Hey.
[LAUGHTER]
Hey, guys.
This is Chelsea from "The Financial Diet."
We're filming this on Tuesday the 10th.
It's going up on Thursday the 12th, so hello from the past.
We're a week almost out of-- well,
we're technically a week from election day,
although a mere three days from when we found out
who the President-elect is.
And I wanted to just come in and talk to you
guys about that as kind of a follow-up to my election day
video.
We don't have any script today.
It's just vibes, so this might not be the most, like, cogent
video of my entire life.
But I wanted to talk to you guys heart-to-heart a little bit
because I think something that really has struck me over
the past month especially--
and we're experiencing it.
We experienced it heavily in the four days between election day
and when we found out who won officially, particularly
on election night itself.
We felt it all in the lead up to the election,
and we're now feeling it after the election has been called,
just this general sense of being held hostage
to everything Trump does, says, doesn't do,
what his cronies and appeasers do, don't do, et cetera--
very much always kind of acting in response to things
and being on the defense of things.
A lot of us quite frankly panicked on election night,
even though anyone who had been following the predictions
correctly or thoroughly would have known
and had been made aware that it was
very likely that the outcome would seem one way on election
day because of those day of results
and would pretty quickly change once we started
treating the mail-in ballots.
But there was a panic.
There's been a lot of panic the past few days
because of some of Trump's commentary and the people
around him refusing to fully and completely embrace the stated
results of the election.
And I get it.
But on some level I do feel not proud of myself.
I'm not here to, like, pat myself on the back.
But I do feel glad with the little platform
that I have that on election night, I was not panicking.
And in the days between election night
and when we got the results, I kind of
stayed focused on things are likely to come out well.
We have to be patient.
Even in group chats and personal conversations, that was sort
of the tone I tried to strike.
Now, we're in a position where, listen.
Biden's going to be the president,
and there's going to be a lot of bluster.
And don't get me wrong, it's going
to be very corrosive to the national discourse
to have 70% of Republicans stating
that they don't think this election was free and fair.
Like, that's corrosive.
That's bad.
That's not helping the situation.
But also, those are things that it's very, very difficult
to act upon.
And more importantly, panicking about those things,
just like we panicked between election day and the results,
just like we panicked before election day,
does nothing to help, and in many ways,
helps the people who benefit from that chaos
and uncertainty.
We have two runoff elections in Georgia
that will decide the fate of the Senate,
and those are two areas in which you actually can do something.
You can phone bank.
You can text bank.
You can canvas.
You can donate.
There are almost limitless ways, and groups,
and people to partner up with whom
you can start working toward a beneficial outcome.
And let's not kid ourselves that the majority of the reason any
of the Republicans who clearly know that Trump lost and is
leaving on January 20 are even paying lip service
to going along with this.
It's because they don't want to upset his base.
They don't even care about him.
They're not afraid of him personally.
They're afraid of the 70 million people
who voted for him who they need in subsequent elections,
particularly in this runoff that is of ultimate importance
to them.
Think strategically.
I understand that people panic.
And I want to say something very clearly because although it's
not a criticism I've personally received much or to my eyes,
it is a criticism that I would understand
if someone leveled at me.
I am a privileged person.
I'm financially stable.
I live in a situation where ultimately who
is the president, although it does affect my husband
and I on an immigration level, which is very tangible, even
if we had to change the plans of literally where we lived
in the world, we would be OK.
So I do understand that the stakes
for me are lower than they are for some other people,
and that can cause me perhaps to be a little less panicked.
But even in the case of someone who has everything to lose,
panicking, fearing the worst, worrying, being drowned
in anxiety is the least productive thing you can do,
and one of the only things that's
truly guaranteed to not move the needle
and to also harm you in the process.
I definitely could do a lot more than I currently
do to help some of these outcomes,
and I plan to definitely step up in my participation
with these Georgia runoffs from even
what I did in the general or the primaries.
But even doing a little bit of something
is not only just extremely beneficial for the outcome.
It's also helpful to you, because every moment you
are actually doing something productive,
you have one less minute to panic
and one less minute to feel impotent
and beholden to the will of another person--
in this case, that man who is going
to be leaving on January 20.
I'm so sick of even saying his name.
We use the phrase a lot, "lives rent-free in our heads."
Sometimes, it's maybe overused.
But I don't think there could even--
I don't think we could ever even get
close to the extent to which Donald Trump has been living
rent-free in everyone's heads for the past five years,
and we have evicted him.
Now, we may have not evicted every element
that he has unleashed or created or dynamic
that he has put in place.
But at minimum, the insanity that he's constantly spewing,
the stuff he's saying on Twitter, the bluster,
you don't have to pay attention to that anymore.
And if what you want is a world where we all
have a little bit more of a shared reality
and are working toward policy goals that are positive rather
than fighting based on cults of personality,
you would be best served to turn the volume down on that guy.
It's time to turn the page and to do something productive.
I will not pretend to you like I do not have moments of anxiety,
or fear, or panic about some of these things.
I do.
But one of the least productive things you could possibly do
is broadcast that to the people around you,
to broadcast it on your social media feeds,
to fall into that doom scrolling pit, to catastrophize publicly.
So my challenge to you with this video, if nothing else changes,
we have wasted enough time playing defense
against this bullshit.
We have wasted enough time panicking about what might be,
or what was said last, or what is being threatened.
My challenge is at least between now
and inauguration day, including those runoffs which I highly,
highly encourage you to do something about,
do not give in to panic.
Any time you are on the precipice of panicking
or focusing on your anxiety around something you cannot
control, take that time away from yourself.
Volunteer.
Donate a dollar.
See if you can get someone else to donate a dollar.
Make use of that time.
Stop giving into the panic.
It may not change the outcome, but I guarantee you
it will put us all in a better place mentally
to run the long race, which is what we all need to be doing.
I am, personally although not 100%
thrilled with the outcomes of election day, pretty happy.
But at minimum, happy that we can at least move on
from hanging on every single word that one person is saying.
That is a net positive for our country and for the world.
So let's embrace it.
Let's turn the volume down on that asshole and get to work.
That's my message to you.
Enjoy the rest of your week.
Make yourself a hot chocolate.
Cuddle under a Snuggie.
Bask in the knowledge that that man is on his way
out January 20.
See you guys around.