Trump won. Now what? Dear god, now what?

What do you do when your country elects a racist, misogynist, morally bankrupt unsuccessful businessman as president and national humiliation?

Breakfast of the terrified. With yesterday's
tea bag from when the world made sense.

Well. I don’t know about you, but I had ice cream and wine for breakfast.

What next? Beats me. I’m tempted to stock up on canned goods in preparation for civil war. Or just start drinking. My brain keeps suggesting the names of countries around the world not populated with racists, misogynists, xenophobes etc. Or maybe I just give up hope for this country, it was good while it lasted, and laugh while the whole thing burns.

I find myself waiting for an FBI report to come out saying “Russia rigged the election! Don’t worry America, you ARE better than this!”

But no, time to face facts. Trump won. Against all reason or logic or moral consistency, Trump won. So how could this election be a good thing? There has to be a way. Some light of hope. A couple ways come to mind.

Even the Republican Party knows how awful Trump is. If they have any shred of decency left, they’ll oppose him from within. That could reclaim the GOP for sanity. For the principles they claim to support, but have strayed away from. They played a dangerous game when they harnessed the power of racism and ignorance through the Tea Party, and it’s turned out that they were tying themselves to rabid dogs. Will they cut the cord now?

And maybe it will be the salvation of the Democratic Party to lose this election. For too long the Democrats have been a substandard semi-Republican party. Lapdogs to Wall Street, unwilling to take real positions to improve the illnesses of this country, tax cuts and ignore the poor. Maybe now those political minds will wake up to the changed nature of reality. Stop pivoting and start telling the truth. Which would mean actually pursuing honest policies. That is, find their souls and their cajones. (Hint: look to Bernie.)

Maybe we on the left will demand they be better. Maybe We of the Sane will mourn for a moment, then organize instead of just bitching. And who knows, maybe it would even work?

For too long the political class in this country has ignored the masses and treated them like idiots, assuming they would never get their act together enough to threaten the status quo. After all, democracy is not a threat when the elite chooses the candidates. They dumbed us down until we were more focused on American Idol than America.

Remember this one? Paint an orange toupee on that mean fish

But that was their mistake. Because it taught too many of us to vote for the shiny, with no criteria for intelligence or substance. Those on top taught the middle to blame the low, and the low to blame the bottom. But they never expected the masses to demand the lowest intelligence, the most impoverished morality, the (let’s be honest) scum of the nation. The lowest common denominator, which has been the centerpiece of reality TV for 20 years. It’s only poetic irony that the fool they elected is actually one of those idiotic centerpieces.

Yesterday the flawed system collapsed. I would have preferred the tower had tipped over to Good, but either way, America today is different than America yesterday. The question now is what will we build for tomorrow?

Hillary headquarters SF on the eve of the election

I shouldn’t have been surprised. After all, this was the San Francisco headquarters for Hillary Clinton’s campaign, not some cluster of cubicles behind a crossroads gas station. It was three floors of bustling humanity of all ages, colors, shapes, and gaits. And at one point there were tacos.

Truth is, I hadn’t known what to expect when I agreed to make phone calls for Hillary. I had a vague daydream of getting real with some undecided voter, acknowledging that while she reflects some of the problems of our current political system and doesn’t make a great candidate, she’s extremely qualified to be a great president. I wouldn’t even go into how profoundly unqualified Trump is, but if they brought him up, well, maybe I’d offer some anecdote about how the rest of the world (outside of Russia) is terrified we’ll make the wrong choice and the USA has already lost standing because of his campaign, while poisoning our discourse at home. How he’s already doing the exact opposite of making America great again.

Okay, so I hadn’t thought that part out very well. I was counting on the moment to carry me through. Did I get that moment? How did it go?

The fact that finding these quotes meant weeding through
dozens of fake slander quotes is part of the problem.

Well. “You’ve reached the mailbox for 239…Please leave a message after the tone.”

I don’t blame swing state voters for turning off their phones en masse. Just as long as they don’t turn off their brains too.

I talked to a few people, offered help with polling place info and how to get there, though I don’t think I had any effect. But to be honest, that wasn’t my primary reason for going. I was there for a more selfish purpose.

This election scares the hell out of me. Donald Trump embodies the worst elements in our nation, all the racism, sexism, xenophobia, greed, and willful ignorance that stands in the way of our progress towards a better future. All taken to a degree of vileness that I never expected to see in my country, and gaining a level of support that shames me to every red, white, and blue cell in my body.

It’s scary. And fear is worse when you’re alone. I sought others who see the same blazing truth I do and are doing something about it. Whether calling voters is useful or not, these people were not willing to just stay home with fear and crossed fingers, the way I had. I went to Hillary’s headquarters to see the other volunteers. And I saw them.

The college student, next to a lady with pictures of her grandkids his age. Millennials in hipster hats and workers with calloused palms. A wide array of ethnic, cultural, and socioeconomic backgrounds, all responding to the same danger to our nation and our world. I was impressed. All the caring hearts in that building, giving their hours for something we all find important, for no pay or reward.

Except they did get a reward. A couple weeks ago, on a normal Thursday morning, they had an unexpected visitor. Who showed up with a surprisingly small entourage of a couple cars, stood in the small room and talked to everyone, incredibly personable and charismatic, genuinely interested in what everybody had to say. Regardless of the fact that she was standing in front of cardboard cutouts of herself, under a banner with her name, and her status as the focal point of all our hopes for the immediate future.

When Hillary visited those people, she imbued them with an optimism that is precious in our modern day, and especially important in this rancid season of hatred and narcissistic ignorance. And they held onto it, and paid some forward to me. And today, as I post this before heading straight to the polls to vote for Hillary, I need all the optimism I can get.

Good luck, America. Don’t screw this up.

I think I'll go call Florida

I have a friend who’s been phone banking for Hillary. No one’s seen her for weeks. This weekend she’ll be frantically making last-minute calls to swing states to pull for her candidate, and I deeply respect her passion and effort, actually doing something in the face of the looming disaster for America and the whole world that would be a Trump presidency.

But I have to wonder: has any human ever convinced another human of anything? I don’t mean to be gloomy, but if anyone ever has, I don’t think I’ve seen it. We’re not really a reasonable species. Least of all now, when one candidate is seen as irredeemably corrupt because she exists in our current system and the other is profoundly unqualified, unstable, immature, unintelligent-  Sorry, it’s hard to stop that list. The other candidate is….Trump.

But whether or not phone banking ever does any good, I have to wonder: this weekend? Is there anyone left in America who hasn’t made up their mind yet? If there’s anyone with any shred of doubt left, will a phone call help?

I want to find out. I want to see what a political phone bank call is like. I’m thinking Saturday afternoon. I’ll call Florida and ask them “So? Whaddya think?” I’m not going to try to convince anyone. Of anything. But I want to hear the opinion of a complete stranger in a battleground state.

Lordy help us. Battleground states. That was once a very real thing, 1861-1865. And more and more, it feels that way again. Every 2 or 4 years.

When people attack Hillary for being part of Obama's
administration, why doesn't she talk about the facts?

Can we indict the 24 hour news cycle on charges of treason? I’m getting sidetracked. But that’s the theme of this election, where the entire country was sidetracked from the issues. Yes, Donald Trump is a reprehensible human being, and should face charges of sexual assault. And plenty of people want to see Hillary in the defendant’s chair too. But as satisfying as revenge fantasies are, I’d rather we were talking about actual issues.

Wealth inequality. Systemic racism & sexism and how we’re going to ameliorate both. The military-industrial complex and a world making money off bombing Yemen/Syria/Afghanistan/Iraq/Pakistan (Libya? Are we still bombing Libya? How shameful that I can’t even keep track of who we’re bombing?) International trade agreements that benefit the mass of Americans but pose a threat to continued progress, and whether backing away from the TPP would simply allow China to fill the void. Climate change. The fact that we are the only country on Earth still “debating” it as a theory. Nevermind, let’s not talk about that particular shard of shame. You get my point.

If Trump supporters were actual Republicans,
this would matter. (*Only reflects his first term.)

I’d rather talk about issues, because it would be better for the country. Coincidentally, it would be better for my candidate, since she has policies beyond “I’m incredible. Build a wall. Everything’s your fault and rigged. No. Obama founded ISIS.”

So, tomorrow evening, I’m going to try to hear about issues. Will I? Or will I hear periodic character attacks and frequent dialtones? Can’t wait to find out. And then, after a little dip of such demoralizing abuse….I’m going to go get some ice cream.

And maybe a bunker.

Donald Trump gives me hope

Election night is a weird sort of strangled Super Bowl. Only instead of a trophy the winner gets to influence the country for four years, but as spectators we just watch to see if Our Team wins.

Terrible, terrible mindset.

This team mentality, “My party right or wrong” is a fundamental part of how our political process got so off track. By any objective assessment, Trump is at best uninformed, but far more likely a narcissistic danger to the wellbeing of this country, economy, and safety throughout the world. Voting for him because he’s your team is just irresponsible.

He wants to give nuclear weapons to more countries, including multiple involved in the volatile South China Sea conflict, and Saudi Arabia, apparently unaware that if it’s okay to give nukes to one’s allies, then everyone will have them, because everyone is allies with someone. That’s just ignorant, dangerous, and in the fundamental lack of awareness of what a nuclear weapon really means, it’s sociopathic.

I find GIFs annoying, but this is how
I feel when Trump talks about NATO

Trump invited the most dangerous country on Earth to engage in cyber espionage against the sitting US Secretary of State because she’s his political opponent. That’s both immoral and treasonous. And again, shows a complete lack of understanding of the things he’s playing with plus a sociopathic willingness to cause immense harm for his own short-term gain.

Using misdirected fear and hatred to blame entirely the wrong people because racism is easy. Not my America.

Opposing our fundamental right to free speech, both in the courts and at demonstrations, even inciting violence to stop it, that’s just un-American. No, that’s fundamentally uncivilized. Punch someone if they disagree with you? I thought we left that attitude in the caves.

Did he actually just say Obama
founded ISIS? Repeatedly?

Suggesting/joking about assassinating his political rival. Again, fundamentally against our shared values. It’s not that I just disagree with his policies, I disagree with Trump’s very notion of humanity. And what’s so scary is that I could continue this list all day. It’s like John Oliver said, any one of these incidents would be like stepping on a nail, but he has so many repetitions of insanity, immorality, and downright idiocy that we just sort of cruise across the top of a bed of nails without any managing to really penetrate.

But that’s all pretty dreary. So where’s the hopeful part?

Trump is spectacularly unqualified and inadequate to the job of president. And in the bizarre world of PR campaigns and willfully misinformed voters, that alone might not be enough to stop him. But he’s also fundamentally un-American. That might matter.

Hating Hillary is a like a religion for many, while she just leaves others uninspired. I get why people don’t love her. But here’s the thing: After decades of rampant gerrymandering and $billions of Koch brothers money, the Republicans have congress pretty well locked up. Republicans in congress aren’t going to let Hillary get anything done.

Or just the primaries

Unfortunately, a vote for Hillary is a vote for the status quo. Our congressional system of gridlock means she won’t be able to build any new structures. But while it takes a lot of people working together to build a house, it only takes one cheeto-colored madman to burn it down.

A vote for Trump is a vote for incomprehension, intolerance, volatility (we don’t want to see how that one reflects in the markets), and immoral narcissism.

Personally, I have more faith in America than that. And that’s where the hope gets in.

Because imagine election night...and we all watch...as the entire map...turns blue.

The entire country, rejecting Trump’s brand of hatred and ignorance, uniting to vote for sanity, even if you don’t like the policies.

What would that do for America? After years of demonizing each other, Karl Rove’s divisive politics, partisan vitriol and childish grandstanding, to be united, as a country, for sanity.

That idea. That idea gives me hope. So thank you, Mr Trump, for being so spectacularly unqualified and unstable that you might just push us into realizing how much our shared humanity matters.