Ain’t that the whole truth. America is experiencing a recrudescence, one that will last four long years, and have repercussions, possibly, for decades to come.
I try not to think about it all the damn day. I try not to look at the news. I fail. I check news outlets on my stupid smart phone about four or five times a day to see what new kinds of diabolical terrors are unleashed upon the country and the planet. And of course the checking in that I do cannot be accomplished in a few moments, but in bouts of 30 to 45 minutes of horrified news outlet perusal. The last and most terrifying word was that government people in charge of keeping safe our nuclear arsenal were fired. Planes are falling out of the sky. Cancer researchers canned. Apparently, Musk and his minions have access to your social security number and home address. Initially, it was just the flurry of stupid executive orders or asinine pronouncements: abolish DEI, annex Canada, buy Greenland, rename the Gulf of Mexico. But then pretty quickly the decisions made at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, or thereabouts, were destroying the lives and livelihoods of real Americans and people around the world. It is as terrible as anyone predicted it would be and worse. I’m thinking, after a single month of this tomfoolery, that this is not sustainable. There’s no f-ing way we can do four years of this. Something has to give or break. And I fear things will get a lot worse before they get better–if they ever get better. And yet, I do not consider myself a pessimist. I can’t help thinking, if this is indeed unsustainable, that something might happen to stop it, something historical, something absolutely unprecedented in the world of American politics, something that will either stop the insanity altogether, or, at the very least, put the brakes on. Legal losses? Mass protests? Administration self-destruct? A revolutionary but necessary political interruption? I mean, all bets are off. These are interesting times. Interesting and terrifying times. I take comfort in listening to the voices that are raised right now amidst unfathomable silence from the Republican Party and even largely among democrats. Listening to Jasmine Crockett, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Jamie Raskin, Bernie Sanders gives me hope–I mean, it makes me angry, but in allegiance with theirs; I am comforted that these individuals are speaking up loud and proud. Similarly, watching Rachel Maddow pisses me off, but I feel enormous gratitude that she is there, calling to the attention of anyone who is listening the depths of our current insane situation. I took great comfort in Michael Steele’s rant of last week, on MSNBC, “They’ve got your data, dumbass,” in an almost perfect 110 beats per minute, and I know that because I sampled that audio for a new Project MA song, the only overtly political song I have written in a very long time. And I find the late night comedy guys to be a great help as well. As infuriating and as terrifying as all of this is, we can still laugh uproariously. I am forever grateful to these voices, and inspired by them to do the only thing I understand I am able to do. I will raise my own voice through my words and in my art in resistance to this American Recrudescence. It’s a small, good thing in a time like this. And I am doing my best to take care of myself, my family, and my friends. I am looking and finding goodness and beauty in the world. I am holding on for dear life to joy. I will monitor my obsessive attention to the news, take in just enough to keep me in the loop, as they say. I will not be consumed by the American Recrudescence.
michael jarmer 
Amen, brother.