Think that I've already mentioned this here before, as well as in actual conversation with people, but it bears repeating: the election results were not really a shock to me. In fact, it reminded me of other times when I had a sinking feeling about the direction that past elections were going in. And here's the thing which I don't get: when I mentioned these concerns, or perhaps you could describe them more accurately as expectations, people would actually question me, and suggest that I wanted the election to go that way.
For example, while I was vehemently opposed to George W. Bush in 2004, it seemed pretty obvious to me that the country was not ready to turn away from him. In other words, he would get a second term, and probably this time, would win the majority vote, which he did.
Some people would ask me how I could say that? Weren't you paying attention these last four years? Do you really want another four years of Bush?
To which I would respond, more or less (and I'm of course paraphrasing these conversations), whether or not they were paying attention to what's going on in the country? At no point in that 2004 election did it appear that Bush was bound to lose. No, I was not a supporter of Bush, and of course hoped that he would lose. However, the polls never showed that this was really likely to happen. Also, there is just a certain feeling that you get. Perhaps it was all the yellow ribbons on the backs of SUV's that I saw, showing support for the troops then engaged in Mr. Bush's war in Iraq in particular. Not everybody was thrilled with how the war had been conducted, and there were other things which people would suggest they didn't particularly like about Bush. Yet the criticisms were not severe enough to convince me - or many others - that it would cost Bush his chances at getting another four years. Predictably enough, however, his poll numbers began to tank shortly after his second term began...too late for the American people to do much of anything about it at that point, except endure another four years before getting another chance at a presidential election.
While I admit that Trump's political rise in 2015 leading up to his eventual presidential election win in 2016 took me by surprise, as it took so many other people by surprise, I suspect that I "caught on" quicker than most people. It was alarming to me that all of the things which all of the so-called experts were sure would effectively disqualify him or kill his campaign wound up doing nothing of the sort, what really alarmed me was that the numbers in the general election never showed Hillary Clinton breaking away, as also everyone seemed to expect. And it was on Halloween that year, about a week and a half or so before the election, when I began to strongly suspect that, in fact, Trump was going to win. It had seemed that prior to that time, people were either afraid or even ashamed to admit that Trump appealed to them. But as I took my young son trick or treating, I was impossible to ignore all of the Trump flags and banners and bumper stickers everywhere. This was in a suburban town in northern New Jersey. And while this town is not typical of suburban New Jersey, it still felt like a sign of things to come. From that point on, I had a sense of dread about the coming election. Sure enough, Trump stunned the world and won. And while I myself had come to half believe that Trump would win, I still had a hard time taking him seriously, and took comfort in all of the notions from most people that he was bound to lose. So while it was probably not as shocking to me as to many others when he actually did win the election, it still felt like a punch to the gut.
Many people felt alarmed about the state of our democracy during the Trump years. It became obvious that our American democracy was far more vulnerable and generally more fragile than most of us realized at the time. I began to dread the 2024 elections shortly after Biden actually took office. I had long come to suspect that Trump was going to get away with his role in January 6th, and that he would pretty much get away with everything. The truth of the matter is that with our justice system, the wealthiest and most privileged among us have a different system of justice than the rest of us have. And who has ever been more privileged or wealthy or entitled from birth than Donald Trump? He had made a career of getting away with scams and being a con man. Why would that suddenly change? And when I saw him holding one of his damned rallies just days after Biden took office, I knew that we as a nation were not done with him. Most likely, he would be the Republican nominee in 2024, and he would have a very real chance of winning the general election. I am not a supporter of Trump, nor was I delusional. This is just the reality, and sometimes, we have to face it. Whether or not you like to admit it, the guy is just very popular.
Which is why it startled me - even shocked me - that so many people who were Trump detractors did not seem to think so. They were sure that he could not possibly get in again. That surely, America had learned it's lesson the first time. Really, it felt like these people just never learned. Had they not been paying attention in 2016, when he actually won?
In fact, I was more surprised by how surprising it seemed to so many people. That includes personal friends, as well as Facebook friends and, more generally, other responses which we all by now have seen on the internet. People who were opposed to Trump were absolutely certain that, surely, the majority of the rest of the nation sympathized with them and would vote against him. He would surely be defeated, and many expected that it would not even be all that close. Michael Moore, who was one of the first to warn that Trump would win in 2016 (even though many laughed at him for it) and seems to have a good finger on the pulse in most election cycles, predicted a blue tsunami just days before the election, claiming that he just had a good feeling about this. Obviously, we can all get these things wrong from time to time.
What annoyed me was just how many people seemed absolutely certain that he would lose. Some were cautiously optimistic, and I also wanted to feel that way on Election Day. Again, though, that sinking feeling that I had about this election - dating back to the very first days of the Biden presidency in January of 2021 - simply would not allow me to feel that way. Maybe that was why the results really did not surprise me. What did surprise me, and annoyed me more than anything else, was the level of denial among Trump detractors as the election results became clear as the evening wore on.
Frankly, it infuriated me almost as much as Trump's actual election win. Perhaps it is because it is this stubborn denial which, I feel, somehow plays a large part in why Trump continues to stun the world and win these kinds of elections. There were people who insisted that viewers should not be taken in by the "red mirage," and that the blue tsunami was coming later that night.
This, while Trump held a significant lead in Pennsylvania with something like 90% of the votes having been already counted. Too much, really, for Kamala Harris to make up for the lost ground. And it felt that way in most of the so-called battleground states.
Let's get real, people.
Seriously, wake up! I don't like Trump or want to see another four years of him and his administration bumbling in the White House. But there is a time to face reality, and not try to retreat in comforting escapism and dreams of some alternate reality.
Again, there are times for escapism. We all do it or are guilty of it. But it grows pathetic when the results coming in are clear and undeniable, whether we like them or not. It was guaranteed that roughly half the country was going to be disappointed, if not even devastated, by the election results. Many, maybe even most, people at least knew that Trump at least had a chance.
For the people who didn't - or at least acted as if they didn't - it feels liuke this is part of the problem. We collectively need to wake up in this country. And that doesn't just mean the perceptions that many have of backwards thinking Trump and MAGA supporters, but also those who deny that this is, indeed, a uniquely American reality.
Until we face where we actually are, and what we have actually become, the sorry state of our current political realities and the overall polarized climate of our political landscape will not soon have an end in sight.
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