The Republic Will Survive, I’m Not Sure About My Friends

Last updated on: November 9, 2016 at 12:32 am by Jason Mankey

The Republic Will Survive, I’m Not Sure About My Friends 2016-11-09T00:32:41-07:00 Jason Mankey

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It wasn’t supposed to be “close.” She had a reasonable lead heading into Election Day, and then it all evaporated. I’m still trying to come to grips with a President Trump, but here it is staring me in the face. To say I’m horrified by the prospect doesn’t begin to express my concerns, but I’m confident that the republic will survive, though I’m worried about many of my friends.

For some people “many of my friends” might sound like hyperbole, but in this instance I don’t think that’s the case. As a Pagan-Witch my community is made up of many people who exist outside the world that Donald Trump lives in. My family is full of gays, legal and illegal immigrants, people who are a part of various minority faith communities, people of color, and trans-folk. Right now I fear for all of them.

Clearing Up—Coast of Sicily” by Andreas Achenbach. From WikiMedia.

I’m sure there are some “Pagans for Trump” supporters who think that’s an over exaggeration, I don’t believe it is. Trump ascended to the highest office in the land by preying on the fears of those who are scared of people who are different. Gay marriage? Most likely gone considering how the Supreme Court is likely to change over the next four years. Hard working “illegal immigrants” (who have taken no one’s fucking job by the way)? They are likely to face deportation and at the very least to be treated in a less than human way. People of color? Racism is likely to increase, Trump was endorsed by the KKK. And for my trans-friends . . . . right now many of my tears are for you directly. I thought we were making progress, however slow, it’s likely to be erased now, and quickly.

I get some of the support for Trump. The Democrats have done a shitty job of talking to Middle America for forty years now and it finally bit them in the ass. I get being mad about NAFTA, the decline of American manufacturing jobs, and several other small things. What I don’t get is why a vote for a guy who has no track record of fixing anything is a path to solving those problems. On a personal level, I’m bothered by how easily some people can discard not just the rights of others, but the very humanity of their neighbors and co-workers. I honestly feel that a vote for Trump says “you are less than human” to a large number of Americans.

As I drunkenly prepare for bed, here are some other random thoughts about the election.

*The Clinton campaign did not run on the right talking points. It’s easy to write that in retrospect, but I saw it clearly weeks ago. Everything was about why Trump was bad, and not why people should be voting for Hillary. The people voting for Trump didn’t care that he said “grab ’em in the pussy,” or made fun of people with disabilities. The Clinton campaign needed to run ads about how Obama and the Democrats saved Ford and General Motors, and for whatever reason they didn’t do it.

I think James Carville said “it’s the economy stupid” back in 1992, and that’s still true today. It’s the economy, and Clinton didn’t make a case for how she would handle that issue. Did Obama save us from a second great depression? You better believe it, but that wasn’t articulated. This was a grade A fuck-up.

Over the weekend I was in North Carolina and I got to see a lot of pro-Clinton ads. All of them were about how awful Trump is, none of them were about what Clinton would do. That’s not how you win. To Trump supporters his awfulness is a selling point.

*Hillary was seriously wounded in the primary. Hillary Clinton is a better person than the caricature of her that was painted by the far-left in the Democratic Primary. I think the “Never Hillary” thing hurt Hillary and that carried over into November. Did it cost her the election? Maybe not, but to paint someone as corrupt for months and then think it has no effect is ridiculous. Of course it had an effect, and I think some of it discouraged potential Clinton voters.

*I have friends happy that the whole shit house is going up in flames. To me that’s absolutely ridiculous, and extremely short sighted. There’s not going to be an anarchist revolution anytime soon in America, or a socialist one. You’d think tonight’s election returns would make that crystal clear, but some people refuse to see the truth in front of them. America is not nearly as liberal as some people would like it to be.

And all of that completely ignores the issue of the Supreme Court, a body that has the potential to control social change (and justice) in this country for decades to come. I can’t wrap my head around the short sightedness of such head in the sand thinking. Call me crazy but I just can’t rationalize making my friends second class citizens for 40 years because of some weird hope that the rest of the country is suddenly going to come around to a certain way of thinking.

We survived George Bush for 8 years, we will most likely survive this. It’s not much in the way of hope, but it’s all I’ve got tonight. Hopefully Trump doesn’t fuck it all up before he leaves in eight years, and maybe the Democrats will win something in two years to slow his agenda. I don’t know. Maybe he will surprise us all? I’m not confident about that in any way but I’m grasping at straws.

America is far more racist and backwards than I ever believed it could be. I had a friend call this election a “Whitelash” and I’m sad to say that he’s probably right. America is far less than it was just 48 hours ago.

I hope I’m wrong about much of this, and maybe Trump will surprise us all, but I don’t think that’s going to be the case.

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