From The Confessional: This Presidency Is Affecting My Mental Health
Remember how it was in the pre-Trump years? We cared about issues, but always had a sense of hope and possibility. Many of us excitedly voted for Obama, but weren’t terrified of the America that could have been if he lost. We followed politics, but it didn’t consume our lives, our thoughts, and our mental health. We may have felt strongly about debate topics or disagreed with a candidate’s answer, but could usually come away from viewing a political discussion without feeling like we were going to vomit.
Remember? Remember when the sound of the president’s voice didn’t make us physically ill? Ah, the good old days.
Trump changed everything. The infamous “drainer of swamps” instead turned our country into one giant cesspool of hate, negativity, racism, sexism, and violence. We know how the damage he can do, because he’s done it. And with the election less than a month away, our mental health is suffering more than ever before.
Between the anxiety about a possible second term with this monster at the helm, depression about the state of the world he’s permanently damaged with his narcissism, and the coping we’ve had to do when our family members, coworkers, and friends refuse to hop off the Trump train… yeah, we’re struggling.
Makes me bitter AF that Trump got better treatment for his COVID than the rest of us ever will despite the fact that I paid 20x more in tax than him.
Confessional #25800035
If I had understood that a "person" like Trump could be president I would never have had kids. Humanity has let us all down BIGLY. I shudder to think how things will be when my kids are grown.
Confessional #25768275
I never paid that much attention to politics until 2016. I have never felt such intense dislike for any president ever. He is a POS and there is absolutely nothing, nothing anyone can say to convince me otherwise
Confessional #25767862
I've never been "depressed" before but after Covid, Trump, all this violence & isolating & NOTHING IS THE SAME, I'm starting to...slip. I can't see the light at the end of the tunnel anymore. There's nothing to look forward to anymore.
Confessional #25795205
Politics are ruining my relationships and making me feel hopeless. This world feels so dark and the people in it are worse. Fuck Donald Trump.
Confessional #25798945
We feel hopeless. We feel angry. And we feel a deep bitterness that has settled in our soul. We need to vote him out and then heal as a nation.
My mother supports Trump and it keeps me up at night.
Confessional #25800053
I pretend I don't hate my MIL, but I do, because she's a Trump-lover.
Confessional #25796387
I speak to my sister every day, but on Monday, when I was totally disgusted with her "president" and his bullshit antics I told her so. and she hasn't spoken to me since. whatever ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I don't stand by this POS, never did, never will.
Confessional #25783642
My parents are Trump loving koolaid drinkers. I hit my limit with them. If they can't see the hate and fear and evil for what it is, then I can't do the work they demand in keeping up the relationship. I need to focus on love, and work for change.
Confessional #25794549
Unfortunately, this president and his horrific behavior have done irreparable damage to many of our relationships. Prior to Trump, Republicans and Democrats could still sit across from each other and have a civilized conversation over Thanksgiving dinner. More and more families find they can’t do that anymore, and it’s heartbreaking.
I’m one of the Americans who moved to Canada when Donald Trump became president. We left on the day he was inaugurated.
Confessional #25774709
My husband and I have a pretty solid plan in place to leave the U.S. if Trump is re-elected. None of our family knows.
Confessional #25795196
I moved out of America when Trump took office and, with the way things are under his administration, I don’t regret a thing. My heart hurts for America.
Confessional #25786439
So many Americans either already left or have hatched a plan to leave if he gets re-elected. The land of the free and home of the brave is in ruins because of the childish egomaniac in office.
I 100% blame Trump for ruining social media. He came along and encouraged all of the racist human garbage to come out of hiding and scream from the rooftops.
Confessional #25799789
I’m done with FB. I can no longer deal with Trump-loving fools.
Confessional #25796881
I accidentally clicked on a pro-Trump Facebook group. The racism and blatant hatred made me sob. I can't handle our society anymore.
Confessional #24956672
Years ago, Facebook was a place to reconnect with old high school friends and share pics of our kids learning to ride their bikes. Now it’s so full of hate that followers are deleting it off their phones for their own mental health. Thanks, Trump.
I am a brunette Hispanic in a very white, very Trump town. When I go out with my white, blue eyed, blonde friends I know they don’t notice the weird looks I get and the way I’m treated differently. Wish they did and I could talk about it to someone.
Confessional #25799673
At elderly ILs chatting with MIL. A man I don’t know parks in their driveway and gets out of his truck. He’s FILs distant cousin. Within 15 seconds of meeting me, he insults me for being ‘just a housewife.’ H looked up his FB page. Trump. Of course.
Confessional #25797175
The unrest in my city over the last few months has been exhausting. It happened again last night. This is Trumps America, and it is fucking awful.
Confessional #25794543
Americans across the nation are scared for their safety, especially if they aren’t white. Trump supporters are increasingly emboldened to insult others and commit acts of violence—with his encouragement. Rather than uniting us, he continues to create more division.
Some of my family members are so embarrassing. Ignorant & racist comments, trump supporters (we are not even americans making it even more fucking stupid), anti-masks, anti-city, anti-bikes in the city (lol?!? What?). Fucking hicks..
Confessional #25798122
I'm so embarrassed to be an American... I don't understand how people still support Trump. Its such an embarrassment.
Confessional #25797578
I was abroad over the summer. I kept a Post-It inside my passport's ID page that said "I AM SO SORRY ABOUT OUR IDIOT PRESIDENT. I DID NOT VOTE FOR HIM." I'm pretty sure it's why customs was a breeze every time. It was like an instant bond.
Confessional #25749582
We are embarrassed of our country as the world laughs at us. We are ashamed of our neighbors and in-laws who openly support this tyrant. And we wonder how we’ll ever recover from this nightmare.
Trump has said and done horrible things. This country, in many ways, will never be the same. But we can rise out of the ashes of this disaster presidency. We can rebuild. We must vote him and the puppets that surround him out and breathe life and love back into America.
We’re down, but we’re not quitting yet.
