What do you do when the worst has happened?
Last week, I had the pleasure of asking you to support Kamala Harris. This week, I have the distinct displeasure of discussing what went wrong.
I am reminded of an old maxim. Politics are about emotion, because Americans vote stupid.
Everyone in this country knows who Donald Trump is. They know how he feels about Putin and Hitler. They know that he has sexually assaulted women. They know he was impeached, and they know he is a convicted criminal, and they know he attempted to overturn a previous election. They know he has no respect for anyone but himself.
In the end, it didn’t matter to them. Why?
Many figures in the public eye will spend the next days and weeks saying it was nationally ingrained sexism, and maybe that’s true, especially at Fairfield University, where so much of the student body went to private boys’ schools; but, I believe there was more at play. I believe Trump once again proved the single thing he is a true master of: getting people to vote against their own self-interest.
Now, I could go over each and every voting group in all the swing states that, through Trump’s misleading rhetoric and the Democrat’s failure, were convinced to vote against themselves, but that would be trite, and the rest of the media will doubtless do that for me. In fact, political pundits blame crucial minority voting blocks, which I believe is disingenuous. Instead, I want to shift the blame to two places.
Much of the television media, such as CNN, MSNBC, and, of course, FOX, but also the print media, such as the New York Times, has been recklessly irresponsible throughout the Trump era. They have treated as equivalent the existence of trans youth in sports and the complete annihilation of the climate we depend upon to exist. They have made symmetrical the issues of human rights and the sanctity of the law against the complete opposite, presenting them as polarized, when, in reality, one is truth, and the other is reprehensible lies. They have given Trump the audience and the vehicle to wheel out his message and spread genuine hate, while giving little headline space to the Democrats, because one group draws more clicks. They should shoulder a portion of the blame, but they won’t.
The Democrats themselves, and Joe Biden, are also to blame. In their hubris, they did not go into this election prepared. Biden should have carefully vetted and chosen a preferred successor in 2022, and then helped that successor go through the primary process. Instead, he dropped out a few months before the election and left us without a primary and with a barely satisfactory candidate. Kamala Harris, for all her strengths, was not the right candidate in this increasingly racist, Christian nationalist and sexist country. The Democrats should have chosen someone like U.S. Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona, or Governor Wes Moore of Maryland. Someone who could beat Trump at his own game. Someone who could win.
Furthermore, the Democrats need to better understand their own voting base. Hispanic Americans have time and again proven that Trump’s border policy isn’t a deal breaker for them, and this should have been something the Democrats knew. Arab Americans have proven they will not vote for a party complicit in genocide, even if the other party will be profoundly worse. African Americans have proven they will not be talked down to or ignored, even if the other party actively hates them. By painting this nation with one brush, the Democrats lost.
So what have we done? Project 2025, combined with Trump’s recent campaign rhetoric, paints a shocking picture of what the GOP plans to do with control of all three branches of government.
We now look at an America where Robert Kennedy Jr., who does not believe in vaccination, will likely have significant control over the health of this country. We now look at an America where the Department of Education could be removed or significantly altered, cutting funding for millions of underprivileged students, mostly in poorer red states. We now look at an America where only a few solidly blue states will have unfettered access to birth control and abortion, all to satisfy the growing Christian nationalism that so many young men in this country seem to have bought into. I shudder to even think what this means for LGBTQ youth, particularly in red states. And while some at Fairfield may be honestly glad to see transgender Americans suffer, I would remind those students that transgender Americans are human, too, and they are American, too, and it is a travesty that America, one of the leading Western countries, is also one of the least accepting.
And what does this mean for our allies? It is frightening that among the first leaders to congratulate Trump were Israel’s Netanyahu, whom the ICC has issued an arrest warrant for, and Hungary’s Orbán, both of whom are far-right extremists, along with a general congratulations from Russia itself, later followed by a congratulations from Vladimir Putin. With a Trump victory and a Republican Congress, Ukraine will almost certainly lose or be forced to cede significant territory, potentially paving the way for Russia to attack a NATO country, forcing America to go to war. In a reversal of what Conservatism once stood for, Trump will allow Russian expansionism to continue unhindered and the GOP will follow blindly because Trump has a personal grudge against Zelensky, who all those years ago refused to be bullied.
2024 has made official what so many in the GOP have feared for a decade: conservatism is now a philosophy without a party. MAGA is all that matters now. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I miss how it was before.
In these times, it is important to remember that the Constitution set forth by the founding fathers is here to protect us from tyranny, and the states will not back down without a fight. Find comfort in your friends and family, and find strength in those who also believe in democracy.
So, what do you do when the worst has happened? You square your shoulders and get ready for the next fight.
Editor’s Note:
This is an opinion piece reflecting the authors views and does not reflect the views or position of The Mirror.
Leave a Reply