Following on yesterday’s NBC/Wall Street Journal poll which has Biden up by 14 points nationally, today a CNN poll had him up by 16 points. Very good news.

But then there’s the October 1, Associated Press story, “In big states, tiny counties, Trump attacking voting rules,” which I saw today about the extensive efforts by the Republican Party—the Trumpublicans—to disrupt voting operations in battleground states. It is clear they have every intention of doing everything they can to depress voter turnout, intimidate or confuse likely Biden voters, try to make the elections seem as chaotic as Trump’s White House, and then possibly challenge the results after November 3 in the Supreme Court.

The best antidote to all of that for the next four weeks is extensive and widespread outreach to increase the numbers for Biden and to make sure those voters understand fully how the election system is working this year in their state. Lots of groups have been doing this work–google “voter turnout organizations 2020” to learn about some of them. Three national groups are the Biden campaign, Indivisible and Our Revolution.

I’m feeling OK. My stomach feels like it’s getting used to the new reality. I was pleased that yesterday I took part in a small demonstration in the town of Roseland in opposition to the fracked gas compressor station there and in support of a rapid shift from fossil fuels to wind and solar. I stood with others for an hour and a half holding signs, and a lot of the cars which went by honked, waved or gave us a thumbs up. I don’t plan on going to other demonstrations for the duration of the fast, need to conserve my energy, but going to this one on day three seemed like an OK thing to do.

I’m keeping track every day of my weight on this Fast to Defeat Trump. This morning I stepped on the scale and it was 200 pounds exactly. The first morning I weighed myself it was 206.8. I lost almost five pounds the first day, about two pounds the second.

Based on my past fasting experiences, I anticipate that there’ll be a steady reduction in how many pounds a day I lose to about half a pound/day after the first 10 or so days. I’ll probably end up losing 30-35 pounds all together.

How do I feel? Weaker, no question. I can feel my stomach shrinking/crying out for food. I’m getting a little spacey, though I can definitely focus and do light work, like at the computer, and expect to be able to do so for most of the fast.

I keep thinking about how critical it is that Trump be defeated. I was buoyed by an NBC/Wall Street Journal national poll that was posted yesterday reporting that Biden is ahead of Trump 53-39%. This is a big change from their last poll on 9/20 which had Biden ahead 51-43. Biden has gone up a little, Trump has fallen more. I’m sure it’s primarily because of Trump’s horrible performance in the debate, maybe a little bit because he has been exposed as the fraud and misleader that he is by him and lots of others in his Trumpublican orbit coming down with the virus. Very much a chickens coming home to roost phenomenon.

I don’t wish for any of them to die. What I do wish for is that their sickness shakes up a few of them to realize they made a huge mistake supporting monster Trump and, before the election, they say so publicly. But we can’t count on any of them doing so; we have to keep working and working to turn out the apparently now-growing majority that gets it on President Chaos.

Yesterday afternoon I spoke at a Trump Must Go rally and march in downtown Newark organized by the People’s Organization for Progress. It felt good to do that on the first day of fasting and to be with others taking visible action. Lots and lots of cars passing us honked in support.

Then this morning I went to the local Brookdale Reformed Church I’ve been going to regularly since 2016. I looked into this church one mile from my house because in 2015 they installed solar panels on their roof. Checking it out, I discovered there were many things to appreciate and draw strength from about the people and their welcoming community even though I wasn’t then and am still not there on all of the theology, for sure. The minister, Susan Dorward, told everyone during the service today about my plans to fast for 30 days. A number of people expressed their support.

I’m doing OK physically, no real problems. But there are times when I long for food, times I need to remember why I am doing this, why it is so essential that President Chaos and many of his accomplices are removed from office, why this next 30 days and what happens on November 3 is so, so important. It takes literally seconds for me to shake off that food longing and get refocused. We’ll see how that goes going forward.

This morning when I got up I felt a desire to go outside. I spent a little time walking around our front and back yard, appreciating the flowers, the greenery, the bird songs, the fall chill in the air, the autumn outdoors experience. I felt myself being inspired just in those few minutes of connecting with plant life. I know these deepened connections to nature, to other people, to humanity, will be felt often through November 3^rd. That’s one of the positives that comes with the experience of fasting that will help me get through the other hard times sure to come.

It’s now been 14 hours as I write since I had anything to eat, at a wonderful outdoor meal with Jane and close friends last evening, and I’m already feeling different. One thing I’m doing differently is yawning even though I had a good night’s sleep and have only been up for a few hours. It has to be related to my not drinking any coffee. I’ve usually had half a cup by now, and in general I drink at least that much on a normal day.

I’m also feeling it a little bit in my stomach, a very slight discomfort, like it’s telling me, “time for some nourishment, what’s the problem?.” Based on past experience I expect it’ll be 3-4 or so days before this feeling and hunger pangs go away.

I’m already looking forward to that next stage, the stage when the body’s craving for food has abated and I get onto a different plane, physically and psychologically. I hope, and expect, that because I ordinarily eat in a healthy way, lots of organic food, for example, I shouldn’t experience headaches or other discomfort caused by the body feeding on toxins and chemicals. We’ll see.

I am glad that I’m now into this action. I know it’s not going to be easy, but I am absolutely certain that it’s the right thing for me to be doing right now. Trump and as many of his accomplices as possible must be defeated at the polls November 3.

This evening I’ll be gathering with several close friends and my wife Jane for an early birthday meal, a week early. This will be my last food for a month. 12 hours from when I’m writing this I’ll be on my water-only regimen.

But the really big news is that Trump and his immigrant wife Melania have tested positive for COVID-19. As I rode my bike this am, the last time I’ll be doing that for a month and a half or so, I remembered something I once talked about with Jane. I told her that although I would not mourn if Trump got the virus and died, a much better scenario would be that he get the virus bad, be put into the hospital and intubated for many days, recovers eventually after a month or more of suffering, and then, having experienced his mortality and near-death, announces that he has come to realize how evil he was before COVID laid him low. He vows to do all he can to overturn all of the destructive and inhuman policies he had formerly pushed, and he actually does it, even to the point of realizing and publicly calling for fundamental transformation in what he calls “an unjust and destructive system.”

It’s a nice dream. It would be a huge miracle if it happened. It won’t. That’s why we need to be doing everything we can to generate the biggest possible turnout of the people who understand what a threat Trump is to any hope of a decent future for us and our descendants, and to so many people right now.

Apprehensive, nervous, glad-it’s-almost-here: that’s how I’d describe how I’m feeling as I prepare myself mentally to stop eating about 36 hours from now, Friday evening the 2^nd.

I’ve done long fasts before, so that helps a lot. But I’m aware that I’m 71, not 57, my age at the time of my last water-only fast of 25 days or longer. That one was 25 days.

One thing I’m looking forward to is the feeling of knowing that literally every second from the evening of the 2^nd to November 4^th, when I plan to start coming off the fast, I will be doing something to oust Trump from office. I fully expect to be less nervous about that while fastiing because I will know I’m doing all I can for a positive result on election day.

I hope others who get it on how scary the idea is of Trump staying in the White House after January 20 will do the same, by voting, by urging others you know to vote, by signing up with groups working to maximize a pro-Biden vote in the battleground states, by financial donations. All out to defeat Trump!

It’s the morning after the first Presidential debate, and I’m really glad I decided to take this upcoming action, now just a few days away. I almost feel like starting it now, Trump was so, so bad, so dangerous, so kindergardnish, just a shameful display.

I know there are going to be difficult days for me. I’ll have to be very conscious of how my body is doing and respond accordingly, like by drinking more water or lying down for a rest. But I know my spirit will be strong because there is no question that there is nothing else in the world right now and for the next month more important than for each of us to do all we can to defeat this monster.

It is a good thing that Biden has had a steady lead in the polls for months nationally. That’s hopeful. But polls don’t vote, people do. We need a massive voter turnout of the decent people who haven’t been sucked into the Trump disinformation and lying operation. There’s a lot more of us than them; let’s mobilize ourselves!