What Now?
I don’t have a reader question for this one, I just want to share my thoughts. Sorry, not sorry.
Joe and Kamala won. This is true and exciting. And also terrifying. What’s next? Trump hasn’t conceded. In fact, he said on Saturday, "The simple fact is this election is far from over."
I took high school government online and used my notes on every test which I don’t think that was actually allowed, but I watched all the episodes of The West Wing and looked it up on Wikipedia, so I’m pretty confident in the following:
Over the next few weeks, states will finish their counting and certify their votes. Every state has their own deadline, this year ranging from November 10th to December 11th. There will be legal challenges and maybe some recounts.
Once the votes have been certified, the electors will cast their vote on December 14th.
The electoral votes will be delivered to Mike Pence during a joint session of Congress, to be held on January 6th, where those votes are read aloud, counted, and certified.
On January 20th, Biden and Harris will be sworn in and be the next President and Vice President of the US. Or of at least 75 million US citizens. Because there are a lot of people who will not accept the results.
See, here’s the thing, Trump isn’t really the problem. Trump is a figurehead that represents the problem, or at least, one of the problems. And that problem is the 70+ million voters who looked at everything that happened over the last 4 years and said “Yeah, more of that, please.” It’s the 70 million voters who said “I prefer Hot Cheeto Racism to Cool Ranch Racism.” It’s the people who believe… Look, I literally can’t go into it. When I start to think about QAnon and all that, I get so frustrated that I can’t think straight.
And even if QAnon weren’t a problem, even if the GOP candidate and voters were harmless milquetoast conservatives, Biden isn’t exactly the president I dreamed of. Even if we make it through Inauguration Day without violence breaking out, even if there is, somehow, unbelievably, a smooth transition, there is so much work to do.
Biden is already turning his back on the leftists who helped him win this election, with Biden-ally Kasich saying "The Democrats have to make it clear to the far-left that they almost cost him this election.” Already, Biden has shown his plans to be as conservative as possible. There are indications that he plans to appoint Republicans to his cabinet. He keeps talking about being everybody’s president, which is a lovely sentiment, I guess, but you know, if I’ve learned anything from years of therapy, it’s that when you spend all your energy trying to make everyone happy, you’ll end up exhausted and accomplish nothing.
Somewhat to that note, I’ve seen several (very misguided) calls for ‘empathy’ for the Trump supporters in the wake of his defeat. I’m not even going to go into all the ways this is fucked. But I’m going to say this: I believe those calls are unintentionally correct. Not in that we should go give Trumpers a hug and commiserate with them. But I think it is important to ‘understand’ Trumpers in one arena at least: to understand that Trumpers and Leftists do not want the same things. And that trying to pretend otherwise will only lead us astray. The United States that Trumpers want is vastly different than that which Leftists want. VASTLY. This is part of the problem. We are not working toward the same goals while differing on the methods necessary to succeed. We are working toward goals that are in direct conflict with each other. Which has resulted in this absurd tug-of-war game over the last few decades in which the pendulum swings wildly back and forth and no one wins except for the wealthiest 1%.
Anyway. Here are some of the possible futures I see for the next few years:
We go back to “normal”. All of the Newly Woke will settle back into comfortable ignorance.
The horrors that our government inflicts on marginalized communities will quietly continue, being just under the threshold of horrible for most comfortable white people to ignore.
Biden and Harris actually try to accomplish things, progressive things that will satisfy the people who elected them, but will fail because the Senate and courts block them at every turn. (Don’t forget, McConnell has been playing the long game. Between the 2014 midterms and 2016 election, the Senate confirmed 2 judges. Between the 2017 inauguration and today, they confirmed 215 judges.) Meanwhile, local legislation continues to bifurcate the country as liberal cities and states pass increasingly progressive policies, and conservative cities and states do the opposite.
Civil War. I keep thinking, how does a 1st World country start a civil war in the 21st century? The most obvious answer: two recognized leaders. Biden gets sworn in as President, Trump refuses to accept defeat. Trump continues to act as if he were President and his followers, possibly including elected officials, police officers, military, and more, chose to recognize him as their President, to follow him. Suddenly we have two governments, at odds with each other. I really hope I’m wrong, but this is the thing that has kept me up most nights this year.
I guess what I’m trying to say is this: things are fucked up in a way that can’t be fixed with one election victory. Plus, there are more than a couple of ideas of what “fixed” would even look like, and they are often quite contradictory. I genuinely don’t know how things “get better” without some sort of seismic change. (And I’m not just using that word because there was a fucking earthquake in Massachusetts this morning) Frankly, I am wary of people who think otherwise. I believe they are, willfully or ignorantly, failing to see the full picture of what is happening here.
I don’t have an answer. I don’t have an encouraging closing remark here. But I urge you not to be complacent, not to sit down and shut up now that Trump has been “defeated”.
Everything you’ve been doing for the last few months? Do it more, do it bigger, do it louder.
Find your local mutual aid organization here.
Find and bully your representatives here.
Find your local bail funds here.
Do your own research to figure out what is needed in your community and how you specifically can be of help. Everyone has their own skills, everyone has their role to play.