I need this. To process through the feelings of failure, fear, and dread. I hope, if you are feeling some of those same things, this will help you process through those feelings like I intend it to help myself...
Well, it's happened. Donald J. Trump is our nation's president-elect, to be sworn in on Jan. 20, 2017. It seemed utterly impossible to me, not because the press told me there was no chance he could win (which is precisely what many Trump supporters are crowing today), but because I thought America was more decent than that. I never thought that America, as a whole, would choose not to roundly reject the xenophobia and nativism displayed by Mr. Trump.
I was not enthusiastic about Hillary Clinton. Her victory would not have been a reason for celebration. I think she would have been an extension of a less than stellar status quo. However, she would have been easier to defeat in four years, and at least we would have buried the ugliness that Trump brought to the surface. I think Trump is a juggernaut, and now that cat is out of the bag, and there is no putting a lid back on it. People have been given a license to proudly proclaim what before they at least had the decency to keep behind closed doors. Imagine that in four years, we will have to go through this disgusting display of negativity all over again. Imagine if it was your daughter Trump was referring to in those audio tapes. Imagine it is your son's friend's parents getting dragged away from their families to satisfy the self-ascribed victimhood of Trump's supporters. And that's exactly what we have here: A group of people, empowered for generations, witnessing the country become a bit more equitable. And with equality for others comes less privilege for them. They made themselves victims so they could justify their fear of losing their position of societal superiority.
I'm not going to mock their fear. I feel fear, too. I'm not afraid, as has been attributed to me the past 18 hours or so, of Trump's "power and decisiveness". I'm afraid of those who revel so passionately in words like "power" and "decisiveness". I'm afraid of what it means when Russian government agents are popping champagne and broadcasting congratulations to our new President. I'm afraid of how easily we forget that 24 hours ago, the election could not possibly have come out fair, how it was rigged; now it's a matter of how "the people have spoken". I'm afraid of how conservative talking heads are telling us we should not trust the newspapers anymore, instead we should listen to what they tell us. I'm afraid of those same people telling us that education is overrated and schools are nothing but a tool for government propaganda. I'm afraid of how Trump encouraged his supporters to beat and injure protestors. I'm afraid that nobody, not even Trumpeteers, have any idea how this man is going to govern. I'm afraid of Trump's cabinet selections: what if this becomes a repeat of the Reagan or W. Bush administrations?
But I don't want to let those things get me down. I want to stand up and be energized, to be more involved and socially active than ever before. I want to find bright spots in this very dark hour. At least California (mostly) did the right thing. Trump is an egomaniac, for sure, but maybe his egomania will not allow him to do the horrific things he discussed, for fear of not being widely loved. Maybe he'll be so objectionable as a leader that, in the backlash, we can elect some real, actual progressives to the House in 2018. Maybe, Clinton's downfall is the final death knell for a Democratic Party that has become nothing more than Republican-lite. I was heartened to find out that (as useless as statistics have proven to be), amongst 18-25 year olds, the electoral count would have been something like 504-20. So there is hope. It seems real f'ing bad right now, but we are America. We've come back from way worse than this, and against far more intelligent opponents.
Finally, I hope President Trump does well. I'm not so arrogant that I would like to see my country fail simply to get people that I like in power. I will afford him the respect of the Office of the President, and I will watch him tirelessly. We'll overcome this, America. Group hug.
