It Is Not the End of the World As We Know It, But I Don’t Feel Fine.

“The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president.”
-Mitch McConnell, 2010

“We intend to work with [Trump] to change the course for America.”
-Mitch McConnell, 2016

I haven’t really slept as I absorbed the results of Tuesday nights rather stunning upset.

Our nation elected a vicious unqualified bully to the highest office in the land.  The reasons are all over the place.  Some were emboldened racists.  Some were angry guys upset with women.  The majority though?  The majority appear to be angry white folks upset about their lack of prosperity.

I think that is the most disappointing fact.  It is not that half of America are misogynist, gay hating racists.  This is the narrative we on the left are embracing.  And it is not that there are not emboldened bigots.  There mot definitely are.  And some of the are being very upfront about it with Trump’s win.

But most American’s who voted for Trump did not agree with the racism, the anti-gay philosophy (which is more the Pence side of the ticket) and sexist attitudes.  They agreed those things were bad.  But they so despised the Clintons and were so upset with the economic situation they feel they are in…that the other stuff was just not important to them.  Which is gravely disappointing.

Add to that, for all their claims that they wanted to end corruption, they sure did it isn a odd fashion.  The people who claimed they wanted an outsider to shake things up also voted almost every Incumbent Republican back in office.  Republicans now have the White House, Congress and Senate.  Yeah, that will drain the swamp.

Some voted for third party candidates and asked how I could vote for Hillary.  But my vote was all about my conscience.  I could not, in good conscience, vote in a way that would put Trump in the White House.

And then they want to tell everyone that it will be all right.  Which is super easy to do when you are white.  I did not vote against Trump out of self interest.  I suspect the Trump Presidency could end up benefiting me.  But I could not stomach the idea of what Trump meant for POC, the GLBT community and women (both friends, acquaintances and those I have never met).  I could not imagine how much it might set their situations back.

Sure, Trump is not going to take away gay marriage.  At least not right away (it is a lot more work than some folks seem to think).  But Pence, one of the most vocally anti-gay Republican leaders, is certainly likely to push back.  The ban on Muslims Trump has spoken of will not likely happen as a ban on Muslims…he has walked it back to being “certain countries”.

The calls for unity have begun.  Trump is our POTUS now.  But I cannot get behind this.  The nation does not need to be “healed”.  No, it needs for us to be vigilant.  Trump is not my POTUS.  Hillary said we should be open minded.  But no, Trump has repeatedly shown himself unworthy of the role.  A nice victory speech does not change all that.  He has not earned my trust, and I am not going to give him that.  I am ready to vote.  I am ready to call him to accountability.  He claims he will represent all Americans.  Prove it.  And in the mean time, we need to stand ready.