In the midst of the straight-up waking nightmare that has been the days following the Nov. 8 election that made Donald Trump America's president-elect (WOW, that hurts to type), we have been turning to all the familiar people for comfort — our friends, our family, and the imaginary buddy you resurrected solely because you needed one more (semi) human scream your feelings at. But one more person we can always turn to is Leslie Knope, who wrote an open letter to America in response to the election, and has a few choice words of wisdom about what happened and how we can proceed forward as a nation.
The letter, posted on Yahoo TV by the Yahoo TV staff, is introduced:
The following is a letter from Leslie Knope, who works for the U.S. Department of the Interior, Midwest Branch, in her hometown of Pawnee, Indiana. She believes that optimism defeats pessimism, and asks that if you have the means, you kindly make a donation to the ACLU, the International Rescue Committee, or the charity of your choice, to help the country and those most in need.
In the letter, Leslie tells her readers and constituents of a tale from her fourth grade class, when she was asked to advocate for her own candidate in a class election: Green, a "smart if slightly bookish-looking cartoon tortoise." The tale might just remind you of a certain presidential election that we may or may not have all endured the of in real time.
The ending of her tale — much like the ending of the election — was decidedly a plot twist worthy of the veritable M. Night Shyamalan movie that is America right now. I'll let you catch up by reading her open letter to America here — but in the meantime, here are the emotional stages of this election, brought to you by Leslie Knope!
As We All Settled In To Watch The Results At The Beginning Of The Night
Remember our innocent sweet summer selves?
As The Electoral Votes Came Rolling In
It was chill, it was fine, everything was GOOD AND CHILL AND FINE.
As The World Funneled Into A Void And All Hope Was Lost
You know things are bad when "WHAT IS HAPPENING" is trending worldwide on Twitter.
When Trump Made His Victory Speech
The worst moment to have ear drums ever.
The Morning After, When We Dealt With Our Grim New Reality
Post-election hangovers are real, and surprise! They last four plus years.
Right TF Now, When We Step Up And Fight Back
We've got long, long road ahead of us y'all. We all have to be our own Leslie Knopes now.
Images: NBC; Giphy
