Blog / 2026 / The Emotional Dysregulation of Strangers

A couple days after the far-right commentator Charlie Kirk was shot last September, a Trumper who was looking for trouble decided to harass me.

I was at the small grocer in my tiny town and I had my mask on—I still often wear a mask indoors in public. In one of the tight aisles of this quaint and very useful store, I ran into a sixtyish white man I’d never seen. He was wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with “Trump 2024,” and he visibly startled on seeing me, jumping back with eyes wide. Since these cartoon character impressions are the go-to reaction for Trumpers confronted by masks, I simply noted that this stranger’s buffoonery was unusual for my little liberal village and went about my shopping.

When I made my way to the registers a few minutes later, the Trumper suddenly appeared from some aisle where I assume he was waiting for me. His hands were empty; he didn’t have anything to purchase. Still, he followed me to the cashier post I’d chosen. As is often the case in this small store, there was no one at the register, only a bell with a sign that read “please ring for service.”

The Trumper and I lingered for a moment together: me hoping one of the employees would show up as they often do and him staring at me fixedly. Eventually, I touched the service bell’s button with one finger, making it ding. A second later, the Trumper lunged towards me, theatrically miming smashing the bell multiple times by beating the air above it with his whole hand.

That’s when I looked at him directly, unnerved by his movement, both the bigness of it and the closeness to me. In response, he gestured to the message on his chest and said, “I guess that’s not funny to you because of this.”

“I don’t think it’s funny to ring the bell multiple times,” I replied.

He tilted his head and let out a pointed “what?” indicating he couldn’t hear me through my mask. I repeated myself more loudly, and he came back with “me neither.”

I told him that I also didn’t think joking about ringing the bell multiple times was funny, but he scoffed, motioning to his shirt again as if that explained why his antics didn’t produce a single giggle from me. I reiterated that I didn’t think his joke was funny, adding “that’s all.”

Luckily, by this point a worker had arrived at the scene and was signing into the register. It was someone I knew, but his usual warm small talk was replaced with a strained politeness. My guess was that he didn’t believe he was being paid enough to deal with Trumpers who come a-trolling, and my feeling was “same, bro.”

Here’s me painting a sweet little kitty a while ago, before the greed-addled racist predator in the White House made it back to power. This video is my blog’s equivalent of the silly cat videos that are one of my preferred ways to unwind from the daily horribleness of Donald Trump and his devotees.

The last two months have been a lot. They’ve been a level of extra we absolutely didn’t need considering the dumpster fire that was 2025.

The encounter I describe above the video is, unfortunately, the new normal. Tempers are short; many emotionally confused individuals are looking for a fight. (You don’t have to be one of them, if you pay attention to this excellent advice from science and health experts.)

Meanwhile, I’ll continue wearing my mask, dressing in rainbows, and making art that calls out the US’s amoral and thoroughly irreligious president along with the evangelical Christians who support him as their ticket to full-on theocracy. I’ll hold my ground and hold onto as much of our democracy as I can.

Mostly, I’ll remember that no one’s paying me to deal with Trumpers who come a-trolling. Strained politeness and getting as far away as possible from their emotional dysregulation is where it’s at right now. Well, that and figuring out my March 28^th protest plan.

The original cat artwork is available for $300, plus shipping (and tax if you live in New Jersey)—contact me to purchase. You can buy prints and pretty things of the image here in my print shop.