The day after, a requiem and a beginning.
The weather is not cooperating. Wednesday dawned bright — blue skies with fluffy clouds and a brilliant sun. We should have Seattle fog and gloom. That’s because I feel a lot like I did on September 12, 2001: stunned, grieving, heavy of heart and mind.
An America that I’m all too well acquainted with but was convinced was a minority of the country — bigoted, misogynistic, anti-science — is, instead, a majority of the “anti-elite” (where elite = college degree) voting populace.
I hold a college degree — an advanced degree, in fact — but have never felt myself an “elite.” I ended my career as a college professor, without a PhD, in the humanities. I can assure you that’s not a six-figure income. However apparently those without a college degree think of those like me as “elite.”
Donald Trump won the presidency in 2016 as with a minority of the vote; he lost in 2020. Between then and now:
- He instigated an insurrection, an unsuccessful coup attempt.
- He stole state secrets as he left the White House.
- A jury convicted him of 34 felonies.
- He is an adjudicated rapist.
Trump has had six bankruptcies and yet is considered a pinnacle of business acumen due in no small part to ghost writers and Hollywood. Yes, we are “amusing ourselves to death.” Well, “we” may not be dying but women are. Legal immigrants sent back to violent and war-torn countries will be.
Trump ran a campaign long on lies and hate, short on anything that will help those who voted for him. Cutting off their nose to spite their face, my momma would say.
Massive tariffs will raise the price of everything far beyond the 2020 Covid shock. Deporting immigrants — documented and undocumented — will lead to a labor shortage, again, driving up prices. And climate change, which is now a crisis, will have a major nation refusing to participate in its reversal.
I am convinced that traditional news organizations abandoned their obligation to advocate for democracy, whether or not it would have reached those Trump voters. In the process, traditional media have hastened their irrelevance.
I begin this close with these words from Will Bunch:
And so the United States is following the path of Germany in the 1930s or Hungary in the 21st century, and turning to a strongman ruler through a democratic, constitutional process. But what about the millions of us who still dream of a better America, who don’t want the story to end here? Looking out my window, the sun did rise — brightly, in fact — this morning. Take a moment to grieve what has happened to our nation, and then let’s not delay the conversation on what comes next.
For inspiration, may I recommend regular reference to the works of Heather Cox Richardson, Joyce Vance, Margaret Sullivan, Robert Reich and Ruth Ben-Ghiat.
Finally, listen to my friend Melita Easters, executive director of Georgia’s WIN List, share positive state news with The BBC.
As Joyce writes regularly, “we’re in this together” as we navigate “the end of the beginning.”
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