Lately, I’ve been thinking about how the US has been going. Trump is now in power, but he’s more focused on hurting Americans than he is on helping anyone. MAGAs go to peaceful protests to try to start violence, despite leftists being called the “violent” ones on TV.

Leftists have cut off family, friends, and partners over the hate spewed by once-sane people. It feels like 90 percent of the platform the GOP runs on is, “Fuck the other guys at all costs!”

And yet so many of us honestly think we can just protest this away. I wish I could tell them the truth.

America is in an abusive relationship with itself. One half absolutely hates the other half—and they can’t even explain why. I’ve heard right-wing people joke about killing us, enslaving us, raping us…even when it’s minorities, leftists, blue states, and women who act as their social safety net.

And the thing is, us on the left have done all the give, give, give, and it’s never enough. The right is always talking about taking us “down a peg,” or telling us to “cry harder,” when they can’t even take what they dish out.

This is precisely what an abusive relationship often looks like—one party continually giving and breaking, hoping the other will change. The truth is that the abusive party never will change.