Okay so now what?
Fuck. I mean... FUCK.
In 2016, I was pretty sure that Trump would win. This time around, when it was still Biden running, I knew that Trump would win. But when we switched to Harris, I had hope. Real hope. Everyone had seen who and what Trump really was during his first term. And the evidence of him being absolute evil trash continued to pile up in the years since we got him out of office the first time. I thought that might matter, once we had a truly viable candidate in Harris. It didn’t matter. The majority of American voters chose hate. They chose the candidate who would let them shout their hate out loud, full-chested. That’s the truth of what this country is, until we make it otherwise. We have to reckon with that.
But this isn’t 2016. That was their test run. We’re going to get the full-blown authoritarianism this time. Trump promised as much, again and again, in his rally speeches. Just because he was incoherent doesn’t mean he wasn’t telling the truth. It was bad before. It’s going to be worse now. More dangerous.
Pussy hats aren’t going to cut it this time. (They didn’t do much last time, either. Sorry.) Reinventing the wheel by creating new activist groups that fumble through spaces where there are already existing organizations who understand what needs to be done isn’t going to do it, either. There are already people doing the work to help the marginalized people who are in the most immediate danger. These groups have been there all along. They understand the fight. They know where to focus their energies. Join them, volunteer with them, donate money to support their efforts.
We’re going to get through this by strengthening our communities of resistance. Join groups of like-minded folks. Look for opportunities to do mutual aid work. Get to know your neighbors. Stock up on emergency supplies, enough to share, because you know a Trump administration is going to be useless in the face of natural or unnatural disasters.
The government will not keep us safe. We keep us safe. Take care of yourselves. Take care of each other.