I am avoiding the SOTU, are you?

Is there any need to watch the outrage of complacent, power-hungry GOP legislators applauding the blatant lies of the man who currently occupies the oval office? I feel outraged enough, every waking hour. And really, what purpose does it serve to witness the mocking travesty of his presence? Even though he spends more hours than not on #Executive Time, he’s done incalculable damage while Paul and Mitch and Lindsay have watched.

Having recently finished reading Michelle Obama’s thoughtful and inspiring autobiography, I am even more horrified by the kinds of people this country chose to elevate in 2016. Not just Donnie and Melania, but his kids and their spouses. And then all of his rogue’s gallery of appointees. The only good news is that their elevation has sent, and will likely continue to send, many of them to prison.

So, no, I won’t watch.

Time is precious and a diet of constant outrage isn’t the least bit nourishing. It does fuel some powerful fighting energy, but eventually, it burns you out.

I’d love to hear what Stacy Abrams has to say, though. My plan is to monitor Twitter to see when the orange plague stops spewing. Then I’ll head downstairs to the TV to catch what follows. Somehow, it feels like poetic justice to use Twitter against the tiny-fingered miasma known as @realDonaldTrump.

But now comes Bernie, apparently planning to give his own rebuttal, as is his habit and, I suppose, his right. I can (sort of) appreciate how a man who ‘fought the good fight’ for many years in obscurity would have a hard time letting go of the limelight, once he got it. But the truth is, Bernie, that without the platform that the Dems provided you in 2012, very few people would be listening to what you have to say.

The malaise that brought us Trump is too complicated to lay at your feet entirely. But I found your ultimate support of the Democratic ticket less than full-throated. And with so few votes making the difference, it’s really hard not to feel pissed at you.

And you know what? It poisons your message. You know how you run as a Democrat then go back to being an Independent after the fact? That’s beyond annoying, Bernie. It’s time to stand down and join forces with Party that gave you your visibility. The stakes are too high and your voice, like it or not, is divisive right now. So, in the gentlest possible way, and with all due respect, Bernie, I really wish you would take a deep breath, give it a little more thought, and STFU.