Thursday, November 7, 2024

Election Thoughts, If You Can Stand It


Well, reality is settling in around here. Both Dave and I felt a sense of resigned equanimity yesterday morning, but for me that feeling turned into a profound dread through the course of the day. I wasn't shocked like I was when Hillary Clinton lost in 2016. I knew it was very possible that Trump would emerge from this election victorious.

But the thought that he will run the country with essentially no checks and balances, with both houses of Congress under Republican control and half the Supreme Court doing his bidding, and with evangelical supporters whispering in his ear if not pulling his strings -- well, that's pretty scary. The USA may be closer to "The Handmaid's Tale" than we ever imagined.

I thought Elizabeth Spiers in The New York Times did a good job analyzing the misogyny at the heart of Trump's appeal to many male voters. But a surprising number of women voted for Trump too, so although I've been calling this election "the revenge of the men," the results can't be entirely laid at our door. I can't imagine why any woman would support Trump, but I know plenty who do.

I bristled at Bret Stephens' assertion that the modern Democratic party has alienated voters by "stand(ing) for the forcible imposition of bizarre cultural norms on hundreds of millions of Americans who want to live and let live but don’t like being told how to speak or what to think." He doesn't specify which cultural norms those Americans might consider "bizarre," but I can easily imagine gay marriage is one of them. It seems to me the Republicans are the ones who emphasize extreme hypotheticals at the expense of rather ordinary reality. ("They'll marry their pets!")

Stephens acknowledges that the Democratic party at its best stands for fairness, but then says Democrats have dwelled too much on "social engineering according to group identity" -- which to me means fairness. Go figure. Is the Civil Rights Act "social engineering"?

Anyway, I'm glad I'm not a recent immigrant to the USA, and I'm glad I don't work for the Department of Education. Hopefully my marriage won't be obliterated, but at least here in the UK I think it will continue to be respected for the time being.

We liberals still have a voice, and there are plenty of powerful people on our side. Let's try not to lose heart. I still think most Americans are in the middle, politically speaking, and we need to focus on working with those moderates. And let's think about how we can oppose extremism on the right until the pendulum swings again. I for one am going to continue donating to opposition groups on issues that matter to me -- minority rights, civil rights, reproductive rights. In fact I may double my donations.


And now, because we could all use a laugh, how about a motorcycle-riding Elmo in Soho Square?

Work has been madness for the last few days, but I am trying to keep up in blogland. Be patient with me!

(Top photo: A picturesque pub in Soho.)

62 comments:

  1. That was an interesting small overview of what happened. I just don't understand the result and I probably never will. Steve, I have warned you about hanging around Soho.

    ReplyDelete
  2. When the extreme right wing party reached 30 percent in three federal states in Germany recently it took me - and others - a few days to recover and to realise that 70 percent did not vote for them. So even with 51 percent of voters for trump, do not forget the 49 percent of your fellow Americans who did not and who need your thanks and support.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, that is an important point. Not only did many, many people oppose Trump, but many others didn't vote at all -- basically abstained, which at least isn't quite the same as support.

      Delete
  3. Do it the English way, Chin up old man, stiff upper lip and all that eh wot? Or something like that. And like Sabine says: a big thank you to all those who did not vote for the felon.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's pretty much where we are -- grin (or not) and bear it!

      Delete
  4. The Handmaids Tale reference is disturbing.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. But only slightly hyperbolic, I think. We really are headed toward theocracy. And Trump himself isn't even religious!

      Delete
  5. It will become bad very quickly, I'm afraid. That is what he has promised his base, and he will deliver. The talk already of "mass deportations" is not for nothing. And listening to Robert Kennedy yesterday talking about removing fluoride from the water supplies on January 20? My daughter is a teacher in the Bronx; she is beside herself w/grief. But yes, also anger and determination. We must fight back and remember 49% are on the side of good.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think "mass deportations" are going to prove much more difficult, both legally and practically, than he and his supporters think.

      Delete
  6. Replies
    1. Well, it's not Nirvana, but at the moment I'd agree we're in a better headspace.

      Delete
  7. The House is not yet decided. Tiny ray of light.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I echo Jennifer. I wish I lived on the other side of the pond as well. I still cannot believe it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Trumpism really is a global phenomenon, though. His kind of right-wing populism is visible and seemingly growing in many countries in Europe. So far Tommy Robinson is still on the fringes but the riots over the summer show that there's real unrest here too.

      Delete
  9. I'm glad I haven't lived on the US since 1987 and am no longer a citizen. Selfish but true!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm glad I'm not there now, too. But I'm staying a citizen, at least for the foreseeable future. I want to keep my hand in!

      Delete
  10. The reality we are all now having to accept is staggering.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It keeps crashing down like a wave, doesn't it? You think you've absorbed it, then it hits all over again. I don't think we'll really understand it until the next four years are over! (And maybe not even then.)

      Delete
  11. It's a very dark day for the US. To reelect that POS, knowing what he will do, it's horrible.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. A lot of people seem to think he won't do the things he's promised. I'm pretty sure he will at least try.

      Delete
  12. As I said yesterday, I am sad and discouraged but that is turning into anger and action. We still have a voice and, as I think will happen, The Felon will spend more time doing his own bidding so many of the MAGAts might lose their faith in him.

    That said, I got my first smile at the day with Elmo!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well, I'm glad I could give you a smile, anyway. :)

      I think the MAGAts will find a way to place the blame for any Trump failures on Democrats, or Communists, or whoever their particular bogeyman is. They never hold him responsible for anything.

      Delete
  13. I admit, I'm a bit apprehensive about some of the things he has mentioned, especially dismantling the department of education. I don't want it to be done without much of a plan, similar to how the ACA was implemented, and then we fight fires for years afterwards until we finally settle on some sort of workable solution. As someone on a schoolboard of a private school, I do think our government controlled public education system is a disaster. We regularly turn out kids from our private school that are years ahead of their peers and we aren't doing anything special AND are teaching a religious education to boot so theoretically, we are teaching the basics even less than the public schools. All sorts of scientific studies back this up as the U.S. has continued to plummet from leading the world to being near the bottom of the list over the years. We are broke and need fixing. I just don't think dismantling the department of education is the solution without a plan for the day afterwards.

    To some extent, I do think the Democrats have deserted their bread and butter constituents, the working class folks. It seems that the party caters to various social and ethnic groups along with rich, educated white folks. I dislike using broad statements like that because there are always exceptions but that is what it feels like to me at times, right or wrong. I think the reason I feel that way is so many of their campaigns focus on issues of those specific social and ethnic groups and not on issues that affect the lower class workers that make up vast swaths of our interior. They are concerned about the economy and the hordes of people crossing our border illegally costing our nation money dealing with the resulting mess of getting them integrated into our society (again right or wrong, that is what they feel). Trump came along and pandered to them, promising them everything and while he delivered very little to them his first four years in my opinion, he was the first in a long time to talk to them directly and that is what excited them. They were even able to overlook his multitude of sins which I find incredible since I can't. But then, I'm not in the poor lower class either. I'm educated and affluent but think there are bigger fish that affect our entire society like national debt, global warming, controlling (not eliminating) immigration, figuring out what we are going to do with social security, etc., and not all these specialty issues of which bathrooms people use, should the government or the states have the final say in whether we should be allowed to kill fetuses and with what exceptions we make, etc. If the Democratic party would just dial back a notch from those issues and tackle the more global items, they would easily have me back in their folds instead of wandering out here in the wilderness I call the middle.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Public schools are always, always left with more reluctant learners. Their graduates will always fall short because many of them don't want to be there, and many come from the most deprived backgrounds. I don't know about the demographics of your school but generally kids sent to private schools have educationally motivated families, at least.

      I think it's true that the Democrats, in striving for a just society, have pushed the barriers against discrimination perhaps farther than many of their traditional voters would have wanted. Is that a bad thing? I'm not sure. It hasn't done them any favors, I admit that.

      The support for workers is still there but it has been eclipsed by the social issues, largely because the Republicans emphasize all those issues. Again, the right is better at defining the Democrats than they themselves are. I think Republicans talk about trans people (for example) a lot more than Democrats do.

      Delete
    2. Although I think you are largely right about public school being left with reluctant learners, our school does receive a fairly large amount of those sorts that washed out of the public schools usually due to bullying and just not fitting in. We can still consistently teach them to higher levels than the public schools. My working theory about why, it because we aren't burdened with teaching things that we feel better left off to parents at home and can thus focus on core subjects. Whether that is a good or bad thing is I'm sure debatable.

      Delete
  14. A fair and sad assessment.
    Yes, carry on doing what you can. So many countries are moving to the right, it is scary.

    Thankyou for Elmo!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Exactly -- it's important to keep in mind that this is all part of a larger global trend.

      Delete
  15. That Stephens opinion piece pissed me off too, for the same reason. I knew it is was possible but so hoped that by a squeak we'd avoid this next chapter of horror. You nailed it with the lack of separation of powers. The House is still out (AZ and CA) but it doesn't look likely. Yesterday was a day of stunned grief, shock and realization about the next years of our future. Now the plan to resistance and moving forward begins. For us, it will start at home with the governor's election in two years, along with a US Senate seat and hopefully flipping back our area US rep to D. And going for the middle. Thank you for Elmo! (Can you remarry in England? Don't know about the laws on that. . .)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. England already treats our 2010 civil union in New Jersey as a marriage. When Dave and I got married in 2015 in Florida, the British government saw it as essentially redundant. So as long as civil unions aren't also reversed, I think we'll be OK.

      Frankly, I can't quite envision a scenario in which existing marriages are legally nullified. That seems truly insane. But you never know!

      Delete
  16. The one bright spot (for me) is the fact that those who voted for the Orange Lump will be treated the same as those who did not! He doesn't give a rat's ass about anyone but himself!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's the great irony in all this. All Trump cares about is Trump!

      Delete
  17. It's not the majority of Americans that support Trump. It's the majority of those that voted and had their votes counted. Trump got less votes than he did in 2020. There are many who did not vote at all and they are to blame for this mess. We cannot give up the fight. One day at a time...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's amazing how low the vote tally is in this election compared to 2020. Many people were just not motivated by (or against) either candidate, I suppose.

      Delete
  18. I said to my husband that if my children were not American born and married to Americans and their lot cast deep in American soil, for the first time since immigrating here almost 50 years ago, I would pack my bags and move back to the land where I was born. I have given my whole creative life to this country, birthed two bright and humane souls who contribute in full, we are all upstanding citizens, but under the incoming regime I do not feel any of that will be valued. It remains to be seen whether we will be safe.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Indeed, it's hard to know what the real ramifications will be for anyone. I can understand wanting to leave. If I lived in the USA and had a path out I think I'd take it.

      Delete
  19. It is terrifying that he has achieved total control over everything. Very dark days lie ahead, with consequences for the rest of the world too.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah, given all the disruption he caused in his first administration, when he DID have opposition, this time around could be a real shocker.

      Delete
  20. Like 37 Paddington, I want to be someplace else right now...but my grands are here. My children are here. Our business is here. I can't be anywhere but where I am. I can only choose to be in a way that makes some sort of a difference.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. As I've said before on your blog, I think that's a great philosophy. We all just have to stick with our beliefs and values and do what we can.

      Delete
  21. I started reading Bret Stephens column yesterday and had to quit. However, I have a close friend who is a Republican who voted for Harris (she hates Trump) however she tends to rant on about Democrats pushing so many social issues. She brought up transgender issues last night. She is hooked on the bathroom issue which is something
    I find so ridiculous. Most of the time I find that she is terribly misinformed on most of those issues.
    For the most part, I'm still feeling confused about how this could happen and depressed that it has happened.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The whole bathroom thing is largely a made-up invention of the right wing. It's remarkable how much traction it's had. I agree there are reasonable questions about how to treat trans people in athletics and public spaces, but ringing all these alarm bells is just over the top.

      Delete
  22. Both major parties need an overhaul and I hope will bring us some new, fresh (moderate!) candidates in 2028.
    What I'm struggling to get out of my mind is the thought of RFK Jr. making decisions about my health.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. RFK scares the heck out of me too.

      Delete
    2. We definitely do need fresher, younger, stronger candidates on both sides. Kamala was relatively young but I think she just didn't have time to develop a voice or positions that resonated with people. And yeah, RFK Jr. is a nightmare scenario.

      Delete
  23. We keep hoping and asking when people will smarten up and support a better person?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Respectfully, we should be asking when will we nominate a candidate that will address issues that the majority care about.

      Delete
    2. At the risk of sounding wishy-washy, I think you're both right. We need better candidates, or better prepared candidates at least, and voters need to think more critically.

      Delete
  24. America is not the great country we like to think it is. My sense is the vote was won due to a blend of misogyny, racism, ignorance, and selfishness. There will be a lot of working class people who will suffer as a result of their misguided decision.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I mean, I suppose voters ALWAYS vote selfishly on some level. We all look out for our own interests, as well as (ideally) those of our society. But yeah, I suspect Trump isn't going to do much for a lot of the people who are counting on him.

      Delete
  25. hate crimes exploded after Trump was elected the first time, people attacking blacks, muslims, women, spanish speakers just for have the gall to be out in public. and it's already starting again. I read boys in high school are telling the girls "your body, my choice". they are going to do whatever they can to force women back under the control of a man and having baby after baby but without the care to help us survive. andall the other gendered people whose sexual identity doesn't match their genitalia will again be the targets of violence and vilified into suicide for just being who they are and wanting to be left alone.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's alarming that so many young men opted for Trump -- all part of this bro-culture that also idolizes people like Andrew Tate, I suppose. It's a scary state of affairs, especially for women. (And LGBTQ+ people.)

      Delete
  26. I couldn't say anything better or clearer than what others have said above. My heart is broken, but I'm not really surprised.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm not either. I've been predicting to Dave that Trump would win and he could never see it. I'm resisting the urge to say "I told you so!"

      Delete
  27. I think you are on point about those that struggle to make ends meet. DT spoke to them and carried their vote. This group and some in the middle also struggle with putting a roof over their heads. Housing and public education are deficient.
    Like you, I voted for KH and am greatly disappointed in the DT outcome. That said, I will not give up. Things will change if we work to make the changes.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I would love to be wrong about Trump and who he will help, but it's hard to imagine him doing much for people who lack housing and can't pay their bills. His vision seems to be that we drive out immigrants and then all those struggling people can pick crops and work in poultry plants. They're not going to want those jobs!

      Delete
  28. I'm still in shock I think. I talked myself down off of the "we'll never be able to have another election again" ledge by remembering that states handle elections and every state's process is so clunky & bureaucratic that surely they can't dismantle it. Right?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I don't think Democracy will end, but I'm not sure what it's going to look like in coming years. I see people in comments sections on right-wing web sites arguing that women shouldn't be allowed to vote, for example, because they're "too emotional." Really cave-man stuff. Are those people going to be in charge of reimagining Democracy?

      Delete
  29. It still doesn't seem quite real to me but I'm hearing rumblings about what the GOP (actually MAGA) has planned for their reign (of terror) and it is utterly demoralizing. I get very tired of people talking about the Dems abandoning the working class when most of what they propose and support is to help the lower/middle class--strong unions, help buying houses, a higher minimum wage. Then many of those get blocked by the GOP or Faux Dems like Sinema or Manchin. And what about blocking the border bill? Who did that?? It wasn't the Democrats. Gahh, I'm SO frustrated! I'm sorry, but I have kind of lost heart. However, today was a sunny day, warm for November; I did lots of walking and mowed my front lawn. My cat has been sitting in my lap tonight, very comforting.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That border bill maneuver was so cynical. It really was galling. Enjoy that sunshine! I wish we had some!

      Delete