The Weight of Being

 If I carefully consider the life men lead, I find nothing to distinguish it from the life of animals. Both man and animal are hurled unconsciously through things and the world; both have their leisure moments; both complete the same organic cycle day after day; both think nothing beyond what they think, nor live beyond what they live. A cat wallow in the sun and goes to sleep. Man wallows in life, with all of its complexities, and goes to sleep. Neither one escapes the fatal law of being what he is. Neither one tries to shake off the weight of being.

Fernando Pessoa, The Book of Disquiet, text 166

I'm going to disagree with Pessoa on one key point here: animals would never vote for Trump, because they would never vote against their own self-interest, which tens of millions of Americans have done, some of them three times, and they would happily do so again (and I'm sure the GOP sycophants in Congress will love to give them a chance for a fourth vote). As I've proposed previously, we are witnessing the grandest cognitive dissonance experiment in history. Millions upon millions voted for an undelivered tax break (unless you're rich) or cheaper groceries (which are going to up in price), but cannot admit that they made a dreadful mistake. Instead, they are changing their words and deeds, and becoming more cruel and fanatical, to alleviate, unconsciously, the psychic dissonance they are feeling. Once again, as we've always known, animals are simply better than we are.