A completely unscientific, rapid social media analysis of what people took to get through election week

It's been a week since Americans went to the voting booths to re-elected convicted felon and self-described sexual predator Donald Trump. Americans who hoped for a different outcome , who are terrified or just plain sad, are finding ways to cope, and I decided to look into what they're taking.

My highly unscientific method is as follows. I searched Bluesky posts for key terms associated with different substances and the word "election." I ranked said substances in order of how many posts described people taking them in order to cope with with our political rally. I chose Bluesky because its user base is still small enough that this didn't take me several days, and because I am trying to at least somewhat divest from Elon Musk's Xitter. Results, and post highlights, below:

#1 Alcohol

I bought a bottle of champagne the night of the election and every night since I’ve been drinking straight from it, I really feel like I’m in my Fiona Coyne era #Degrassi

— TheKodiakJew (@thekodiakjew.bsky.social) November 8, 2024 at 10:20 PM

Been drinking more expired egg nog than I usually do at the start of November, but I guess that's an election year for ya.

— Adam Dorsey (@adamdorsey.com) November 10, 2024 at 2:09 AM

How am I doing post election? Well, I've been self-medicating with all things peanut butter, binge watching The Newsroom, and drinking Hotel Tango's Pumpkin Somethin' bourbon. Yeah, I was doing all that before, but now I'm doing it with a sense of purpose. Note: need four year supply of bourbon.

— LuxVoodoo (@luxvoodoo.bsky.social) November 9, 2024 at 9:12 AM

#2 Weed

First edible since the election, and, thankful I have legal weed 🥴

— DOM VOTED AND SO SHOULD YOU (@domthereindeer.com) November 8, 2024 at 7:54 PM

Election so bad it made me start smoking weed again

— Kass 🏳️‍⚧️🍄 (@turbofrog.bsky.social) November 9, 2024 at 9:33 PM

i was worried about the results of the election but i just started smoking a bunch of weed everyday and now everything is awesome and life is beautiful

— jamie 🍄 (@bigshoebill.bsky.social) November 9, 2024 at 1:19 PM

#3 Xanax

Side note: folks on social media are also worried about another Xanax shortage stemming from election results

Went to an election party with a bottle of blood pressure pills and xanax last night and I think that was the right call

— Kenny 🌹 (@cheetahwolf17.bsky.social) November 6, 2024 at 10:23 PM

The way I threw up this morning after breaking my 4 year Xanax sobriety and had a drink last night like god I really made a dumb decision because of this election but can you really blame me

— Pocket (@pocket.bsky.social) November 6, 2024 at 2:00 PM

#4 Sobriety

I didn't intentionally search for people who are getting through the election news by staying sober, but found a lot of people are coping by staying off the substances I searched for:

I quit smoking weed today, at least for now. I was going to quit a few weeks ago but decided to wait til after the election because I thought it would be easier 🥴

— Anjelica Blu (@anjelicaa.bsky.social) November 11, 2024 at 6:43 PM

New day I’m sober I didn’t drinking in after Election Day because I’m strong not let Trump beat me. Today is 2,245 days no drinking. Happy Monday to my fans here!

— IΞmilio (@m9ini2mac.bsky.social) November 11, 2024 at 7:13 AM

Celebrated 23 years clean & sober on election night! If the results didn’t make me drink again, nothing will… I will not give him that power…. I am still trying to understand…#YouRnotAlone 💙

— ale-gria.bsky.social (@ale-gria.bsky.social) November 11, 2024 at 12:41 AM

#5 Baked goods (sometimes in combination with weed)

I didn't specifically search for baked goods, either, but they kept coming up..

My wife has been pretty down about the election, so I made her chocolate covered strawberries to wake up to tomorrow. That will be followed by alcohol, weed, Thai curry, and the live action Beauty and the Beast, and we'll be fucked up and sing Be Our Guest and it will be nice.

— DefinitelyNotRyanMcDonough (@notryanmcd.bsky.social) November 9, 2024 at 12:46 AM

😆 I've had no appetite all week but I did scarf down a whole box of Hostess chocolate cupcakes in 2 days after the election 🤪 Mostly existing on weed & cold-brew coffee ☕️ 💨 for all-day wake & bake.

— Stomp Out Stupid (@stoputknow.bsky.social) November 10, 2024 at 8:28 AM

I know what I'm doing election day instead of drinking myself blind!

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— Helen Kennedy (@helenkennedy.bsky.social) November 4, 2024 at 12:23 AM

So I've been eating substantial numbers of cookies & brownies while drinking 2-3 lattes a day since the election. What other practical steps should I take to keep democracy from collapsing?

— Robert (Bob) Kubinec (@rmkubinec.bsky.social) November 8, 2024 at 9:45 AM

#6 Psychedelics

This will sound insane to a lot of people but I'm getting a sitter for the kids and taking some LSD while I paint and listen to music.

— High flyin Bryan (not Russell) (@rizzkizz.bsky.social) November 8, 2024 at 2:15 PM

How have you been getting through the week?

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