I was very wrong about this election. I started saying “It’s going to be Hillary” back in June and I said it so many times, I started to believe it myself. Clinton had it in the bag, a done deal. I couldn’t imagine a scenario in which Trump could win, given all the negative stories about him and the number of people who seemed to hate him. And then Trump got out to an early lead and stayed there. I was confused at first, and almost as incredulous as the PBS News Hour staff at midnight on Election Day — where were those big piles of Hillary votes that were going to drop in at the last minute to save the day? They just weren’t there. All the same, I bravely went to bed shortly after 1 AM thinking, when I wake up, maybe it’ll be different — or at least, I’ll be better able to deal with it. But, when I woke up very early the next morning, my partner in crime, who had stayed up to see the final results, muttered sleepily, “President Trump,” and I knew the unimaginable had happened. Donald Trump, President of the United States. Even now, it feels weird to type it.
All around me on the day after and the days after that, everyone I knew was in shock, disbelief, and above all mourning. This may be one reason why I didn’t see a Trump victory coming — I just don’t know anyone who voted for him. (As my friend from Boston used to say to me, “Lise, you need to get out more.”) But despite my election prediction, I was never a Clinton supporter. I went through my period of mourning in July when Bernie lost the primaries. I went through all the stages of grief taking turns feeling sad, depressed, angry, blame-y, and bitter for several months. I’m still not really over it, which is why I know that this is going to take a while. Clinton supporters have a lot of processing to do.
Meanwhile, I have to accept responsibility for my wrongness, and the vehemence with which I expressed it. It hasn’t been easy. Just this week, I had to ask a local merchant what wine goes best with crow… And although I can’t take back my ill-founded opinions of this summer, I can solemnly vow not to make any such predictions as that ever again. As someone famously said, there are known knowns, and there are known unknowns, but there’s no accounting for unknown unknowns… It seemed like the media and those of who relied on their reporting were whacked with those sneaky unknowns…
While I’m apologizing, I’d also like to say that I’m sorry for the not very nice remarks I made about Bernie Sanders this summer, after he conceded the primaries and started stumping for Hillary Clinton. The one I specifically would like to moderate is my assertion that he’d lost credibility as the leader of the movement he helped to found. More politically astute people have made it clear to me that he did what he had to do and that there was no choice for him if he didn’t want to be vilified for a possible Clinton loss. I’m capable of understanding that now, and I would like to make up with Bernie because he’s starting to say good things again, and we could use a leader on the left. So while I don’t think his should be the only voice people listen to, it’s not a bad place to start.
Right now, Bernie Sanders is supporting Minnesota Congressman Keith Ellison for Chair of the DNC. One thing that seems quite evident about the DNC is that they need reform and fresh personnel that better reflects the voters. Although we don’t get a direct say in the DNC chairmanship, we can lobby the party to elect Ellison and support whatever grassroots efforts are mounted on his behalf. Whether or not the DNC really wants to re-form itself around a more progressive platform will be reflected in their choice of chair. If they go Establishment (with Dean, for instance), we’ll know they aren’t serious about change.
Which would be very dumb on their part because if there’s one thing writ large about this election, it’s that people wanted change. Sanders represented change on the left, Trump on the right. The Democrats mistake was in taking out the change candidate and turning it into Change vs. Status Quo instead of Change Left vs. Change Right. They say that hindsight is 20/20 but a lot of us saw this last year, and pleaded with Democrats to embrace the tenor of the times. Give us a future we can believe in! But it was not to be.
If there’s one positive about this election, it’s the galvanizing, wake-up-and-smell the coffee affect it’s had on both Democrats and the left. All of a sudden, there’s some spirit out there (one of Dave Chappelle’s better SNL jokes last night was hearing about crowds of protesters acting out in Seattle, and then discovering they were white). The left has been very quiet the last 8 years, and although plenty of protestable things have happened, we haven’t felt the need to do so. But now, it’s different. Now, we have an “opponent” in the White House and that is apparently what it takes to get folks to speak up. I hope people do speak up and speak out for their interests. I hope we have one of those national dialogues they’re always talking about, that we find common ground (as Bernie Sanders is already trying to do), and succeed in making progress together despite the head of state. And no, I don’t believe in unicorns, but I do believe in the power of the people. Let’s hope we use our power wisely and well.
Touching a computer screen without a countable receipt that ...
How long do we go on believing in the power of the people after two centuries, before with relegate “believing in the power of the people” to where it belongs – mythology.
Historically “the people” have been, are now, and, for a long time, will be controlled by the few.
The Jeffersonian “we the people” needs a new paradigm and it isn’t just touching a computer screen without a countable receipt and therefore your vote cannot be verified.
I asked for a receipt when I voted and was told that the “computer” did not have that capability. I left the polling site realizing the my vote was just bullshitted.
People can do a lot, but it takes some effort
If you voted in Brattleboro, that wasn’t an electronic voting machine. It was an optical ballot counter. The receipt is the actual ballot, locked up, able to be counted in recalls, etc.
I think people can do amazing things. Witness the activism unleashed in just the last week.
People can also be complacent. Note the minimal concern in Obama years over presidential powers, class issues, and spying on citizens.
I think some of what is required is getting out from the self-selecting bubble of social media and back into conversations and real-life interactions with everyone.
I also think the left would do damage to themselves by demonizing Trump and supporters. That fuels them and confirms their bias. Left should get organized and down to business of doing good things for everyone who isn’t super-rich, and stopping any threats in the next few years by working together. My issues are your issues, pretty much, unless you are a billionaire. That is, I need to support you and you need to support me in our various efforts. A new era of “I’ll scratch your back” could be healthy and productive.
Of course, this will be much like the Bush years , with every day bringing news of a new bad thing. We know this. Best to acknowledge and then focus on our much bigger collective goals.
“What wine goes best with crow...”
I believe you are right. I was asked to place the ballot into a slot the drew it into the machine and there it was read. But, it was still at that point where I no longer had any record of my vote. And, that did not sit well with me.
It’s interesting to hear you talk about scratch-your-back collective goals. History shows that there rarely has been a lasting critical mass. Strange, how my agreement with you is more wishful thinking than reality.
There are few, if any, “politically astute people.” There are many, if most, emotional people. It is always the manipulation of those emotions that carry the day. The few politically astute persons know this. The emotional people cannot see the forest for the trees. They so want to believe in the decision they’ve made, like in the horse they’ve backed
The irony in it all is the superficial electoral college. It reveals the shallowness of the electorate every time, like a horse racing scorecard. Last call to place your bets, ladies and gentlemen.
"A funny chicken"
Don’t know if I’m politically astute or not. On the ‘sense’ of it, I would not have bet the farm Trump would have won.
I’d like to think I could join the feel-good collective, but far too saddled with knowledge(however slight) of autocracy, racism, racist regimes, complicit silence, the memory hole, holocausts, and much more that Pandora has in her box.
And as for hope, I’m thinking of that line said matter of fact, not heavy with doubt or scorn, from the play, ‘Buried Child’, by Sam Shepard. “Full of Faith. Hope. Faith and Hope. You’re all alike you hopers. If it’s not God it’s a man, if it’s not a man it’s a woman. If it’s not a woman it’s the land or the future of some kind. Some kind of Future…”
I’ll be staying with playing the blues to keep sane. Will also be on the heightened lookout. For sanity as well as safety.
And
And I hope now the good folks who did not believe he could win, will now believe that this is much worse than if Hilary were elected. Bannon is the worse, and was Trumps man before he was elected, and now in a powerful position.
Some Black Lives Matters folks begged folks to consider their White Privilege in considering: That to the degree that one thought it could not happen, and did not get out to canvass and volunteer, to that degree they were protected from seeing by their privileged circumstances. As Bernie told us Trump “Is the spokesperson for White Supremacy” and asked us to work as hard as we could to stop him.
Time to get back to work. The results of this election are that bad for some folks more than others, already. Hopefully, we will see, and commit ourselves now.
Bad-News Bannon
Bannon is a racist, misogynist, Islamophobic, anti-Semitic bigot, and just might wind up as the de-facto president.
He makes me ashamed of my Irish heritage.
Bannon = Bigot
Get Out The BIG-(v)OTES NOW!, we just can’t go back that far into Mordum’s hateful racial angst mongering. I was watching the movie Harold & Mod the other night admiring the vintage cars in the background and wishing I was indeed back there on the scene to drive one and to remind myself how we as a society in the US were definitely experiencing and making better strides for harmony back in that day than what ever this is now- hell maybe.
Definitely experiencing, making better strides for harmony
I call up evocative moments from that era as often as I can.
If you want to sing out...
And yet…despite Cat Stevens crooning in the background…that era was also defined by Military Build up in Vietnam, Fallout of ‘the Red Menace’, Fallout Shelter culture…kind of a big loop to the cusp of authoritarianism we find ourselves on the verge of. Slicker toys, sicker boys now…same base problem.
The ‘fog of more…’
Two sides of a coin
Somewhat true, Spinoza, but it’s best to individualize those experiences. Life was damn good then. I’d take it any day over this mess.
No Doubt blinded in a
No Doubt blinded in a dreamers reminisce of my preferential, Nostalgic, Bygone Era where hope in celebrating life and a value for other walks of lives was more prevalent to my youthful impression.
I think Trump says it best of his intentions; “What do you have to lose” Losers!! as any progress on environmental issues will be archaically rolled back in a boosted effort to re-access and strip raw and outdated fossil fuels to the core leaving the rest of the world behind in our drought stricten dust. OMG Cat Stevens is a Muslim, whose exceptional music was played at my mother’s funeral, erase that soundtrack!!
Hope/less
I go back and forth on the hope/no hope spectrum. Right now I’m feeling slightly more hopeful than usual because people seem a bit more activated than usual and that seems like a hopeful, positive phenomenon. I tend toward at least trying to find a way (toward a better world) because life would be too depressing if we have to just be cogs in an downward spiraling wheel…. I admire Camus and Debord but I don’t want to emulate them.
I still think that if the Left resists demonizing the other side and organizes honestly, builds bridges, coalitions, whatever, that they can swing the country back in a positive direction. Then again, what do I know?
Seeking the balance between
Seeking the balance between normalizing and demonizing. Once again, Bernie did just that by stating the facts of the situation, while acknowledging the pain of many of those who voted for Trump against their own best interest, and understanding them with compassion. Another thought about “demonizing” is the old statement that “Just because one is a liberal, does not mean one is not a snob”.
Lise, you know more than you did at the start of this week, and that is a deep knowing and acknowledging, and one to be respected. Thank you.
I do not know about reason for hope or not. I just do not know. Fortunately, I do not need that reassurance to keep working hard. Some are committing themselves at the risk of their own safety in their own local communities, which are not as kind to differences as our local communities. We recommit.
inside out
Off to a not-so-good start, with one of the (not-great, lying Mike Rogers) grown-ups departing today. That leaves the white nationalists and radicals like Giuliani in charge.
One strategy I’d advocate is to start referring to the winners as part of the mainstream. They got lots of energy from being “outsiders” and the more they are treated as outside, the longer that energy will propel them.
They won. They are the insiders now. They are the mainstream. Everyone else is the “outsider” and that outsider energy should be reclaimed by the left.
Worse
“Off to a not-so-good start,”
A not surprising continuation of the fearful disaster of: Trump as the “The Spokesperson of White Supremacy” with Bannon’s influence being in a dominate position, during the campaign and now..
15% chance of 2020 election
Ted Rall has a column predicting the Trump administration cancels the next election. He says imagine this team 18 months in, out of touch with those that elected them and under constant fire from the left – a bunker mentality, and people with instincts to take away rights.
rall.com
Prediction....
And that prediction is certainly different than if Hilary had won. What can we do but keep seeing and working, and standing with the most vulnerable.
I was wrong too.
If there was one thing I agreed with you all on was that Hillary would be president. I thought for sure the people REALLY running the show were going to put Hillary in at the very end. Now I’m wondering what kind of twisted plan they really have. In all honesty I’m not thrilled with a Trump presidency either. I felt that they were other constitutionally minded candidates. I know that many on the left are now in fear because of the possibility of many previous actions that may be over turned. My fear is since this whole campaign started we’ve not heard any reference to the country’s instruction manual. The Constitution.
Continue to work
“If there was one thing I agreed with you all on was that Hillary would be president”
Not all of us were so sure or agreed that Hilary would be president. Concern that Trump could win is why we were working so hard, especially in swing states like New Hampshire. Hours and hours of work, because we were not so sure. And the more we worked, and the more Trump signs we saw, and the more folks we talked to, the more we worried. The more we heard the pain of folks who felt unheard and felt disrespected and were going to vote for Trump the more we felt the possibility of folks being conned. And then there was some who said racist/anti-immigrant remarks. And then the more we heard/read that some good people thought it would not make a difference if Trump won the more concerned we got. And it did happen. And it does, directly, and to a greater degree means a big difference to so many folks we know and love, and to the world as a whole.. Never denying Hilary being a bad candidate, but the state we are now in, is worse.
And whether it is worse or not is not really the question anymore, or if she was going to win or not, but how hard are we each going to commit ourselves to protect the most vulnerable among us, and continue and/or increase the work we are doing..
Another thought
This appears to be the first time we’ve elected a brand to the office of the president. The Trump name is trademarked. He trademarked the phrase “Make America Great Again,” too.
Of course, to be fair, one of the first things his election has done is to make sure TPP won’t happen.
My brain hurts. : )
Heart hurts too.
Heart hurts too. Many folks listened and believed the children who said that if Trump won they would be afraid to go to school. He won. They are being bullied, in Trumps name. Seven and Eight year olds suffering. Children with disabilities being mocked in the exact same manner as Trump did. Children of Color being taunted. Children from other nations being told that they are going to be sent away, so get out away from us now. Go sit somewhere else. Now, we hear their tears and fears realized. Bullying is in. In some situations, President Trump trumps the positive efforts of teachers in now “Bullying is Winning. You loose”.
“Trump Has Brought Trauma To Schools
There is little doubt that Trumps’ campaign and subsequent election have brought trauma into public education at all levels.
“The country has elected a man who threaded racist, xenophobic, and misogynistic messages and mockery of disabled people through his campaign,” writes Emily Bazelon for the New York Times.. “Donald J. Trump’s victory gives others license to do the same,”
Bazelon, a Times staff writer and author of a highly regarded book on bullying explains that characteristics Trump targeted for insults and inflammatory rhetoric – being non-white, gay, or disabled – describe students who are most apt to be bullied and abused in schools. She cites numerous examples of harassment and racist displays in schools since the election.
An article for Mother Jones reports, “Bullying in schools is out of control since the election,” and cites examples of racist incidents and actions in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Oregon.
Each of these reports points to research conducted by the Southern Poverty Law Center that documents over 400 allegations, so far, of election-related intimidation and harassment nationwide.
“People from all types of communities ― black, Latino, Muslim, Jewish, Asian, queer people, women ― have been physically harmed, slandered with hate speech or been the targets of racist graffiti,” explains a review of the SPLC report at Huffington Post.
“In the days following the election, students are already invoking the name of our president-elect while they spread white supremacist messages,” writes Casey Quinlan, the education reporter for Think Progress, the action center for the left-leaning Center for American Progress. ” Quote taken from http://www.commondreams.org/views/2016/11/18/what-student-protests-tell-us-about-america-under-trump
And this link was written while Trump was running. Now that he has won. Worse: https://www.splcenter.org/20160413/trump-effect-impact-presidential-campaign-our-nations-schools