Randi Kreiss

When they go low, we can also go low

Posted

La dee da. It does get tiresome being high-minded. Apparently it can also be unhealthy. This time of year, when others begin decking the halls and dusting off the menorahs, I see my doctors. Yeah, not as much fun as decorating a tree, but I need to check in once in a while to be sure all systems are go.

I’ve never talked about politics with my docs, but this year, somehow, the conversation drifted Trump-wise. I met with four doctors in one week, and I asked (because I was curious) if they’re seeing patients who are symptomatic as a result of the election.

They all said yes, and they all said many patients are reporting physical distress over the election of Donald Trump. These doctors said they’re seeing people who are suffering higher blood pressure, more headaches, increased depression, insomnia and difficulty concentrating. I really think there’s a doctoral dissertation in this: Trump-Related Stress Syndrome. To be sure, I know there are millions of people who are inoculated against this disease, because they’re happy with the election results. Good for them, but there are millions of us who are feeling sick over the state of the union.

So, full disclosure, my blood pressure is elevated. After years of normal BP, my systolic is trending toward 160. I really don’t want to medicate, but I may have no choice; after all, this will go on for at least four years.

We Dems have been reassuring one another that maybe the new president will be OK, but early signs are not encouraging. From the appointment of Steve Bannon and the schmoozing with Rudy Giuliani to the omnipresence of KellyAnn and the clueless Trump kids to the epic confusion among Trump’s business, political and personal interests, many of us are in a state of high anxiety. Trump is now on a tasteless victory tour, bragging his way around the country. What a needy man he is. And in between victory laps, he is making foreign policy and diplomatic gaffes because he knows nothing and does not seek wise counsel.

I think I think what Charles Blow thinks. He wrote to Trump in The New York Times, “You are an aberration and abomination who is willing to do and say anything — no matter whom it aligns you with and whom it hurts — to satisfy your ambitions.”

John Oliver, who does a weekly HBO news show, urges us not to treat the Trump phenomenon as normal in any way. He says it’s as if you’re a passenger in an airplane and you suddenly realize that the pilot is a wombat, and you’re thinking, maybe this will be OK, but you know it can never be OK.

The very first letters I received following the election were nasty, ungracious “I told you so” notes from readers who love to hate my column. Almost always when I get angry mail, I go high, thanking readers for taking the time to write and suggesting that we agree to disagree. But something is different this time around.

The pro- and anti-Trump people aren’t just disagreeing politically; we are experiencing different life views and values. We’re looking at racism and human rights and women’s issues and the environment and seeing completely different paths forward. I thought much of the agitation would subside once the election was over, but it really hasn’t.

Sarah Palin redux? Really? The wombat is in the White House.

I wake up every morning and I need a moment to realize it really is true. Donald Trump will be president. And apparently, up goes my blood pressure.

I’m doing all the self-help stuff: turning off the news, playing classical music while I cook nice food, talking long walks. But the truth is, when I speak with my like-minded friends, we cannot stop picking at the scab.

Recently I cracked. I got yet another obnoxious letter from a Trump supporter who frequently rants in support of extreme right views. This time he was especially insulting. Ordinarily I would write back, thanking him for getting in touch. But sometimes high-mindedness can take too much out of us. Sometimes authenticity, um, trumps decorum.

So this time I wrote back, “Larry, you are an ignoramus.”

Bad on me, I know. Unkind. Unprofessional. I know better.

But it felt so good. I went low, and it was OK.

Copyright © 2016 Randi Kreiss. Randi can be reached at randik3@aol.com.