Those of us who opposed Trump's candidacy are hearing that we should move on already. And hey, I've moved on plenty of times before now. I've backed more losers than winners in the eight presidential elections I've had the privilege of voting in, and I've always acknowledged the will of the people and the value of a free and fair election. (I did lament on GWB's second inauguration day, but it was a polite lament.)
This is different.
I do not apologize for holding the leader of the free world to a high standard. I do not apologize for recognizing the plain truth that Donald J. Trump fails to meet that standard. I do not apologize for expecting the president of the United States to be a person who is, at a minimum, reasonably truthful and reasonably capable of putting a coherent sentence together.
I will not back down from my assertion that someone who has not managed to learn by age 70 that adults don't talk about genitals in the public sphere -- either the size of their own or the grab-ability of someone else's -- is unfit for polite society, let alone the highest office in the land. I will never rest easy about the judgment of a man whose only metric for evaluating women is how hot they are. (I can hardly wait to hear what Angela Merkel will say when Trump comments on her derriere.)
For those of us who said #neverTrump there is a bit of a balancing act here: we must deplore violence (I do) and support the peaceful transfer of power (I do) while also steadfastly refusing to normalize this gravely abnormal election (I'm going to do that too). I have an obligation to show respect for civil authority. But I have no obligation -- quite the reverse, I would argue -- to pretend I don't notice when someone seems untethered from reality.
It is not normal human behavior to assert repeatedly that you never said something that you actually said on video. If I talked to the family of someone who did so while also demonstrating paranoid and vengeful behavior, I would recommend that they take him immediately to a neuropsychologist for a thorough evaluation. Instead he is taking his family to the White House. This concerns me.
We cannot explain this away. We can certainly hope that his presidency is not marked by the volatility and the -- I can't think of another word here -- the lunacy that made his candidacy so singular. There has been a movement throughout his campaign to explain away his errors in judgment. I will not link to the Catholics4Trump page that asserts he wasn't really mocking a disabled reporter (he was just gesturing, they assure us), but it crossed and re-crossed my Facebook feed. I decline to accept their justification for his clearly aberrant behavior. And let me be very clear: I do not apologize for doing so.
I am not the sort of sore loser who is going to set anything on fire or even swear at anybody. But in a narrow sense I am a sore loser: I have been heartsore since Hillary Clinton lost this election.
I do not apologize for that either.
This whole "sore losers" thing was most prominent in the Twitter feed of someone with whom I've had friendly email exchanges in the past, someone who expressed skepticism about the upwelling of violence against marginalized groups in the wake of Trump's election. (Do you follow Miriel on Twitter, by the way? She has been on fire about this election and its impact.) I didn't go to the rally on campus Wednesday because I am a bad sport. I went because I wanted to hear what minority students in my community were saying about their lives-- to say "I support you" with my presence.
This is not about partisanship. I would have had concerns about a President Cruz or a President Rubio, but I would not have quailed at the prospect of giving them the nuclear codes. I still believe in the will of the people and the value of a free and fair election. I have a duty to support the peaceful transfer of power. But I also have a duty as a citizen of this country to respond with vigilance to anything that threatens its well-being. And one of those threats, I fear, is about to occupy the Oval Office.
I'm struggling to find a place that
-- does not normalize this president-elect
-- does not further marginalize the poor and rural voters who chose him
-- respects the free and fair election process
-- sees clearly the reality of this new political order and acts rightly within it
-- distinguishes between the things the president will want to do that are bad ideas because they are, you know, normal wrong political policies I would normally oppose, and the things that come out of his narcissistic cruelty or that would cause structural damage to the republic that transcend politics
-- finds common ground among the many people with disparate political philosophies who are dismayed at the character of the president so we can work together and speak together to limit damage to the republic from the latter example above
A tough place to be.
Posted by: bearing | November 12, 2016 at 06:29 AM
I know you haven't been on Facebook, so you haven't seen my grief over this election. There are a thousand things to lament here: civil rights, women's rights, the environment, climate change, and our standing in the international community (to name only a few).
The thing that is bothering me the most is the false equivalency. Trump supporters (and Republicans in general) are comparing this to how they felt when Obama was elected and then using that "comparison" to argue that we should get over it. There is NO comparison here.
Obama had experience with governance, a great education and comported himself professionally and respectfully throughout his entire 2008 (and 2012) campaigns. While there are people who may have disagreed with him on policy, he didn't deliberately alienate vast swathes of people in order to get elected. And although we heard a lot about how he was going to "take our guns", it clearly did not happen.
By contrast, Trump deliberately used fear, racism, xenophobia, and outright manipulation and lies to get elected. There is no comparison between these men. While Republicans/Independents may have disagreed with Obama on policy issues, I doubt they feared for their citizenship or lives if he was elected. Here, however, because Trump made alienation and "othering" a major piece of his campaign and deliberately threatened to do certain things to certain groups, I think it is entirely reasonable for those groups to be scared.
I mentioned in a previous comment that we are probably going to start trying for a child in the near future. I am really struggling with that decision. Climate change is the most important thing to the WORLD right now, and we have a bunch of leaders in the US who believe it is a liberal hoax. The science denial is terrifying to me.
The last thing I will say is this: many Republicans are saying, "Well, I didn't vote for him" while simultaneously thrilling at his election and a Republican majority in the Senate and House. Fine, you didn't vote for him, but that doesn't mean you're not responsible for what your party does while it's in office. Unfortunately, many people are playing hot potato here and I doubt anyone will take responsibility. And when it all falls apart? I am sure that will somehow be the democrats' fault.
Posted by: Ariella | November 12, 2016 at 10:38 AM
I am still having a really hard time concentrating on my work. I've found it interesting that the only people who have told me some version of "You've got to get back to work, what else can you do?" are white men. White men who supported Hillary, to be sure, but it is an interesting observation.
I'm trying to get back to work but I don't know that I'm ready.
Posted by: Maria | November 12, 2016 at 04:11 PM
I've been struggling all week to explain my fears to people. Cruz or Rubio would have tried to gut Obama's legacy, too, but they weren't a threat to our democracy. Trump doesn't believe in a free press. He talked about jailing his opponent after her defeat. He embraced white supremacists. He has given comfort to Russia. If I'm Lithuanian, Latvian, or Estonian, I'm 100% preparing myself for an invasion.
This is not within the bounds of the acceptable in our Republic. This is new, and scary. I'm not going to get used to it.
Thank you for expressing it all so well.
Posted by: Jody | November 12, 2016 at 09:02 PM