WTF
It is a profoundly painful and sickening moment. I guess I didn’t understand the country that I live in. I honestly thought we were better than this.How do we face our children tomorrow? I expected to be feeling proud, knowing we had repudiated the hatred, reaffirmed the best in ourselves, even elected the first woman President. I realize this is the time to say something comforting and hopeful and brave, but I am too heartbroken and horrified to do so.
And I hurt for those who feel even more disenfranchised and devalued than I do. This man will never represent us. This is not who we are. This cannot possibly be who we are. But as historian Bruce Bartlett said, “I now understand how the most civilized, best educated country in Europe freely elected Hitler.”Let me get this straight. We have gone from the first African-American President to a man who is endorsed by the KKK. He is a racist, a bully, a liar, a narcissist, and a sexual predator who pays no taxes and has been involved in thousands of lawsuits. He has absolutely no experience in public service and is aggressively ignorant of the workings of government and the complex issues, both domestic and global, which will come before him...and let's face it, he has decidedly fascist tendencies.
His entire platform has been based upon insults and fear and the legitimizing of xenophobia, anger, and hatred. He believes climate change is a hoax and is likely to set back any progress we have made to avert environmental catastrophe. Among his expressed priorities are the dismantling of the Affordable Health Care Act, leaving millions uninsured, banning and deporting people on the basis of their religious beliefs, and locking up Hillary Clinton. Economists speculate that his policy proposals will unleash a global recession that will make 2008 seem easy.
Who will advise him? He is reckless, ignorant, and ill suited to the grave responsibilities of the presidency, disdainful of alliances and agreements, disturbingly belligerent and lacking in judgment. It's terrifying to imagine him as a powerful figure on the world stage. And as he enters the White House, there is a vacancy on the Supreme Court, and a Republican majority in both houses. So much for checks and balances. The long reach of this demagogue will extend into the next generation.Well, unless I am just having a very bad dream and typing in my sleep, it turns out that this is what nearly half of our nation’s voters want in a President, and enough to have won the requisite number of Electoral College votes. I cannot get my mind around it. We had an incredibly hard working and well qualified woman running, and we end up with the guy with no experience, knowledge, dignity or integrity who boasted of grabbing women by the pussy and described Mexican immigrants as rapists, to choose just two memorable quotes from a campaign in which ugliness was normalized.
This has to be one of the biggest WTF moments in history. Was it sexism? Racism? Confusion between reality TV and the real world?Maybe in a little while we can regroup, be the loyal opposition. Chin up and all that stuff. We need to remain vigilant, stay involved, maintain our ideals, never give up. But right now I just want to cry. I’m stunned and sad and so terribly disillusioned. I know I am not alone in this. I am sending love to all my fellow Americans who pictured an America so different from this one we’re about to wake up to. Let’s hold each other and make our way through the dark.