What Happens After November
I’ve been thinking a lot about what American life will look like post November. Should Donald Trump be re-elected, we will likely continue to see what we have sadly all become accustomed to living. This outcome would probably look quite familiar to what we have now. Our collective Stockholm Syndrome would continue on with only the genius intentions of our Founding Fathers and their term limits to save us. If Biden wins, we will be able to breathe a short lived sigh of relief about all of our work not being in vain, the righteous will of good people, America’s beauty in ultimately correcting our wrongs, and on and on. But, we will be left with a sharply divided country, forty percent of whom will be boiling over with a level of anger that they will now attempt to justify with the displacement of their dear leader.
I have come to terms with the fact that there might not be a way to truly win this one. What the last four years have taught me is the level to which people who feel their white privilege is in jeopardy will go and how much lower we have to sink — look at their violence while in power. Bombs sent via mail to people they oppose, mowing innocent people down with their cars in fits of rage, organizing swiftly to frame innocent protestors —this is how Trump’s base handles winning. Imagine what is coming when they lose.
Let’s walk through it together. They call the race in favor of Biden late in the evening on November 3, 2020. We all take long forgotten deep breaths and listen to the victory speech that makes us feel like we recognize our country again. It is a wonderful night in this scenario, and we all congratulate each other and drink way too much alcohol. We dance and remember what it is like to feel simultaneously hopeful and free.
We go to sleep feeling safe for the first time in four years and we show such affection for the United States of America that one might think it was a beloved relative that was just given the news that its cancer is in remission and the prognosis is very good. This version of Tuesday night is so good that it almost takes away the stinging pain of that slap from 2016, as we take a moment to honor what should really belong to a woman.
The next day we are all hung over, but delighted nonetheless as we realize the huge obstacle of trying to rebuild everything that was torn down. Trump, unwilling to surrender his free publicity and his constant need to feed his own ego, schedules another rally for the next day. He proceeds to behave as if nothing has changed and the media continues to cover him past January as if he is still president, because he defines and drives their brand. We now have two men directing the country in January — one from the White House and one from a podium in every redneck location imaginable.
The calls for violence will not end until Donald Trump’s microphone is completely and irrevocably taken from his tiny hands. The only way this will happen is if he is sent to prison and even then he will become a martyr that further spurs on his racist contingent to act in his name. The more laws that are passed to temper the rage will only fuel it, and the more we try to instill decency back into everyday American life, the more rabid the racist right will become. We have won an election, but not won back the true soul of our country.
Biden may be elected in November. It is my hope and I am working day and night to that end. But this victory will not mend the cracks that have divided our families and friendships — we will still be on opposite sides of humanity and righteousness. Replacing a man with another in an oval office will never change what has happened and the truth of what we face now. I also do not think one person is capable of mending these fissures created after the catalyst that was Donald Trump induced them—we have to do that work for ourselves. How do we undertake such a task when the other party refuses to barter in reason or indulge in any emotion other than rage?
The majority of this country spoke in 2008 to elevate an African American man to the highest level of power in this country, possibly the world. In that glorious moment we saw what we were capable of at our very best, when America reflects it’s true beauty and promise. More than forty percent saw hate and fear and anger and became so enraged that they locked arms with a shoddy con man that they know makes them look like fools.
Where does this anger go in November, regardless of which side wins? What do we do to hold this country together after one person does win? How do we all move forward collectively when we are so divided and hate what the other side stands for? How do we regain our humanity when so many have none? For now, we can only cling to the hope that the recent ground swell of activism has inspired, and this will have to be enough to propel us forward with an unquenched thirst for decency.
I don't have any answers now. So, I’m going to get lost in my previous reverie and stay in that late night November 3rd dream. Can you hear the cheering…the happiness is palpable…we are all crying together and hugging as if we are returning from war. I can feel the euphoria and relief of this moment of accomplishment and the raw emotion stemming from four years of non-stop devotion to you, to us, to America. I think I remember what sheer joy feels like enough to get lost in it now, so close your eyes and join me in this moment of make believe that we all need so desperately. Let’s stay lost here for a minute.
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Amee Vanderpool writes the “Shero” Newsletter and is an attorney, contributor to magazines and newspapers and analyst for BBC radio. She can be reached at avanderpool@gmail.com or follow her on Twitter @girlsreallyrule.
Thank you you articulated what I feel so well, I'm sending it to everyone I know. It made me cry and cry. I am still crying. As you said, sometimes the only thing that gives me hope is when I see pics of Obama, what a delightful human he is - and we elected him! We made him president twice!
I will always remember election night 2016. It will both haunt me and buoy me for the rest of my life. Haunt because it felt like the morning of 9/11/1. For me it was a perfect day in St. Louis - sunny, clear and I had just dropped my wife off at her job in downtown. She walked into the building and Carl Cassell broke in on the radio to say a plane had struck the World Trade Center. I've honestly never thought of a beautiful day the same ever. Like we can't have good days without some disaster waiting. Election night 2016 was the same. The same wife had made it a little party for her wonk husband to watch as the first woman ascended to the presidency. Almost everybody thought it was a cakewalk. A few hours later she was demanding I put all the "party" materials and all the Clinton signs in the trash. I stood at the garbage pail and cried. I knew enough about politics and enough about Trump that the next four years were going to be bad. Late into that night I wrote as much as I could about my feelings and where I saw this all going. I put it on my Facebook and for the most part it has come true. These four years have been bad, but we have a political/civic resurgence in this country. We have a vast, angry response to politics as usual. And Trump, like all good Republicans, has totally overstepped the bounds and flaunted every single rule. It’s built up so many organizations that challenge our willingness normalize things like mass shootings, government graft, and whole-cloth mistreatment of minorities, immigrants, women, the poor… We have become aware and powerful.
So what happens after this election night? [Assuming I am not out at the trash can crying again.] I think we will first have to fight to get Trump out of the White House. He will not go peacefully. Honestly. It already looks like prison. Let's just lock the doors from the outside. What I really wish for is that we remember our fight does not stop with electing Joe Biden, or a Democratic Senate or an even stronger House. I feel pretty good about that, but I feel even more strongly about the power of the people to demand that their government represents them. I have several friends and family who say the Dems are as bad as the Republicans. First, that is not true by a long stretch. But any person in power is going to need some prodding to do the right things. I trust Pelosi and many of the heroes of the last few years, but I also know that politicians need reminders of what they are there for and how to spend our tax dollars. We've been at such a standstill for so many years and chances to push us in the right direction (not to mention cleaning up the hash that DJT has made of so many of our govt agencies) are few and far between. We need to jump on this. We need to be in the streets. Yeah, we need to work with that disenchanted 40% and make their lives better as well. I don't really care for our red-hatted friends, but they are citizens as well. We can create a better America. America can be a force for good again in this world. But it is not going to happen just by winning an election. We have to demand it. The time for protesting has only just begun.