Trumped Up Fear

Dante goes to the local watering hole near his job to watch the 2016 presidential election results with co-workers. She Short Room is a safe space, but the angst inside the pub is palpable. Trumpet winning the election is an earth shattering event. Dante drinks shots of whiskey and beer at the Short Room until two in the morning to try and drown his fears. He wakes up the next morning passed out on a Michigan Avenue sidewalk. He is battered and bruised, and his clothes tattered and worn. He find himself unable to life himself from his own ruin, caused by Trumpet being President. A homeless man suffering from poor mental health lifts him from the sidewalk, and leads Dante on a fantastical journey leading to what he calls, "The Promised Land". The man's name is Jesus, who expresses his frustration with Trumpet, Democrats, Republicans, and Obama on a crowded Redline train, and while stopping off at Starbucks for coffee. His symptoms of poor mental health mix with elements of truth. His interpretation is, at times, insightful, with spurts of madness sprinkled between his words. Jesus takes Dante to "Just Us", a drop in center in Uptown Chicago, where Dante showers and is given new clothes, and offered a new beginning to help restart his life.