I wasn’t surprised as the southern states’ results came in. Trump was assured of those. But the blue wall? Pennsylvania? Wisconsin? I went to bed knowing that the results, inconclusive at bedtime, were not encouraging. Checking my phone in the morning I saw that Trump had passed the 270 electoral votes needed to claim the presidency.
I was confident that Kamala Harris would win. She believed and supported all the issues that were close to my heart. I thought that the abortion question alone would bring out enough women (and men who love them) to put her over the top. Fail. She not only lost the election, but she lost the popular vote, too.
How could I have been so naive? A woman? A black woman?
This could have been me on Wednesday.
Mary Trump: “I can't really offer you much in the way of comfort. There is a lot that's going to be playing out in the next days, weeks, and months, and we are going to have to grapple with all of it under pretty unimaginable circumstances. There's no false hope; no silver lining.
I don’t think Vice President Kamala Harris could have run a better, more professional, more inspiring campaign. It was nearly flawless, but for many reasons rooted in our dark and desperate and unacknowledged history, too many people refused to buy into her message of hope and unity. Too many people want what Donald Trump has to offer them. It will not serve them well.”
The Next Day
The brilliant writer Rebecca Solnit published an article that matches what I thought two days ago, what I believed, and why I was wrong.
Hindsight, of course, is 20-20. What did she do wrong? How did this happen? More objective minds than mine will be looking back on these last hundred days and analyzing, dissecting, and discussing the reasons. Meanwhile, we’re left to grapple with the consequences of electing a person devoid of honor, integrity, wisdom, empathy It doesn’t matter to me. That half the country would choose a leader who is a known liar, misogynist, cheat, and felon to lead the country speaks louder than words I could ever express.
So what do I do now? The hours of news watching, reading, worrying, et. al. are gone. I will focus on all that is close, dear, precious, warm, and loving that surrounds me. I have my health, I have Jadyne, I have friends, love, a warm house, enough money, and I still have most of my marbles. It’s time to come back home, to remember to keep the goodness that surrounds me in the front of my mind.