Here, have a pretty macro photo.
There shall be more at the bottom of the post.
Fuck Donald Trump.
I said that on Twitter the other day — that thread is here — and apparently, it resonated, given that it went somewhat viral. As it should, honestly. (Resonate, not go viral.) The time of being precious and polite is long past us. This is an era of dark corners, and we just keep on turning them, into deeper, blacker pockets of moral, national shadow. Our president — “president” — is the sick, beating heart of this whole thing, but he’s not alone in his fuckery, so nor should he be alone in his condemnation. We must condemn all his cronies, from Miller to Pence, and we must further condemn a dead-eyed, undignified, complicit Congress for — at best — idly standing by as he chews at the wires and support beams of this nation like a mad rat, and at worst, for helping him do all the things he does. Including, though certainly not limited to, separating migrant families at the border, and putting the children into a range of facilities, from prisons to cages to tent cities in the Texas heat. Fuck Trump, fuck the whole lot of them, and fuck the voters who helped vote for this foul stain upon our nation’s flag, credo, and fabric.
It’s hard not being angry all the time. And it’s weird being a writer or person of entertainment at this period because you mostly just wanna kick things and spit and thrash around, and yet we still have to form cogent sentences and sometimes use those cogent sentences to entertain, enlighten, and advertise.
So, we do what we can.
My best is that I can help you escape, from time to time, with the *waves magic wand* the mysteeeerious wooooorlds of fiiiiction, and so again I gently nudge you toward the fact that Zer0es is still like, $1.99 right now — or, if you’re looking for something different, people ask where to start with my fiction, well, I did a post that helps you figure exactly that.
In the meantime, I give you again some shiny-pretty-macro-and-non-macro photos. If only to give myself, and you, a moment’s solace in this time of unbridled fuckery.
(The first photo, by the way, is of a true rara avis, the scarlet tanager — a somewhat reclusive bird that’s also really beautiful, and hard to capture. Been trying to get a good shot of this one for weeks now with the new 100-400 lens. This one isn’t a great photo, but it’s serviceable, and I’m just happy to have gotten it. Also, the second photo — of a bee-like hover-fly — is a photo of what I think margined calligrapheris called a “.” What a fucking cool name for a bug. For anything! Find joy where you can folks. My other photos are over at Flickr.)
R. H. Rushefsky says:
Love the last photo!
Part of the problem with Trump is that he’s a symptom, not the problem itself. He’s scum, but it’s the voters who put him where he now is. And I don’t know what to do about that (beyond the really big things like “get religion and money out of politics” and “get political bias out of news reporting”).
June 18, 2018 — 9:32 AM
Deborah Makarios says:
I agree, that last photo is stunning.
The candidates are flawed, the voters are flawed, the electoral system is flawed, the idea that the government has to be the solution (whatever the problem is), is flawed. All the flaws just got lined up and gave you… this, while the rest of the world tries to decide if this more like Imperial Rome or 1930s Germany.
Here in NZ, if you don’t get a majority of the vote (which is pretty much inevitable, given MMP) you have to broker a power-sharing agreement with another party or parties. Of course, that brings its own issues, but at least you don’t end up with a vast concentration of power in one pair of hands. On which note, I’ve heard it suggested that in terms of powers, we have a hereditary president (HM the Queen) whereas the US has an elected monarch. Food for thought.
I thought Larry Norman’s “The Great American Novel” was out of date but now I’m not so sure.
June 18, 2018 — 8:27 PM
sigmadog says:
I voted for Trump. It was a reluctant vote in a state that went for Clinton anyway, which made my vote irrelevant. But I would never in a million years vote for a Clinton (or a Bush, for that matter).
To be honest, I’m surprised at the hatred leveled against those of different political views. I’ve always assumed we live in a nation of adults who can disagree without being disagreeable. I hope those days aren’t gone forever.
My personal view is that Obama pushed the nation too quickly and unwillingly too far to the left and the election of Trump is evidence of that.
I didn’t like Obama at all. Hated him, in fact. But I respect the office.
Times change. They always do. Don’t get caught freaking out about something as ephemeral as politics because in a few months, you might look a little foolish.
I’ve lost friends over that election, which is very strange. I worry that the vitriol and hatred towards me and my politics will only serve to polarize me even further. There has to be a way we can get along even while disagreeing.
That’s my mind. Have at me. Give me your best shot. I’m old enough not to give a shit.
June 18, 2018 — 11:09 PM
terribleminds says:
I got nothing for you that you don’t already know. Trump is an unabashed racist, sexist pig-person. Times do not change that. They haven’t changed that in him for decades; we knew who he was. You knew who he was. And here we are. With two new policies that are worse for immigrants and their children — worse than they were under previous presidents, despite what trolls meme at me on Twitter — we’re already around the bend. That after we alienate our allies, and give preference and deference to North Korea over our own media, and never say a bad word about Russia. The man is a foolish brute. There’s nothing to say. If you’ve lost friends, you might wanna consider why that is, and why maybe they — not one friend, but several — might have a collective point that has so far sailed over your head.
June 19, 2018 — 8:31 AM
sigmadog says:
You hate Trump. I get it.
That’s not gonna change. I get that, too.
I’m not here to change your mind, and I’m not here to defend Trump (though I largely approve of many of his actions so far).
What I am trying to do is alert you to the mere possibility that your hatred has made you just a teensy bit hysterical on the subject.
In writing, we try to create characters that are multi-dimensional with good and bad traits (by the way, I enjoyed “Damn Fine Story”). We do that because it brings them to life, like real people. But it appears to me the Trump you hate is a one-dimensional cardboard cutout.
If you truly believe Trump is a foolish brute, you might wanna consider how he’s been able to accomplish anything at all, especially with the media and bureaucratic establishment so set against him, and why maybe those of us who elected him might have a collective point that has so far sailed over your head.
June 19, 2018 — 12:49 PM
terribleminds says:
He’s accomplished what he’s accomplished — which, for the record, has been very little of note, and certainly not much good — because the GOP have the run of the table. It doesn’t take a political science degree to see how that happened, or will continue to happen.
I understand the collective point — it hasn’t sailed over my head. It’s hit us all dead in the face.
June 19, 2018 — 1:06 PM
wizardru says:
Your post sort of works at cross purposes, here. You ask for agreeable discourse, but then put up your dukes and say ‘come at me, bro’, which reads as a bit of a mixed message, to me.
Having said that, let me ask you this: do you still feel Trump was a good choice? Is he doing what you’d like? If so, what do you feel he’s accomplishing or accomplished that you like.
I didn’t like George Bush…and arguably the policies of his administration will ultimately have proved more ruinous to our economy, security and lives than Trump’s administration…but I respected the office, as you say. Every executive prior to this did some things I agreed with and didn’t agree with; that often comes with the territory. Nixon created the EPA. Bush Jr. brought some of the first PoC into the White House senior staff. Likewise many presidents did things I didn’t agree with; Clinton backed the DMCA, Obama advocated extensive drone warfare and failed to do anything about Guantanamo.
But with Trump, all I can see is the most corrupt administration in my lifetime, combined with massive incompetence and a long history of divisiveness and increasing overtones of racism, xenophobia and a blatant disregard for the basic tenets of our democracy. There is no upside, that I see.
And a lot of the ‘civil discourse’ that I hear asked for makes the demand that the traditional conciliatory liberal and centrist voters all stop being so angry at the traditionally bullies, who don’t like finding themselves on the receiving end of that same behavior. Newt Gingrich started the process of demonizing his party’s political opponents. A lack of civil discourse on all sides was the only eventual result of that. I’m not really sure how we get back from it. It’s worked like a charm for the GOP for 20+ years, so they’re not likely to abandon it now, when it’s given them all three branches of government. I’m open to suggestions on that one, but as far as I can tell, the only viable option is the same that it’s always been: replace the bad actors by an election.
June 19, 2018 — 10:26 AM
sigmadog says:
Wizard;
I am generally happy with Trump as president. Best of all, he’s not Clinton. Because I have no desire to get into the weeds with political talk, I’ll just leave it at that.
It amuses me to consider the differing world views between us. We live in Opposites World, where no one sees things the same (and in my version, pants are optional).
My main point is that bomb-throwing rhetoric is therapeutic, but doesn’t really advance one’s cause very far, and can hurt in other ways. Initially, I was surprised by Chuck’s post when he said (among other things), “fuck the voters who helped vote for this”.
As a fan, it’s hard to ignore it when the guy I thought was intelligent, funny and a guide into the wonderful world of fiction writing gives me the middle finger.
I doubt Gandalf would have ever flipped off Samwise Gamgee. Maybe Frodo, because he was such an insufferable turd with those big wet poodle eyes (I speak of the movie version). But not Sam. Never Sam.
So while I get the anger and hatred, having it directed at me came as a shock.
If “civil discourse” is the goal of the Left, then perhaps you would be the better spokesman, because I’m not hearing much of that these days from anyone else.
Nice speaking with you, and good luck.
June 19, 2018 — 4:29 PM
wizardru says:
For the future, it’s Dru. I merely play a wizard on TV.
I guess I’m having a hard time understanding why you’re surprised at the level of vitriol. While I don’t approve of some of it, I’ve been seeing it for literal years from places like Fox news and the GOP. The near constant barrage of ‘One True Scotsman’ narrative has finally reached it’s breaking point in the public sphere. The yawning chasm between ‘our president disrpected the troops because he was holding a Starbucks coffee and is not a true American’ and ‘the president literally just admitted he lied two minutes earlier in the same meeting while talking with the press and no one bats an eye because it’s just how he talks’ is amazing to me.
I think there is a vast difference between giving Donald Trump the benefit of the doubt for an occasional gaffe and his continued incompetence at governance, even setting aside how I differ from his political stance (which I largely think is political theater for his base). Failure to properly transition control of executive branch departments (such as the well-documented failures at the Departments of Energy, HUD and others, followed by attempted purges by political neophytes) is one of a host of things that this administration is simply BAD at.
If the only thing you wanted was for everything the Obama did to be reversed, then I guess I understand why you’d be happy with his performance; as far as I can tell, that’s the sum total of his accomplishments right now. That you see nothing wrong with what Trump has done up until this point or how he’s done it suggests to me you may not ever fully grasp why it upsets people so much (and possibly you’re not particularly interested in doing so). Several presidents in my lifetime have engaged in military operations, ranging from Vietnam to Grenada to two wars in the Gulf…and yet not once did I fell that our nation was as endangered as it is now. That you feel that the nation is on the right track for the first time in almost a decade illustrates how different our views are and i’m not sure to bridge that gulf.
June 20, 2018 — 8:14 AM
terribleminds says:
Civil discourse is not, and should not, be a goal of the Left. And “I have no desire to get into the weeds with political talk,” is horseshit, because here you are.
If you’re a Trump voter, you voted for what’s going on in this country. More to the point, if you’re a fan of what’s going on in the country, it’s hard to see how you could be a fan of mine, and honestly, I don’t want you as one.
June 20, 2018 — 8:34 AM
sigmadog says:
Chuck;
I regretfully accede to your request to no longer be a fan.
In fact, let’s wipe the slate clean: I promise to never buy another of your books, never visit this blog again, and delete my Kindle version of “Damn Fine Story”, if you’ll refund the purchase price of $9.99.
I will email you a proof of purchase and mailing address; you can send me a check or a shitload of pennies that you first stick up your ass, if that’s your thing.
This way, your principles will be kept inviolate, having not accepted money from a grimy inbred hick Trump supporter, and I can go about the rest of my ignorant, cesspool of a life having enough coin to almost pay for a penicillin shot to treat the STD I got from my sister (or whatever fantasy suits you).
So, what’s it gonna be, Chuck? Money or Principles?
June 20, 2018 — 12:17 PM
terribleminds says:
You’re not my customer, asshole. You didn’t pay me ten bucks. You paid a bookstore — presumably — the ten bucks, so go knocking on their door, maybe they will accept your return. Perhaps you didn’t know how it works? Though I’m not surprised that a Trump voter like yourself is uninformed; it seems to be par for the course.
Alas.
June 20, 2018 — 12:32 PM
Catherine N. says:
Sigmadog, actions have consequences. If you don’t want to be identified as a Nazi, maybe don’t support Nazi policies. Seventy children a day. Infant camps. Children in camps. The Nazis did not start out bussing people to the gas chambers, they started with rhetoric that is similar to Trump’s. We know the Republicans in congress do have spines, because they stymied Obama on so much. And yes we are angry because we don’t see much light ahead. It was not a normal election, it is not a normal presidency.
June 20, 2018 — 8:21 AM
sigmadog says:
MAGA, Baby.
June 20, 2018 — 12:18 PM
Jeff says:
Mueller Ain’t Goin Away, dude. Hitler’s campaign slogan was Make Germany Great Again, and he ran on a platform of hatred of foreigners and non-whites. So did cadet bonespurs. I dunno, maybe we fought a world war for nothin’.
June 20, 2018 — 1:46 PM
Mike Frost says:
There’s a wonderful German saying that covers this.
If a man is comfortable sitting at a table with 10 Nazis, there are 11 Nazis at that table.
You say you “don’t want to get into the weeds” I say that because you can’t name a single actual law or executive order you agree with, you’re just happy it’s a white guy giving the orders again
Prove me wrong.
June 20, 2018 — 12:55 PM
chacha1 says:
I just wanna say thanks for the beautiful photos. I crave a scarlet tanager. Almost managed a photo of a hooded oriole (another uncommon and very beautiful bird here in SoCal) recently, but whiffed it.
June 20, 2018 — 2:25 PM
Laura R says:
We’ve been here before, but I’m surprised at how quickly we forget. Remember Reagan?
Reagan’s administration had 138 indictments and convictions, the most of any president. Even Trump hasn’t come close to that.
Under Reagan, AIDS was ignored as it raged through the gay community, killing so many in places like NYC that it literally changed the arts, fashion and music irrevocably.
Reagan busted the unions, ruined the economy, and convinced Americans that government was a bad thing.
Under Reagan, the CIA trained Guatemalan death squads , and supported them as they did their scorched earth policy, destroying hundreds of villages, killing 100,000 people and displacing millions. I feel particularly angry about that since I lived in Guatemala during the civil war. People up here haven’t a clue. Add to that the Iran-Contra war, the Salvadoran civil war, and our invasion of Panama. It makes me sick to hear Reagan discussed in almost saintly terms today, even by the left.
All these immigrants you see fleeing Central America now are fallout from the US government sponsored wars down there. And when those wars finally ended and people were picking up the pieces of their lives, Bill Clinton enacted a new immigration law that allowed the deportation of felons. The unintended consequence was that by deporting loads of felons who had grown up in the USA and were deeply involved in gangs, we ended up exporting organized gang crime into areas that had woefully inadequate law enforcement systems and no experience with gangs. We thereby created a drug highway from Central America to the USA, making our crime rate higher as well. El Salvador was particularly devastated by this policy. On top of that, our continuously increasing appetite for heroin and cocaine have fed the growth of the Mexican cartels. So many people asking for asylum today are fleeing from the violent gangs and cartels that we helped create and that our appetites fuel.
The damage Reagan did is permanent. The dead in Central America will not come back to life, nor those dead from AIDS. Maybe the unions will come back, but I doubt it. Worst of all, the mistrust Reagan sowed of big government seems to have penetrated both the left and the right, which has led to an inability to tackle problems effectively that require big government, such as health care, climate change, etc.
I worry about what permanent damage Trump is doing too. And I wonder if his damage will fade with time and he’ll be lauded one day as Reagan is.
June 20, 2018 — 4:43 PM
pulplives says:
May I make a copy of your comment? I promise not to share it without citing you. The fracturing of Latin America under US influence is a very important issue to my family and I, and your statements here are very succinct.
June 23, 2018 — 9:45 AM
Luke says:
“My main point is that bomb-throwing rhetoric is therapeutic, but doesn’t really advance one’s cause very far, and can hurt in other ways.”
This from a guy supporting Trump? Seems a bit hypocritical given what he calls people on twitter every day. Maybe hold your choice of president to the same standard you do everyone else, eh?
June 21, 2018 — 4:31 AM
Catherine N. says:
Exactly. I worry about this too. Every Republican president seems to be exponentially worse than the previous one. Shrub destroyed the press, in many ways. (Watch Control Room-my sister’s movie, which shows what he did). I want every single Republican in office to never be able to hold office again, because goddamn they are all fucking complicit. We have screwed up so much of the world.
June 21, 2018 — 7:16 AM
Christopher Long says:
Frankly, Mr. Wendig, I have no idea how you maintain the level of civility that you do. With very nearly every day, I get more angry at the Tangerine Scream and the Gestapo of Obstructing Positivity. And, frankly, I have to stop and deliberately calm myself before I can be *that* level if civilized above. (I.E. “not swearing like a career sailor.”)
I’ve enjoyed the things of yours that I’ve read, in part, I think, because you are a decent human being who wants to help the rest of us attain the same state.
For that, I thank you.
Well… that and some REALLY good books!
June 22, 2018 — 10:55 PM