Even if Joe Biden wins the presidency—which, as I write this, remains an open question—yesterday’s election revealed America to be a shockingly ignorant, racist and selfish country.
I can’t think of any other possible explanation.
The Republican Party under Trump has become the party of white grievance. And, in too many states, white grievance won.
Four years ago, people outside of New York could possibly have been forgiven for not knowing who Trump was, for not appreciating the depths to which this man was willing to sink. They believed the bullshit about Trump being a “successful businessman.” They thought he was the guy on The Apprentice.
New Yorkers always knew better.
Anyone who lived in New York City from the 1980s onward knew that he was nothing more than white trash with money. A low-life from Queens who wanted to be accepted by Manhattan society and never was. An object of derision who was laughed at behind his back. The guy who declared bankruptcy six times and stiffed his contractors. That’s the Trump we knew.
And that’s what this election was all about. Not policy. Tribalism.
It was about people in the middle of this country (predominantly white people and, specifically, white men without a college degree) having their feelings hurt because they felt the so-called “liberal elites” looked down on them. Because those book smart people on the coasts didn’t celebrate ignorance.
Boo fucking hoo.
And if they had to bring the rest of the country down with them, so be it.
Think of everything that’s happened in the last four years. Hell, think of everything that’s happened in just the last eight months! 230,000 Americans dead. 100,000 new cases every week. 12.6 million Americans unemployed and no relief package in sight.
None of that mattered.
The impeachment, the tax returns, the children separated from their parents, the thousands upon thousands of lies.
It’s as if the last four years never happened.
I wanted to write a different story, a more traditionally “uplifting” story.
I naively believed in the goodness of the American people. But their ugliness has been revealed in all its shocking detail.
I actually feel worse than I did four years ago.
Four years ago, I could have believed Americans didn’t know any better.
This time there was no excuse.
Maybe the founding fathers had it right. Maybe we’re just too stupid to elect our own representatives.
1 comment:
So well stated. You read my mind and articulated far better than I could exactly how I feel today.
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