I totally understand your impulse to disengage if tRump wins. I have the same impulse at age 70. But I know I can't do that. I have nieces and nephews and five great nieces and nephews with two more on the way, so I have an obligation to them and also to all the underdogs and vulnerable people in my country not to disengage. You have a platform and it's even more important for you to continue to speak out. We have come through bad times before but it didn't happen by disengaging.
No no no That’s my response as well. What a selfish attitude, to disengage and think only about what’s for lunch while applauding oneself for giving up bad habits.
I don’t know if any of my reading the news, thinking about politics, writing substack comments, making small donations to Actblue, and designing bumper stickers is helping the country, but I am certain I would feel more horrible if I did nothing and the fascists took over the country. I also know that if they win I won’t have the chance to just enjoy my old age. The chaos will reach every corner of the country, even where I think I can sit and drink my ginger ale in peace.
Yes. Yes. All true, but for persons of a certain age who have worked so long and fervently for decency and our daughters (granddaughters and great-graddaughters), we are tired. We thought that we had taken them to the next level. Alas. And so we continue in the trenches so that this will be the year.
Agreed. At 83 I'm still engaged, too angry with the garbage the other side keeps peddling, and if they win, all of us, including me will be adversely afflicted. I only have so many years left but I want to be able to spend them on my terms, not MAGA's or 2025.
Thank you, Garrison, I tried to disengage once, but couldn’t pull it off. I’m 80 now and love your idea of pulling in to the neighborhood you love. All the best to you, and let’s be sure he doesn’t win.
I’m also over 80 and glad we quit smoking so we can enjoy the gift of life and breathing another decade or so. BUT I urge you to drop a line to NYT editorial board and tell them to do their job! IMHO the NYT has shirked its duty by feeding us mediocre polls and failing to provide clear, honest, and impactful articles on Trump and his complete lack of fitness for WH. He’s a danger and It’s shameful. I finally quit the paper after many years.
Thank you, Garrison. I'm almost 82, and yes, I feel this way too. Let go, I say to myself. It’s the same roller coaster we humans have been on for thousands of years. That doesn't mean that I don't care. I do. Deeply. I happen to live in Minnesota for half the year and Florida for the other half. And in these two worlds, I see good people trying to figure it all out. Even the ones I disagree with are my friends and family members. I can only tell them I care about them, and, on some level, I understand. Then I go to my piano and play. Or take a walk down our lane. Or settle myself in my favorite chair with a book and my notebook. I write a poem.
Many people consider NYC their home, and home is often refuge. Bad things happen there, but they do everywhere. Considering that 8 million people (give or take) live as peacefully as they do, I'd say that's quite amazing.
Good morning, Garrison. What was it exactly, what was the news you heard, the talk with a neighbor, that moment in the middle of the night that you sat up in bed and believed DT could/would be the winner of the presidential election coming so very soon? I'm still not there and don't believe I'll ever be. Yes, something bad, very bad is going to happen at the last minute to sway the outcome but maybe not. For me, it's not leaving anywhere that will settle my brain, it's simply distancing myself from "them", all of them. rr
You were doing really good until you went into your DJT rant at the end. You must remember that regardless of which knucklehead (they are all knuckleheads, ill-concerned with our well-being) is steering the boat, it is the crew (the American people) who keep the ship afloat and running. We must all go about our day and be decent people regardless of what the media and aformentioned knucklehead says. Believe none of what you hear, half of what you read, question what you see, trust your gut, if something doesn't seem right, it probably isn't.
The Ds may not be perfect, but they're way out in front of most Rs who are worse than knuckleheads (except for the few sane ones who are bailing on DJY).
Notice how I referred to all politicians as Knuckleheads. I didn't single any particular party out. But I thank you for taking the low road and calling out those you align with, you know, the party that accuses the other of hate speech all the time. Good job. So much for decency and going about our day.
The German "crew" as you say didn't do such a good job keeping the ship afloat after they brought Hitler to power. And look, Trump is now making comments to the effect that if he loses, the Jews will have had a significant part in that. This is not spin, it's not the media, it's the words that came out of his own mouth. After Taylor Swift endorsed Harris, he posted on social media "I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT." This dangerous, menacing behavior should be unacceptable to everyone. The examples keep coming, and they get weirder and weirder. His buddy Steve Bannon said that for their continued safety and prosperity, American Jews' only choice is "a hard weld with Christian nationalism." I repeat, this stuff is UNACCEPTABLE, and it should be disqualifying.
I miss being a morning person - I was one for the first 63 years of my now 77 years, Loved oatmeal with Dad (z”l), getting the Sat & Sun color comics before the rest of the house awoke. After my move from Ohio to DC, the predawn walks to work were glorious. Health issues made them not doable. It’s ok. I had them once.
About the election: good ideas to narrow one’s world if the worst thing to happen does. I pray & work to make Harris President & put Walz in the great house on a DC hill.
Close to half this country supports a leader that offends the other half. And the half that is offended is going to walk just walk away and or just write the other half off? And vice versa. I see that as both sides pushing the easy button.
Okay, I understand your future is dependant on the outcome of this election. Stay focused on the election. Hope you win. And I am saying this to both sides. But afterward, regardless of the outcome, can someone start talking about Common Ground between the two sides?!?!?
When Garrison traveled to small towns in the midwest and south earlier this year, he ran into well kept communities with very friendly people. These were people that supported that guy. Yet that did not stop Garrison from talking to them and learning about them. And they learned from Garrison. They did this even though their lives are very different. Yet common values were found. And I got to see a bridge forming between the two different cultures that exist in our country (having lived in both).
I was hoping that Garrison would realize the importantance of those encounters and see them as the beginning of something huge. Something our country really needs. But I guess he did'nt.
There's common ground between individuals, but then there's the fact that Trump says that if he loses, the Jews will have had a lot to do with that. He posts on social media "I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT." These are just two of the most recent examples. He dines with white supremacists and says that a guy who calls himself a Nazi, praises Mein Kampf and proclaims "Some people need killin'!" is "Martin Luther King, Jr. on steroids." These kinds of things must be absolutely unacceptable in a democracy. Half the country has to stop being okay with them. This is simply a prerequisite to our country becoming significantly more united.
I think that most people voting for Trump do not like him and also think he is a little crazy. I think they realize he exaggerates, he is melodramatic, he lies, and is often times offensive. I also think these people are not racists and not hateful. These are the people that Garrison met in small country towns that he wrote about. CBS Sunday Morning recently did a piece where they interviewed folks from a Wisconsin county fair (I wish I could find a reference, but could not find it). The people they interviewed are just like I described. I do not know why the media chooses not to publicize these people and instead chooses to characterize Trump supporters by the extreme right. I suppose it might be easy, or that it makes for better headlines. Perhaps most Trump supporters might be boring and not sell commercials.
Why do these folks support Trump? I am sure there are a lot of reasons. I chose to vote for Trump (and it was a tough decision) to vote against most items in the progressive agenda. Things that you and I would probably have to agree to disagree on.
Personally, I can't wait for Trump to move on. And he will. I was trying like hell to support Niki, but that did not pan out. I hope another bad apple does not surface when Republicans choose his replacement.
Democracy? Freedom of Speech? Both are at their best when it is messy as hell and controversial. You know, when it gets hard.
The fact remains that the country will--and frankly should--only get more divided as long as so many people accept, for any reason, a candidate or a president who makes direct and indirect appeals to fascists and racists. Those who support someone with such character only help prolong this period of division that we have already been in for so long. Many Germans similarly rationalized their support for Hitler. I've mentioned it on this site before, but one of Trump's campaign ads even featured a newspaper showing a prospective headline about industrial growth under a "unified Reich." Such things have never happened before, and they have to be disqualifying. I recommend that you watch Ken Burns's documentary "The U.S. and the Holocaust." It is extremely relevant to what we're discussing.
Your are a good man, Mr. Keillor. You lead good thoughts and deeds for many of us to take and share. Love us one another, no matter. As we used to say, "He's not playing with a full deck." Amen.
Sorry Garrison, we're drafting you for the fight, should the orange menace win. I feel the same; I cannot understand how this could be my country with so many blithering idiots failing so miserably to recognize an obvious authoritarian con man. But if the fight comes, we will need you to entertain the troops. We'll chopper you into combat zones with Lady Gaga and a bevy of young starlets. Uncle Sam wants you! And so do the rest of us!
I completely understand that feeling of leaving church with your very soul uplifted. You feel kinder, more connected to people around you and more distant from the evil in the world. You can enjoy your life in a new place and find the goodness in it. But I’ve read a lot of your columns and I know you deeply care about what’s happening here in our country. I like keeping up with the news, although in my state it can be infuriating and often depressing. But I have a powerful little stinger I intend to use this November -my vote!
Kudos to you, Garrison, for finding the joy in your life and for staying sober all these years. It’s not always easy to do either one!
Where to start...let me count the ways...but instead I will just TRUMP 2024!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ignore all of those afflicted TDS including Garrison Keillor. Not a single one of them is living in reality. They do not realize that they are lied to every day by NPR NYT MSNBC CNN etc etc.
Oh geez. This column of yours today makes me so sad because it is a reminder of how things feel ao hopeless in our beloved country. I hope the next days in front of us all bring more hope instead of despair. God help us all.
I totally understand your impulse to disengage if tRump wins. I have the same impulse at age 70. But I know I can't do that. I have nieces and nephews and five great nieces and nephews with two more on the way, so I have an obligation to them and also to all the underdogs and vulnerable people in my country not to disengage. You have a platform and it's even more important for you to continue to speak out. We have come through bad times before but it didn't happen by disengaging.
No no no That’s my response as well. What a selfish attitude, to disengage and think only about what’s for lunch while applauding oneself for giving up bad habits.
I don’t know if any of my reading the news, thinking about politics, writing substack comments, making small donations to Actblue, and designing bumper stickers is helping the country, but I am certain I would feel more horrible if I did nothing and the fascists took over the country. I also know that if they win I won’t have the chance to just enjoy my old age. The chaos will reach every corner of the country, even where I think I can sit and drink my ginger ale in peace.
Yes. Yes. All true, but for persons of a certain age who have worked so long and fervently for decency and our daughters (granddaughters and great-graddaughters), we are tired. We thought that we had taken them to the next level. Alas. And so we continue in the trenches so that this will be the year.
Agreed. At 83 I'm still engaged, too angry with the garbage the other side keeps peddling, and if they win, all of us, including me will be adversely afflicted. I only have so many years left but I want to be able to spend them on my terms, not MAGA's or 2025.
Thank you, Garrison, I tried to disengage once, but couldn’t pull it off. I’m 80 now and love your idea of pulling in to the neighborhood you love. All the best to you, and let’s be sure he doesn’t win.
I’m also over 80 and glad we quit smoking so we can enjoy the gift of life and breathing another decade or so. BUT I urge you to drop a line to NYT editorial board and tell them to do their job! IMHO the NYT has shirked its duty by feeding us mediocre polls and failing to provide clear, honest, and impactful articles on Trump and his complete lack of fitness for WH. He’s a danger and It’s shameful. I finally quit the paper after many years.
Thank you, Garrison. I'm almost 82, and yes, I feel this way too. Let go, I say to myself. It’s the same roller coaster we humans have been on for thousands of years. That doesn't mean that I don't care. I do. Deeply. I happen to live in Minnesota for half the year and Florida for the other half. And in these two worlds, I see good people trying to figure it all out. Even the ones I disagree with are my friends and family members. I can only tell them I care about them, and, on some level, I understand. Then I go to my piano and play. Or take a walk down our lane. Or settle myself in my favorite chair with a book and my notebook. I write a poem.
Could be wrong but never thought of NYC as a refuge from all the bad things going on in this country.
Especially now with its Mayor being indicted.
Many people consider NYC their home, and home is often refuge. Bad things happen there, but they do everywhere. Considering that 8 million people (give or take) live as peacefully as they do, I'd say that's quite amazing.
Good morning, Garrison. What was it exactly, what was the news you heard, the talk with a neighbor, that moment in the middle of the night that you sat up in bed and believed DT could/would be the winner of the presidential election coming so very soon? I'm still not there and don't believe I'll ever be. Yes, something bad, very bad is going to happen at the last minute to sway the outcome but maybe not. For me, it's not leaving anywhere that will settle my brain, it's simply distancing myself from "them", all of them. rr
You were doing really good until you went into your DJT rant at the end. You must remember that regardless of which knucklehead (they are all knuckleheads, ill-concerned with our well-being) is steering the boat, it is the crew (the American people) who keep the ship afloat and running. We must all go about our day and be decent people regardless of what the media and aformentioned knucklehead says. Believe none of what you hear, half of what you read, question what you see, trust your gut, if something doesn't seem right, it probably isn't.
The Ds may not be perfect, but they're way out in front of most Rs who are worse than knuckleheads (except for the few sane ones who are bailing on DJY).
Notice how I referred to all politicians as Knuckleheads. I didn't single any particular party out. But I thank you for taking the low road and calling out those you align with, you know, the party that accuses the other of hate speech all the time. Good job. So much for decency and going about our day.
The German "crew" as you say didn't do such a good job keeping the ship afloat after they brought Hitler to power. And look, Trump is now making comments to the effect that if he loses, the Jews will have had a significant part in that. This is not spin, it's not the media, it's the words that came out of his own mouth. After Taylor Swift endorsed Harris, he posted on social media "I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT." This dangerous, menacing behavior should be unacceptable to everyone. The examples keep coming, and they get weirder and weirder. His buddy Steve Bannon said that for their continued safety and prosperity, American Jews' only choice is "a hard weld with Christian nationalism." I repeat, this stuff is UNACCEPTABLE, and it should be disqualifying.
I miss being a morning person - I was one for the first 63 years of my now 77 years, Loved oatmeal with Dad (z”l), getting the Sat & Sun color comics before the rest of the house awoke. After my move from Ohio to DC, the predawn walks to work were glorious. Health issues made them not doable. It’s ok. I had them once.
About the election: good ideas to narrow one’s world if the worst thing to happen does. I pray & work to make Harris President & put Walz in the great house on a DC hill.
Close to half this country supports a leader that offends the other half. And the half that is offended is going to walk just walk away and or just write the other half off? And vice versa. I see that as both sides pushing the easy button.
Okay, I understand your future is dependant on the outcome of this election. Stay focused on the election. Hope you win. And I am saying this to both sides. But afterward, regardless of the outcome, can someone start talking about Common Ground between the two sides?!?!?
When Garrison traveled to small towns in the midwest and south earlier this year, he ran into well kept communities with very friendly people. These were people that supported that guy. Yet that did not stop Garrison from talking to them and learning about them. And they learned from Garrison. They did this even though their lives are very different. Yet common values were found. And I got to see a bridge forming between the two different cultures that exist in our country (having lived in both).
I was hoping that Garrison would realize the importantance of those encounters and see them as the beginning of something huge. Something our country really needs. But I guess he did'nt.
There's common ground between individuals, but then there's the fact that Trump says that if he loses, the Jews will have had a lot to do with that. He posts on social media "I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT." These are just two of the most recent examples. He dines with white supremacists and says that a guy who calls himself a Nazi, praises Mein Kampf and proclaims "Some people need killin'!" is "Martin Luther King, Jr. on steroids." These kinds of things must be absolutely unacceptable in a democracy. Half the country has to stop being okay with them. This is simply a prerequisite to our country becoming significantly more united.
I think that most people voting for Trump do not like him and also think he is a little crazy. I think they realize he exaggerates, he is melodramatic, he lies, and is often times offensive. I also think these people are not racists and not hateful. These are the people that Garrison met in small country towns that he wrote about. CBS Sunday Morning recently did a piece where they interviewed folks from a Wisconsin county fair (I wish I could find a reference, but could not find it). The people they interviewed are just like I described. I do not know why the media chooses not to publicize these people and instead chooses to characterize Trump supporters by the extreme right. I suppose it might be easy, or that it makes for better headlines. Perhaps most Trump supporters might be boring and not sell commercials.
Why do these folks support Trump? I am sure there are a lot of reasons. I chose to vote for Trump (and it was a tough decision) to vote against most items in the progressive agenda. Things that you and I would probably have to agree to disagree on.
Personally, I can't wait for Trump to move on. And he will. I was trying like hell to support Niki, but that did not pan out. I hope another bad apple does not surface when Republicans choose his replacement.
Democracy? Freedom of Speech? Both are at their best when it is messy as hell and controversial. You know, when it gets hard.
The fact remains that the country will--and frankly should--only get more divided as long as so many people accept, for any reason, a candidate or a president who makes direct and indirect appeals to fascists and racists. Those who support someone with such character only help prolong this period of division that we have already been in for so long. Many Germans similarly rationalized their support for Hitler. I've mentioned it on this site before, but one of Trump's campaign ads even featured a newspaper showing a prospective headline about industrial growth under a "unified Reich." Such things have never happened before, and they have to be disqualifying. I recommend that you watch Ken Burns's documentary "The U.S. and the Holocaust." It is extremely relevant to what we're discussing.
Your are a good man, Mr. Keillor. You lead good thoughts and deeds for many of us to take and share. Love us one another, no matter. As we used to say, "He's not playing with a full deck." Amen.
Another beautifully sane (AND ENTERTAINING, AND PULSE-PRESENT), and delicious bunch of thoughts. THANKS GARRISON!
Have you stopped sending out the best letters from Readers with your response? I've missed them
Mike
Sorry Garrison, we're drafting you for the fight, should the orange menace win. I feel the same; I cannot understand how this could be my country with so many blithering idiots failing so miserably to recognize an obvious authoritarian con man. But if the fight comes, we will need you to entertain the troops. We'll chopper you into combat zones with Lady Gaga and a bevy of young starlets. Uncle Sam wants you! And so do the rest of us!
I completely understand that feeling of leaving church with your very soul uplifted. You feel kinder, more connected to people around you and more distant from the evil in the world. You can enjoy your life in a new place and find the goodness in it. But I’ve read a lot of your columns and I know you deeply care about what’s happening here in our country. I like keeping up with the news, although in my state it can be infuriating and often depressing. But I have a powerful little stinger I intend to use this November -my vote!
Kudos to you, Garrison, for finding the joy in your life and for staying sober all these years. It’s not always easy to do either one!
Where to start...let me count the ways...but instead I will just TRUMP 2024!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Move along wacko. There’s no room for you here in Normal Land.
Ignore all of those afflicted TDS including Garrison Keillor. Not a single one of them is living in reality. They do not realize that they are lied to every day by NPR NYT MSNBC CNN etc etc.
Projection, from one living in surreality. Speaking of lies ... non-stop from the R side.
Oh, I notice you again "forgot" to mention Fox "News." I will say it again: your comments on this forum have revealed you to be a conspiracy theorist.
Don't even start, just stop (from wearing out the !). We've heard your elaborations on DJT previously and don't by it, so quit.
Oh geez. This column of yours today makes me so sad because it is a reminder of how things feel ao hopeless in our beloved country. I hope the next days in front of us all bring more hope instead of despair. God help us all.