The USA just dodged a big bullet. There will be no second Trump administration.

(Can you imagine what that would have looked like – Trump untethered!! As if he hasn’t been pretty unhinged these four long years.)

Trump is going to leave office with his customary good sense, patriotism, and grace. Which means more tough, rude, ugly times ahead. I don’t look forward to the next several weeks until January 20th.

He and his people can still cause great damage and steal things and pass bad directives and fire opponents and pardon each other. As it is, a Trump appointee in the GSA is delaying Biden’s transition team from doing its job. At least one DOJ official has resigned over Barr’s craven memo.

But Joe Biden, a good, normal person, will be the next President of the United States. The sound you hear is the world exhaling.

It’s been a horrible four years for our country, right from the very beginning and the lies about the size of the inauguration crowd in 2017.

And it’s been a constant deadly drip since then: from the Muslim ban to Charlottesville to family separations to the attack on the Affordable Care Act (remember John McCain’s thumbs-down?) to the George Lloyd killing to the Kavanaugh and Sister Amy appointments to the Parkland massacre to the clearing of Lafayette Square to the Impeachment and the misfired Mueller investigation, culminating in the hundreds of thousands of unnecessary deaths from Covid. And – oh yeah – the worst economic collapse since the Great Depression.

For four years, we’ve lurched from one disaster to another, with everyday nastiness, anger, mendacity, and venom from the White House. It’s exhausted and depleted our entire country

I admit it: I’ve been floored by the pre-election tension. And the results were not the sweeping repudiation – the Blue Wave – that I wanted.

How could 74 million people vote to re-elect Trump? After the job he’s done. I could somewhat understand that people could be hoodwinked the first time in 2016, thinking that Trump was the big success portrayed on THE APPRENTICE (unlike us New Yorkers who knew he was a grifter and a clown). But after 230,000 plus dead in 2020 – many if not most, unnecessary because of his lazy, irresponsible response to a virus that he knew was lethal – how could anyone want to re-hire him?

Make no mistake: Biden’s victory is a wonderful thing.

No more Melania … no more Ivanka … no more “Did you hear what he said today?” … no more Jared … no more William Barr … no more Betsy De Vos … no more Steve Mnuchin … no more Don Jr. … no more Eric … no more Stephen Miller … no more “Did you see what he Tweeted today?” … no more Kellyanne Conway … no more Kayleigh Mc Enany … no more chaos every single day … no more constant vulgarity and pointless rudeness.

Yes, we’ve won a big battle, but the war ain’t over. Not by a long shot. The GOP is even spinning the election as a victory for “conservative” values over “socialism.” They picked up five seats in the House and won some races they should’ve lost.

The GOP and Trumpism haven’t gone anywhere. In fact, they’re bed-bug crazier than ever as they contest an election that they know was lost. Maybe the GOP will split in two: crazy and crazier. Fox News isn’t right-wing enough for Trump?

And in some important ways, it’s over. Biden will be president. But Trump and his malignant movement is going nowhere.

MY MICRO-LIFE

Me? I’ve been surviving on the crumbs of my personal life. I have a great family (especially two sensational grandsons), a nice place to live, and enough money. I have my memories and YouTube and Sirius radio. I can stream all the music I want, always returning to Mozart’s great soprano arias. I take regular aural doses of Schwarzkopf, Popp, Te Kanawa, Battle, Jurinac, et al., all day, and they help. I do yoga three times a week. I went to the beach. After eight months, I’ve visited our local paradise – Descanso Gardens.

I’ve been doing some good reading. Some David Foster Wallace, some lighter things. I read the Woody Allen autobiography. A bit perfunctory until he gets to the battle with Mia. A sad ending for a genius. Not a nice guy: he’s honest, describing himself as a “genetically born louse.” The TG worked with him on a couple of pictures and can testify. But I think he was railroaded by a vengeful woman.

My two favorite teams – the Lakers and the Dodgers – won championships. Sixteen days apart. The Dodger win was especially gratifying. Something good in a very bad year. (Come to think of it, the only good thing about 2020 – other than those two LA championships -- will be that it was the last year of the Trump Administration.)

But this whole election – and its ugly aftermath – have taken a big chunk out of the the heart of this country. Me included.

But there are still two Senate seats in Georgia to fight for.

Help Stacy Abrams do her thing!!

https://fairfight.com/

Warnock and Ossoff could both win. Really.

Here are a few YouTube morsels I’ve been savoring:

“Great Actresses of the Past” (from MOMA) – Elenora Duse, Sarah Bernhardt, Minnie Maddern Fiske – stunning footage of legendary artists

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/FMfcgxwJXflPlZDcPwkJPJlfbbGVLVKl?projector=1

Austin City Limits’ Tribute to Townes Van Zandt – with a roster of some of my favorite singers: Emmylou Harris, Nanci Griffith, Steve Earle, Wille Nelson, Lyle Lovett, Rodney Crowell, etc.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oc32Z424DCc

And for my grandson Calder, when he’s old enough to watch it -- WICKED at the Tony Awards

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5V9KwppMfs

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