Election Anxiety
Nov. 5th, 2024 08:59 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jakebe
Today is Election Day in the United States. It's one of those days where it's hard to check in with my emotions because I'm feeling so many, some of them intensely, and I don't have the space to disentangle them.
I'm scared, of course. No matter what the results are, we're still under threat that Trump won't concede and if there's even a shred of a chance he can manipulate the system to swing things his way, he'll try it. Republicans have done the work to stack the courts at just about every level, so if a legal challenge fails in the states, there's likely a friendly circuit judge it can be appealed to. And, if it gets to the Supreme Court, there's a 6-3 conservative majority that has proven to be more sympathetic to...whatever chicanery would serve them best in the moment.
No matter what, I don't see this being a clean counting. Depending on what happens in the battleground states, it could be weeks before we have a definitive result. And the longer that takes, the more people will look for ways to reject the answer. The worst-case scenario, for me, is the one where the candidates are fighting over the rules of this whole thing and whether or not they've been properly applied. It further erodes trust in our institutions, which makes it so much easier to tear the whole thing down.
I haven't allowed myself to think much about a 2nd Trump Presidency, just because I know it would be disastrous in ways I couldn't foresee. But the thought of this petty, vindictive man getting into the White House and installing a legitimate fascist apparatus that targets immigrants, the dispossessed, all of his political enemies...it's a grim prospect. I don't know what I would do under those circumstances, what kind of person they would force me to become. If 2016 is any indication, it wouldn't be pretty.
I think that's the thing that worries me the most. I'm still recovering from the trauma of Election Night 2016, where I was so confident Clinton had it wrapped up in a landslide. I couldn't imagine there would be enough people in this country who would vote for a man who spent an entire year telling us exactly who he was: a misogynist, racist, small-minded authoritarian who had collected a murderer's row of white supremacists and neo-Nazis to help him roll back the United States to a time of racial terror. When the Access Hollywood tape came out in October, I had assumed it was a done deal. There's no way we would elect such an obviously unfit person for President. That's not who we are.
But that's indeed who we were, and still are today. I no longer have the illusion that we as a society bends towards justice. I know that we're basically nine square meals away from complete barbarism at any given time. We stand on a precipice for our species; either we keep struggling to become our best selves and face the significant challenges ahead of us, or we voluntarily place ourselves on the long, slow march toward extinction. If, after today, people like me are dragged kicking and screaming toward extinction, what kind of life would it make sense to build?
I don't have a ready answer for that. It's hard enough already not to just...give up, and in a lot of ways that's what I've done since 2016. I'm out of that headspace, but I haven't resolved any of the dilemmas that put me there. The thought of having to work through that while also wading through the miasma of hatred, anger, and suffering that would come with a Trump victory is...exhausting. I just don't know if I have it in me.
And I can't really console myself with the vision of a Harris win. Don't get me wrong, I think Kamala will make a very good President and if she only continues the Biden Administration's work of updating and streamlining the way government works for the people that's a very big step in the right direction. But what we're facing is so much bigger than that. We'll still have to deal with the fact that an entire political party has given itself over to the worst parts of its base, and that base is comprised of our fellow Americans. 1 in 4 people are so invested in white supremacy they're willing to overthrow our whole form of government to preserve it. What do you think they'll do with a black woman in the White House?
Our media is woefully inadequate for the discussions we should be having. Our news institutions have all but normalized fascist talking points, presenting 'both sides' of the argument like one of them isn't morally inexcusable. There's no reason to think that would stop with a Harris victory, either.
Will Trump and the January 6th insurrectionists face consequences for what they've done? Will Trump be prosecuted and face punishment for his many, many crimes? Will the domestic terrorists threatening polling places, workers, and subverting due process be brought to justice? How will the corporate interests begging for a Trump win react if they're faced with a government much more hostile to their naked greed?
In many ways, a Kamala win doesn't feel like a move forward. It just means, for now, we've postponed the apocalypse. Or maybe softened it somewhat.
It's a good day to remind myself that there's so much in the world beyond my control, and the best thing I can do is tend to things within my control. That's all I've got today.
I'm scared, of course. No matter what the results are, we're still under threat that Trump won't concede and if there's even a shred of a chance he can manipulate the system to swing things his way, he'll try it. Republicans have done the work to stack the courts at just about every level, so if a legal challenge fails in the states, there's likely a friendly circuit judge it can be appealed to. And, if it gets to the Supreme Court, there's a 6-3 conservative majority that has proven to be more sympathetic to...whatever chicanery would serve them best in the moment.
No matter what, I don't see this being a clean counting. Depending on what happens in the battleground states, it could be weeks before we have a definitive result. And the longer that takes, the more people will look for ways to reject the answer. The worst-case scenario, for me, is the one where the candidates are fighting over the rules of this whole thing and whether or not they've been properly applied. It further erodes trust in our institutions, which makes it so much easier to tear the whole thing down.
I haven't allowed myself to think much about a 2nd Trump Presidency, just because I know it would be disastrous in ways I couldn't foresee. But the thought of this petty, vindictive man getting into the White House and installing a legitimate fascist apparatus that targets immigrants, the dispossessed, all of his political enemies...it's a grim prospect. I don't know what I would do under those circumstances, what kind of person they would force me to become. If 2016 is any indication, it wouldn't be pretty.
I think that's the thing that worries me the most. I'm still recovering from the trauma of Election Night 2016, where I was so confident Clinton had it wrapped up in a landslide. I couldn't imagine there would be enough people in this country who would vote for a man who spent an entire year telling us exactly who he was: a misogynist, racist, small-minded authoritarian who had collected a murderer's row of white supremacists and neo-Nazis to help him roll back the United States to a time of racial terror. When the Access Hollywood tape came out in October, I had assumed it was a done deal. There's no way we would elect such an obviously unfit person for President. That's not who we are.
But that's indeed who we were, and still are today. I no longer have the illusion that we as a society bends towards justice. I know that we're basically nine square meals away from complete barbarism at any given time. We stand on a precipice for our species; either we keep struggling to become our best selves and face the significant challenges ahead of us, or we voluntarily place ourselves on the long, slow march toward extinction. If, after today, people like me are dragged kicking and screaming toward extinction, what kind of life would it make sense to build?
I don't have a ready answer for that. It's hard enough already not to just...give up, and in a lot of ways that's what I've done since 2016. I'm out of that headspace, but I haven't resolved any of the dilemmas that put me there. The thought of having to work through that while also wading through the miasma of hatred, anger, and suffering that would come with a Trump victory is...exhausting. I just don't know if I have it in me.
And I can't really console myself with the vision of a Harris win. Don't get me wrong, I think Kamala will make a very good President and if she only continues the Biden Administration's work of updating and streamlining the way government works for the people that's a very big step in the right direction. But what we're facing is so much bigger than that. We'll still have to deal with the fact that an entire political party has given itself over to the worst parts of its base, and that base is comprised of our fellow Americans. 1 in 4 people are so invested in white supremacy they're willing to overthrow our whole form of government to preserve it. What do you think they'll do with a black woman in the White House?
Our media is woefully inadequate for the discussions we should be having. Our news institutions have all but normalized fascist talking points, presenting 'both sides' of the argument like one of them isn't morally inexcusable. There's no reason to think that would stop with a Harris victory, either.
Will Trump and the January 6th insurrectionists face consequences for what they've done? Will Trump be prosecuted and face punishment for his many, many crimes? Will the domestic terrorists threatening polling places, workers, and subverting due process be brought to justice? How will the corporate interests begging for a Trump win react if they're faced with a government much more hostile to their naked greed?
In many ways, a Kamala win doesn't feel like a move forward. It just means, for now, we've postponed the apocalypse. Or maybe softened it somewhat.
It's a good day to remind myself that there's so much in the world beyond my control, and the best thing I can do is tend to things within my control. That's all I've got today.
no subject
Date: 2024-11-05 05:54 pm (UTC)yes. all of this.
no subject
Date: 2024-11-06 07:36 am (UTC)