last night, democracy lost
are we listening now?
By 5:36am this morning, former President Donald J. Trump had enough Electoral College vote to be our next President of the United States. By the end of the week, he will also likely win the popular vote, a feat he did not even accomplish in 2016. Why?
Our 47th President will be a grifter, a felon, an insurrectionist, and an assaulter. He is unpredictable, aging, and erratic. He keeps hateful and authoritarian company. He lies. Yet, he won because the majority of Americans willed it so, and that is democracy.
Democracy is about trusting our fellow Americans to make the best choice possible for all of us. If democracy was on the ballot last night, as 3 in 4 Americans believe it was, it lost. Not just because Trump won, but because I, and so many others, began to fear we might not be able to trust our fellow Americans anymore. How? How could we re-elect this man?
In the liberal echo chambers of elite colleges, we often asked that question rhetorically because we truly didn’t believe there could be a worldview other than our own. There’s an indicative yard sign outside of Duke’s East Campus walls says Harris-Walz: Obviously. I know we come to this perspective with the best intentions. We want to defend the rights of the marginalized, preserve the best and most diverse parts of America, and materially improve our neighbors’ lives. How could you not want that?
But, the millions who voted for Trump believe they don’t have a place in that America. And for all the ads and canvassing, we didn’t change their minds. They are not evil, and they are not stupid; they are human, and they are my friends, colleagues, and mentors. They believe their promised America is more inclusive, successful, and strong, and they want us to believe in it with them.
Last night was an indictment of our close-minded way of thinking. Vice President Harris not only lost every single battleground state, but she won deep-blue states like Illinois and New York by the smallest margins in a generation. Something is deeply wrong with the modern Democratic Party and the way they have governed for four years. It could be any number of sins — economic mismanagement, identity politics, crime, a porous border — some smarter pundits can ponder that. But, one thing is for sure: there is no writing off 71+ million of our fellow countrymen and women. It is time for a reckoning.
Americans are struggling. We are in a place of such staggering wealth inequality, worsening health outcomes, skyrocketing costs, and growing global instability that we have lost faith in our institutions. We have put a madman back at our helm because we’d rather this ship burn than try and steer it; this is an act of desperation. We, as a country, are crying for help. And more than half our nation believed that only Donald Trump was listening. I think that begs the question: are we — the Democrats, the Independents, the Never-Trumpers — listening to them now?
I staunchly oppose Donald Trump, and I will still seek to understand the people who once again put him in office. I refuse to believe they are hateful or ignorant because that is exactly what Donald Trump would say about people like me. He and his closest supporters call us enemies within, terrorists, Communists, lunatics, the Antichrist. Just because he and the worst excesses of the MAGA lack empathy does not mean we should.
Rather than tell a Trump voter that their vote means they don’t see my humanity, I will try to see theirs.
But, for now, grieve. This moment hurts, and I’m still struggling to process it. The reckoning can wait.
I still don’t understand how we got here, but I’ll be damned if I don’t at least try. This week, I plan to call one of my Trump-supporting friends and listen to their perspective. I want to trust them, because the democratic American Experiment has lasted 248 years, and I hope it will last 248 more.
Beautifully articulated. Human behavior plays a significant role here. Those who are devoted to Trump will not be swayed as they have been fed a narrative that appeals to them and they feel he is the one who can stand up to their interests. That’s why you will observe that rural population and hard earning blue collar workers were looking upto to him with reverence.
Swing voters are the educated class who think that they have knowledge and information to process facts but those very tools are used to manipulate them. When it became evident that social media can be used as propaganda machine Musk bought Twitter and advanced his agenda of bashing democrats, spewing his hate of Biden and constantly made his goal to bash democrats at all corners. His $44b investment was not a gamble , he is going to make 10x more now. This would look like a pocket change for him.
Democratic leaning media did a bad job on honest reporting by never reporting crimes in cities and issues in smaller towns and focused on Trump bashing. They took inflation and economy for granted. Younger generation having aspirations of good life were hurting through prices of gas, milk and eggs ($6.72 for a dozen).
Women abortion issue was not exclusive to democrats alone and people realized that it being a state subject they had it in their ballots as option or changed in their respective states so they knew they had control over it at state level and had a choice to chose president at national level and these two issues could be disassociated.
It also seems that large group of voters are not ready to accept a Women as president. With such hardline on this I doubt even Michelle Obama would have been able to swing it.
Think of this as a slingshot moment where it feels we have moved backward but this may throttle us towards a destination unimagined and better.
Thanks for this, Katelyn. Always a bright spot in whatever the rest of this shit is.