I have been putting this off…Partly because I don’t like writing very negative stuff; not because I am always perky or annoyingly optimistic (maybe I am to some, though), but because the negative usually resolves itself and I don’t like seeing old negativity sticking around (forever or until The EMP apocalypse in the case of the Internet). So, as the inevitable downside to my relocation to a new state reared its cranky head, I simply stopped writing for a while.
But then November 8 happened and I wondered if I would ever write again. I know that sounds dramatic, and it is. On November 8, 2016, enough of the people registered as voters in just the right places in America, decided that Donald J Trump should be our 45th President. Ok, there, I said it; wrote it down and reread it. Now where to go? Thousands have written about this phenomenon- for it is phenomenal that 60+ million people would decide that this blowhard, narcissistic, intentionally uninformed demagogue should be Commander in Chief of the United states of America. The Home of the Brave. The Land of the Free.
People have written about how he won, why he won, how people need to get over it, how people had better not get over it, how people should unify and how people should fight. The opinions and the fact checkers and the politicos and the “experts” all have something to say about where we are and how we got here and where we will be going. Every day, no, every minute, social media trends some new story that illustrates how the President-elect is thinking (or not), what he values, how the government may be run after January 20, 2017. Trump supporters have entrenched themselves in the self-righteousness of the victors. Trump critics lob salvos of information, context, innuendo and opinion hoping against hope that the tide will shift and America will come to its senses.
I find myself exhausted by it all. I am aghast at what I read and hear. I am trying to be a good steward of information and glean news from varying sources in an attempt to actually be well informed, not just inflamed. I read the NYT, listen to NPR, watch PBS, I even go to Fox News. I Snope things, I Fact Check things. I try to remain positive that this person who refuses to give up his global business interests, who brings his children in to diplomatic meetings, who refuses to let the smart people near him actually teach him, who is madly appointing people to head organizations that they have openly tried to thwart, if not destroy…I try to remain positive that he will somehow, in the next five weeks, become presidential. Or that the Electoral College and the Congress will come to its sense and not ratify this Presidency…
Above all else, I work very hard every.single.day. to not let my fear and anger over this election affect my relationships. Again, dramatic. I know many people who voted for this moron in a gilded penthouse; this mangled apricot hellbeast (thank you, Scotland, this is my favorite descriptor). The people I know who voted for him are good people. They are not racist, they are not misogynists-hell, many are women (although we know that, historically women have often acted against their own best interests), some are even people of color! Holy hell, I say to myself, why would they vote for him?!? Vote third party, vote for a sick marmoset, but not him! I remind myself DAILY that these people saw something else in him. Whether it was just a seething hatred for Hillary Clinton (which, I will never understand, but I think Patton Oswald was on to something—look it up), a resonance of the idea of an “outsider” winning the election, or just the promise to return long gone jobs…something spoke to them louder than any “ism.” I don’t get it, but I try, for the sake of my relationships, to accept their decision. Time will tell if these same people will realize just what they have unleashed. Trump spewed hatred to a level that I have never seen in any election (but you know, I am still young). His diatribes went beyond striking at policy and attacked the personal; nationality, religion, gender, disability. He encouraged violence. And he appealed to the scummiest of our nation; the racist underbelly that has been looking for something to legitimize it’s cause. Misogyny, homophobia, xenophobia, and isolationist nationalism, all found a home in the man who will now be President. His speeches, while horrifying to some, emboldened the worst of us to take action against our fellow human beings; in the streets and on subways, on college campuses, at the gas pumps and in public venues. People of color, LGBTQ, women, and Muslims; verbally and physically assaulted in plain view by people totally confident that they were doing so with the support of their candidate. Now, people are palpably afraid. They are afraid that this unapologetic and zealous hate is the new norm and will be followed by the loss of hard-won rights.
Trump is, as of this writing, on a “Thank You” tour of states that supported him and won him the election. He touts the unprecedented nature of his victory; his landslide of historical significance (For the record, I believe history will recall a puffed-up windbag who could not differentiate truth from fiction, and a renewed public fervor to discard the Electoral College whose votes are slated to go to Trump while a historically large number of votes wanted his opponent in office [2.8 million and counting]). Interestingly, his speeches are leaving his own supporters befuddled, confused and more than a little unsure because he is suddenly removing the mask, drawing back the emerald curtain, and telling them that his fiery rhetoric and promises of dramatic action “played well” for the election. What must that say to the millions of people who are counting on him to fix their socio-economic woes? Who will they blame when he doesn’t come through? As of this inauguration the country will see a lop-sided shift of power; Republicans will control the White House, the Congress, and in theory, the Supreme Court. All branches of government will shift right. The giddiness some of them must feel. The headlines are crammed with stories of the theoretical plans whirring through their conservative imaginations: Obamacare repealed! EPA dismantled! Labor in the hands of a businessman! National Security run by a paranoid, xenophobic, conspiracy loving, Islam-hater! Secretary of Education run by a rich, school-for-profit, Christian zealot. It is all enough to make us liberal elitists cry in our hypoallergenic pillows.
I have barely scratched the surface with my little rant. There is much more that can (should?) be feared in this unprecedented time. But there are a couple of things to consider: 1. Be careful what you wish for, and 2. Hope.
Be Careful What you Wish For
Yes, the pride and determination that the Republicans in, or entering office must feel! They now have at least the potential to make striking changes to our public landscape. Legislation that changes the law of the land to reflect their political, moral, social, and fiscal values is more than possible. What will they do? I submit that they, like Mr. Trump, will rethink some of their bluster. It is all too easy to say that sweeping change will come; it is another thing entirely to make that change happen. If that change does happen and your constituents are suddenly worse off? If the Republicans can’t come up with a better alternative to Obamacare? If the fundamentalists try to repeal gay marriage rights, abortion laws, or even amend the Constitution itself?
Even Trump supporters have their limits. The people who voted Trump in office don't want P.T Barnum, they want... Who DO they want? They elected him on his promises that he was an outsider, someone who would make things better for them. If he and his cronies don’t make that happen? The pendulum will swing again and it will be years before it swings back to the right. Certainly if I realize this, they do..
I hear mutterings of power grabs and how Trump is another Hitler. Perhaps. Anything is possible. Dictatorships have started with less, but I have more faith in my fellow Americans than that they will follow sheepishly while a demagogue riles up the (relatively) few haters in a crowd to the point where black shirts rule the night and goose-stepping replaces P.E in schools.
For now, disturbing as it all seems, it is rhetoric. Opinion, supposition and pandering chatter aimed at appeasing a certain sector; an attempt to live up to the considerable hype of the past 18 months. Thus for now, I remain an optimist, but a diligent optimist. I am prepared to see the reality of the situation, good or bad. If somehow, Trump meets the challenge put in front of him, then bully for him (and us). But if hate sells itself as justified nationalism, and prejudice tries to disguise itself as patriotism, I am ready. I have too much at stake not to be vigilant. I have predecessors who sacrificed so that I can enjoy the freedoms I do, and young ones who will follow me for whom I want things to be even better.
Hope
…is a funny thing. At times it transcends reason. We look to hope for little things (I hope my kid gets to play in the big game) and during our darkest moments. It is the loss of hope that stops us in our tracks; keeps us from going forward, and can push us backward. In the face of overwhelming odds, hope is what gets us to the next week or day or minute. It is hope that I truly believe moves us forward at this ridiculous point in history. Most of us, no really, think about it…most of us have people in our lives who are people of color, or LGBTQ, or non-Christians, or women, or have people who love people who are some or all of the above. When the rubber meets the road and our freedom to love who we choose, pray to whom we feel we must, take care of our own bodies, or our children’s, I am confident that we will, in the perfect word of Maya Angelou, RISE.
We will rise with the lessons we have learned over time. That color of skin doesn’t fucking matter, except to add a beautiful palette to our world; that it’s more important that people love than who they love; that if people pray, the only thing that matters is to pray for peace; that women and men are equally important and deserving of respect, and that we must stand for those who cannot. These are fundamental truths in my life and in the lives of so very many.
There are enough of us to fight them if it comes down to it. By legislation, by peaceful protest; by pushing back. With our words, our wallets and our wherewithal.
And they know it.
And it scares them.
And it should.
So I am not afraid. I am determined. And if those who wish to leave their thumbprint on me come forward, they had better be prepared for my bleeding heart liberalism to morph into ferocity.
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