Wednesday, November 9, 2016

Hate Wins

I’m beyond depressed.
I’m depressed, I’m angry, I’m afraid.
I haven’t felt this way since 9/11. And, if you think I’m being melodramatic, world markets are bearing me out. The Dow fell 600 points at the mere possibility that Trump might be the next president and world markets are following suit.
Maybe it’s hard for a straight, white, able-bodied man from middle America to understand how Donald Trump poses a threat to other people’s very existence. After all, he’s openly disrespected women, gays, Mexicans, Muslims, and disabled people. But, hey, tough luck for them, right?
Eight years of progress are about to be rolled back. Everything we progressives fought so hard for: gay marriage, reproductive rights, immigration reform, single payer/public option, gun control. Not just for our own benefit, but for the entire country’s benefit.
Kiss them goodbye.
And the sad thing is that Trump is reaping the zeitgeist that Bernie tapped into.
Believe me, I should know. Demographically speaking, I should be a Donald Trump supporter.
I’m a middle-aged white man without a college degree (I had to drop out—even though I had a full academic scholarship—because I used up the maximum I could borrow in student loans). I’ve been unemployed or underemployed for over a year and am in danger of losing my apartment. I only (barely) have health insurance because of Obamacare, and now that’s about to be taken away from me, too.
But if you’re poor or working class, Trump is not the man who’s going to save you. Trump has never had a thought for anyone except himself his entire life. We’re talking about a man who inherited $14 million, stiffed his employees, declared bankruptcy four times and used his charitable foundation to pay his debts!
And you think this is the man who’s going to help you?
I don’t understand how people can be so willfully stupid. I don’t understand how people can overlook his racism, homophobia, misogyny and religious intolerance just to “make a point.”
But don’t demonize Trump voters, I’m being told.
OK. There’s lots of blame to go around.
The media, who built Trump up for ratings, didn’t hold him accountable for his lies, treated him as a joke, and then so completely misread the electorate that his victory caught them by surprise.
The Democratic Party, which had Hillary as their anointed choice from the get-go and never gave Bernie a fighting chance, even though it’s now abundantly clear that he would have been the better candidate.
People who thought voting for a third-party candidate would be a good idea in such a critical and close election.
People who didn’t show up to vote at all.
I really don’t know where we, as a country, go from here.
I don’t know how people can have such hatred in their hearts.
I’m not a religious person, but right now I’m praying for our country’s future.
And my own.