4 More Years...
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Hey everyone! Once again, welcome to Fancy A Cuppa, a newsletter where I offer 3 thoughts, 2 conversations and 1 album of the week.
Your advice on sleep was truly helpful - so thank you. My new strategy is to get into bed at the same time and immediately listen to a podcast. No scrolling, no videos, just a podcast.
It has been working a treat and I have been sleeping better this week!
Grab yourself and cuppa and find somewhere to sit…
It’s time to talk Trump.
Before we start - I don’t know your political biases and you mine.
Talking politics is, as we all know, a tricky business and one that is often avoided. We have all been in an uncomfortable and awkward conversation at dinner parties where voices get raised and odd opinions shared. It seems, in the modern world, people have forgotten that it is okay to disagree and have discourse. So, I will try my best to stick to facts and keep my opinions out of my writing.
But it might be difficult.
1. My Naivety
Trump has won 2 of the 3 US elections I have actually followed.
In each of his two wins, I have found it incredibly difficult to understand how so many people (70m in 2016 and 73m in 2024) voted for Donald Trump. My inexperience in both elections led me down the yellow brick road of believing America (or people in general) would make the ‘right’ decision. The naivety in me assumed the US would take a step forward and elect the countries first female president in both elections. Evidently, I was wrong.
In my naivety, I trusted to hope that a convicted felon would not win the Whitehouse in an educated country.
Yet, I would rather trust to hope than expect doom and gloom.
2. Credibility
“Land of the free and the home of the brave”
“The American Dream”
“We the people”
All of these sayings and phrases that Americans look to as a signal of pride are, after this election, no longer suitable for what the country has, and is about to, become.
The credibility of each phrase has been damaged by this election.
3. HOW???
How has this happened?
Here I can stick to the facts..
How has a man with:
34 Felony Counts
1 Conviction
1 Insurrection led
2 Pending cases
2 Impeachments
6 Bankruptcies
26 Sexual Misconduct Allegations
A face that looks like naked mole rats butt (Hands up - this is an opinion!)
Won a US election, never mind 2 of them?
He should be behind bars, not a desk.
Just how!?
These conversations really stood out this week:
1. The Rest Is Politics
This podcast is really the best place to hear discussion around the election.
2. Elections
This week, there has been an important election in our school.
4 students from grade 4 bravely stood in the auditorium and offered their manifesto. From pizza at lunch, to no more uniforms, there suggestions for change raised a primary school audience to their feet as they cheered and screamed! Our primary head teacher had to remind the audience, these are things that MIGHT change if the candidate was to be elected.
This was obviously ignored.
Yesterday it was time to vote.
The parallels to the US election where interesting. All of the boys in my class voted for the only boy candidate. The girls mostly voted for the girl candidate who wanted to ban the use of hair ties. It highlighted a lot of fascinating comparisons between voting in school and voting in the world.
We ended up having a great discussion about politics in general. I asked loads of questions:
Do you think your candidate will win?
Do you think your candidate will actually make these changes?
Did you vote the same as your friend?
Did you vote for the boy because you are a boy?
Do you need to tell anyone who you voted for?
That’s all I could do - ask questions. After all, it is not my place to influence their vote.
My prediction - They boy will win because:
He will get the male vote of the school
He made the most outlandish promises
He spoke the most charismatically on stage.
Sound familiar?
A Dream Is All we Know - The Lemon Twigs
Get ready to journey back to the 70s with The Lemon Twigs. It’s hard to believe this album was released this year.
Some thoughts on a few of my faves:
Song 1: My Golden Years - A light and uplifting opener!
Song 2: They Don’t Know How To Fall Into Place - la la la la
Song 3: Church Bells - Is this The Beatles?
Song 6: Bug - Croon time
Song 8: How Can I Love Her More - For the ones in love
Song 10: Peppermint Roses - Seriously, is this The Beatles??
Song 12: Rock On (Over and Over) - A rocky closer
Loved this article as I can relate to all the observations being made. Like the writing style too just nice and easy to read with interesting content !
Just HOW is right?! Love this!