It’s January 1, 2026! I have no idea what this brand-new year will bring but 2025 has left the building and no one will miss it.
New Year’s Eve was a rather nice day. We went to the Capitals game, which started at 12:30 PM, meaning that we arrived and left in full daylight. We were home by 4 PM, just as the daylight began to fade. We ate soup that I had made the previous day, and then my sons began preparing for their New Year’s Eve get-together. My younger son’s girlfriend arrived right from work, at 5:30 PM, and spent an hour lounging and reading and decompressing in the spare bedroom. I love that she feels at home here.
With my husband working a special NYE detail, and my kids entertaining friends, I went to my neighbor’s house. I had just taken my own quiet decompression hour in my bedroom, where I could have happily remained for the rest of the night. But I didn’t. I got dressed and set out into the cold, clear, still darkness for the short walk down the street.
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My neighbor is also one of my best friends, but we're not as close as we once were. She is a Trump supporter. She would probably say that she's not a Trump supporter just because she voted for him three times, but that is the very definition of a Trump supporter. She's never worn a red hat nor displayed a Trump sign on her front lawn (which would be unwise in Silver Spring) but on the few occasions when we've had it out about Trump, she has defended him and his minions with vigor.
We had a fight last January over Elon’s Nazi salute, which she denied was a Nazi salute, and by way of owning the lib (me) she waved a meme in my face, a photo collage of prominent Democrats with raised right arms. I pointed out that anyone who is waving goodbye or hailing a taxi or raising a hand to speak in a classroom could be photographed at the moment that their right hand was raised over their head, and that I was basing my correct opinion that Elon’s gesture was a Nazi salute on video footage and not a fluke of a still photo. And then I pointed out that right wing influencers would not feel compelled to make such a meme and that she would not feel compelled to show it to me if they and she didn't know perfectly well that it was a Nazi salute. That’s when she stormed out of my house.
We made up very soon after - within the hour. But it was with the tacit understanding that we could no longer talk about politics in general or about Trump in particular at all. And what with Trump chaos completely dominating the news and what with my unhealthy but entirely reasonable preoccupation with said news, it’s a little hard to have a real conversation with her without stepping on a landmine.
There are still a few Trumpity Trumpsters in my family, too. And I keep hoping, as I keep hoping with my friend, that he’ll finally go too far and that one day, they’ll all say “that’s it, that’s enough, I’m out.” I thought that maybe the East Wing demolition would do it, but they were ready with “well what about Obama’s basketball court” because of course those two things are exactly the same. I thought that the Epstein files release would maybe do it but “you know that there are Democrats in the Epstein files too” which is so easy to rebut because of course there are Democrats in the Epstein files and I’d happily see them all in jail.
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But back to New Year’s Eve. It was fine. My friend had two new cats, both 6-month-old kittens from a rescue, and they are absolutely delightful. Playing with kittens is a great way to spend an evening, not to mention a perfect landmine avoidance tactic. So the evening was fine. I went home at 11.
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It’s January 4 now, and apparently, we are going to “run” Venezuela even though we don’t seem to be able to run the country we already have. And once again, I fell into the same trap that’s ensnared me every year for really the last decade. I say “Don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out” to the outgoing year, only to have the incoming year say “Hold my beer” as it barges its way in here. I remember wondering, when I was young, what it would have been like to live through 1939. I might find out now. I just wish the United States was still the good guy, or at least not the bad guy. But there’s always a bright side; always a silver lining. Maybe this will be the thing that finally breaks the Trumpity Trumpster spell. But I won’t get my hopes up. Maybe after he actually stands in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoots someone.
