Four days before election day, Dana Milbank wrote a column that said it all.
His point was simple: unlike the election in 2016, no sentient American could fail to be aware of who and what Donald Trump is. As he said, in four days, we will look in the mirror and see who we are.
Have we become so coarse that we would choose as our head of state a man whose climactic campaign rally at Madison Square Garden was a grotesque collection of four-letter words, vulgar sexual references and explicitly racist attacks against Black people, Latinos, Jews and Palestinians?
Have we become so disoriented by disinformation that, even though the economy is booming, inflation and illegal border crossings are sharply down, and crime is below where it was when Trump left office, we accept as reality Trump’s preposterous inventions about America being “destroyed” and an “occupied country” under the control of immigrant criminals?
Have we lost so much of our democratic muscle memory and civic culture over 10 years that we no longer flinch at a presidential candidate who talks of suspending the Constitution and imprisoning political opponents?
Have we become so numb to brutality that we no longer notice his support for vigilante violence and for using the military to attack Americans?
And are we willing to risk everything on a man who has clearly become more erratic and dangerous with age?
That was the question on our ballots yesterday.
Milbank followed that question with a litany intended to remind readers of Trump’s actual threats and “promises”–to go after his personal enemies, to remake the Justice Department into an instrument of his personal vengeance, to jail his opponents, to free the “patriots” that have been convicted of insurrection…the list went on. He reminded readers of the neo-Nazi rhetoric: migrants are “poisoning the blood” of good White Christian Americans, immigrants are “animals.”
Milbank noted the unprecedented number of Republicans–not just from prior administrations, but from Trump’s own–who warned that he is a fascist who should never be allowed to exercise power. And he compared the candidates’ closing messages.
The warm-up acts for Harris included a woman who nearly died because she couldn’t get an abortion despite severe complications; a daughter of refugees; a woman who gets health care for her son through the Affordable Care Act; Republican farmers from Pennsylvania; and the brother of Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick, who died from strokes the day after defending the Capitol on Jan. 6. “I’ve had enough of Trump’s politics of chaos, anger and hate. It has real and dangerous consequences for all of us,” Craig Sicknick said.
The warm-up acts for Trump? Tony Hinchcliffe, a supposed comedian, called Puerto Rico “a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean” and said: “These Latinos, they love making babies. … There’s no pulling out; they don’t do that. They come inside, just like they did to our country.” He mocked a Black man’s do-rag in the audience (“What the hell is that, a lampshade?”) and spoke of Black people carving watermelons instead of pumpkins. He remarked: “Rock, paper, scissors. You know the Palestinians are going to throw rock every time. But you also know the Jews have a hard time throwing that paper,” referring to money.
Another speaker raised his middle finger to Democrats and called Trump “the greatest f—ing president.” Others called Harris “the Antichrist” who, with her “pimp handlers,” will destroy our country, and labeled Doug Emhoff “a crappy Jew,” Hillary Clinton a “sick son of a bitch” and Democrats “a bunch of degenerates.”
Bottom line: the choice between Trump and Harris amounts to a choice of who we are. The election result will tell us how many Americans cling to the aspirations of our constituent documents– and how many angry, resentful people cast votes for hate and division.
Yesterday’s election really boiled down to one question: are we better than this?
When I went to bed last night, I didn’t know the answer to that question–but one fact had become undeniable. Realizing that so many people cast votes for this truly despicable man–a man who threatens every American value, not to mention global stability– has plunged me into a very dark place. There’s no denying the bleak truth: millions of my fellow Americans rejected civility, logic, and simple humanity…..
I guess I know who we are…..and it isn’t pretty.
I am with you in that dark place.
No it is not pretty.
Really sad when you look at what this Country has become.
What were people thinking??
It looks like our fellow Americans prefer a dementia suffering madman after all.
Now I know my country has left me. We had a chance for something so much better.
I’m sick. And even if he gets the end he deserves, we’re no better off with the VP we’re left with…and the other citizens who put them in charge will still be here with us.
I am sickened. I had such hope for a new America where we do not denigrate our neighbors and fellow workers. A hope that we would turn around this mess from 8 years ago I am more appalled now than I was is 2016. Where will we be in 2028? Obviously our country is a land of degenerate, woman hating, lying, cheating, miserable people, who I did not think I lived among God help us
“Have we become so coarse that we would choose as our head of state a man whose climactic campaign rally at Madison Square Garden was a grotesque collection of four-letter words, vulgar sexual references and explicitly racist attacks against Black people, Latinos, Jews and Palestinians?”
I grew up in a middle-class family in a middle-class neighborhood; I remained middle-class till being forced a step down by disability and now advanced age. I have been blessed for many years with friends who have much higher education than my GED and much higher income levels; but we are of the same mind in our visions of this country. They argued till the last minute there was no way Trump would AGAIN be forced on this country; that Kamala would slip through the chaos and win the election. The simple fact is that this nation is now peopled by more of those who are those “…grotesque collection of four-letter words, vulgar sexual references and explicitly racist attacks against Black people, Latinos, Jews and Palestinians?” We were outnumbered by them from 2015.
“Yesterday’s election really boiled down to one question: are we better than this?”
I tried to warn people twice; Trump beat two highly experienced and qualified women by feeding into that “grotesque collection” of Americans who simply outnumber the “sentient”, higher educated and higher class people. This election will have global effects we never considered; and Sheila is right, “it isn’t pretty”.
On the bright side there will be no civil war this week, and there will be a peaceful transfer of power on January 20. Then the change to a unified executive as laid out in Project 2025 will be swift and shocking. God help us all.
I fear we lost our country yesterday.
We should all do our best to enjoy our upcoming holidays as much as we can, because, come January, we’re in for very grim times.
Goodbye, America.
I fear, it will be a sad day if reconning come January.
Civility seems to have left our country. I am echoing “May GOD save us.”
Thank you Sheila for your continuing support.
I have never been worried for my wife and I. My worry is about my grandchildren.
I wonder how long it will take for Trump’s base to realize what they have done to themselves.
I feel shattered. Terrified for what this means for our country. For this world. As my son so wisely put it this morning in a text to our family, “I’m sickened that the price of a carton of eggs is more valued than the life of a human being.” And he is right.
Once again, the Democratic party has failed to address the concerns of a majority of Americans. So the next four years will be tough. We have to be tougher.
Within moments of Indiana being called I was told “you Libby baby killer you lost..sit down and shut up”. I was on a Taylor Swift site.
The experiment has failed, it’s just a matter of how they dismantle the lab.
As I watched the election map light up across the country, it was obvious that Democrats have lost the US voter—the average American. The East Coast Elite merged with the far West Coast, with less than a handful of solid blue states in the middle—not even Michigan. Quite frankly, I don’t know how Biden snuck out an election win against Trump.
I watched snippets of Trump’s last rally, and he gave oral sex to his microphone twice, and the crowd ate it up. This is the real USA – not the uppity Coastal Elites or ultra-wealthy Hollywood celebrities.
My hiatus from X will continue as Elon Musk gloats nauseously. I’ll wait until January as Elon will share plans on social media with his adoring “fans.” Personally, I don’t think the limelight will serve him well. He may be the richest man on the planet, but he’s not very bright, and he won’t be able to hide it. We’ll see how the lame media handles him.
Sheila better have some backup help because the Trump administration will produce plenty of material. He will not wait until the end of January to rule the country.
The Democratic Party better take this ass-whooping to heart and make serious changes that appeal to broader swaths of America, or they will go extinct.
Get ready, folks.
Pete spoke for me.
The implications of a Trump White House reverberates to negative outcomes for our grand children … BTW, who are straight, identify sex at birth, not victims of abortion or immigrants who apparently eat other people’s cats and dogs for breakfast.
There may be a glimmer of light.
On day one Trump will issue an executive order for chef competition for best gourmet cheeseburger to be served in the Oval Office.
The choice will not only affect the U.S. Our allies will leave us in droves for their own protection. Netanyahu will have no restraints, nor will Putin or Iran or Xi. Ukriane is lost. The election will have economic and military repercussions all over the world.
I cried the first time. This time I am angry. I won’t go back.
Musk and RFK Jr. are just the tip of the iceberg. Vance is the true enemy.
We will become like Germany in the late 30’s when neighbors turned on neighbors. If anyone can help immigrants as they face internment and deportation, please start making plans to help.
Have some cash on hand in case of financial collapse.
As an elderly person with health issues, insurance and medication costs, even availability due to high prices are of concern.
I fear for my children, their spouses and my grandson.
RiverGirl; thank you for that wise reminder from your son. Prices are outrageous but people seem to have forgotten President Biden was given the recovery of this part of the world from Covid-19 Pandemic. The slowdown of deaths was brought about by President Joe’s demand for vaccines and free self-test Covid kits while corporations, the Stock Market and the wealthy began their price gouging which continues today. The “Economy” is more than the price of services and supplies; it relies on the honesty of corporations which are owned by the wealthy and their profits show up in the rising Stock Market numbers. America has been bought and paid for by the criminal element in business and in government. Truth and honesty are no longer Politically Correct in this country; lies, name calling, threats and greed pervades the medical corporations and our food markets, both primary life-and-death sources. We have only seen the beginning of what we view as the “Economy”; these days will soon be known as “the good old days”.
Daleb: “I wonder how long it will take for Trump’s base to realize what they have done to themselves.” I wonder the same thing, but I don’t think many of them will ever admit that they regret their vote.
The concerns of a majority of Americans centered on fear and hate of the “other.” We kid ourselves if we think it was anything else.
Speechless!
45 % – Latinas/Latinos – Trump, Popular Vote Trump 5M+ Advantage, The Economy is BETTER – for some – without Stocks/Bonds/LandOwning – different reality. People voted – SUPPORTING ABORTION – and Also voted for Trump + Organize – Organize – Organize – white men – check out: White Men for Racial Justice – WMRJ.org, tonite – white men – contact me – if you’d like to join us – Caring White Men Sharing Together -http:/www(dot)CaringWhiteMen(dot)com – 8:00 pm E Time – email me if you’d like to join us tonite – support group (small) – my lastname+geo(at)gmale(dot)com – trying to avoid – AI/bots – altered slightly – white women – you have your own groups and we need to work together – this is NOT the time to retreat – into what privilege many, if not most, of us have. We don’t have the time to wait – and reflect more than briefly (alone) – Grief – Anger – and LOVE and Caring – need to be what we use along – with Action
H.L Mencken (not P.T. Barnum):
No one in this world, so far as I know—and I have searched the records for years, and employed agents to help me—has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people. Nor has anyone ever lost public office thereby. The mistake that is made always runs the other way. Because the plain people are able to speak and understand, and even, in many cases, to read and write, it is assumed that they have ideas in their heads, and an appetite for more. This assumption is a folly.
The willfully ignorant in this country voted to put Hitler’s protege and his grossly wealthy and corporate Nazi supporters back into office. Their wealth will continue to rise astronomically and the despicable criminal leader will avoid prison.
Indiana is one of the states with a majority of willfully ignorant citizens. I don’t know that I have the capacity to be civil with them anymore.
daleb – they’ve already proven that they are incapable of learning what they’ve done to themselves. They will continue to listen to the Fox and Newsmax lies and no matter what harm their evil leader and his partners in crime rain down on them (all of us) it will all be the fault of Democrats because that is what they will be told.
I’m stunned. I slept 2 hours. Now, I’m furious. I moved back to the states and will not leave because of this election. I’m standing my ground. I’m going to speak up. I’m going to FIGHT against this cult ‘til the day I die. F* him and his psychotic followers. Pardon my French.
The rise and fall of America, by greed and ignorance..cant say we didnt try..
thanks all.. best wishes..
My daughter asked me about my thoughts on the national election. Here is what I wrote to her, and I wanted to share it with you: “Jannan, I am, of course, despondent about Trump’s victory. We have entered an era where men feel empowered to be disrespectful because they believe they can get away with it. Women will tolerate this behavior. This age of unchecked male money, power, and ignorance will harm many who have no voice. We have become a land with little mercy.”
Racist misogynists = USA. SCOTUS is lost for the at least thirty years and we’ve seen what that means with Dobbs, Chevron, Affirmative Action, Immunity, etc. The list of bad decisions is too long for this post.
Ukraine will have to organize an underground and work another twenty years for their freedom. Palestinians, if they haven’t escaped the Middle East, will likely die in a bombardment of every space they occupy. Taiwan is toast.
Scientific research will be a useful tool to “find” not the answer, but the answer we want.
The world seems upside down this morning. I thought about cashing out and moving to Belize, but that’s the coward’s way out. I’ll stay and fight.
seems the main object was the economy. during this election cycle, I never read,heard or came across any mention of the Sanders/Warrens writing bill to stop or slow down the greed driven markets. seems education of any matter that Joe was trying to accomplish langered by unions,schools,mental news,Harris speaches,and the demos party.also the bipartisan border bill, which johnson dropped because he didnt want Joe to get a win. these two items show that the majority congress is for itself over the people. now the people have themselves squashed what is left.. The DNC again has become the rickety old fence and its leaders just another faction of the gop coup.
we didnt fail here. and this blog was needed more than ever in the last 8 years.
we understand and value the reason why America exists. we have watched who we wanted to educate,become mindless goons for greed and self preservation of their little world of extremism..
So much for my optimism. It was comforting while it lasted. This time evil won. I am more sad than angry. I guess that now it is up to the rest of the world to save the American dream…if it can be saved. We have failed miserably.
Maybe, unlikely, but maybe this will serve as the democratic party wakeup call that sprinting to the right isn’t a great plan to turnout your voters.
“We’ll pick up 10 in the suburbs for every 1 we lose in the city” keeps not being true, because… obviously it isn’t true. I haven’t seen a voter breakdown yet, but I’ll bet the no real condemnation of Israel/Palestine and hanging out with Liz Cheney didn’t do Harris any favors. The people who run the D party are, to put it mildly, not very good at their job.
Jacoobin Mag.org:
Milan Loewer.
If Harris loses today,this is why.. opinion? seems its on target..
I have no idea what the majority of American voters were thinking when they voted for Mr Felon President, but I read a good opinion piece in the NY TImes that tries to explain what might be happening at this moment in history and it’s worth a read.
It should no be behind a paywall:
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/06/opinion/donald-trump-2024-election.html?unlocked_article_code=1.X04.Wp_Q.oGYUHbqU9iKM&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
Grievance!
This playbook is as old as the hills! Make a mountain out of a molehill, and those who are really innocuous, reach for the possibility of being in control! I believe some of the discussions over the past decade and more, actually hit the nail on the head. What happened when the fascists ended up controlling Germany, or German government? They gained power by demonizing those who were different, they fostered and cajoled the grievance factor and once power was achieved, they started to eat their own! “Night of the long knives” was the beginning of an insatiable appetite.The Reichstag false flag operation, which was pinned on the Communists, which effectively eliminated that possible avenue of conflict for the minds of the ignorant. Then came the concentration camps. To make sure the alternate reality the average citizen decided to unabashedly accept, The concentration camps became the way to silence reason. Those camps were just butcher shops, they permanently silenced the conscience of the ignorant.
The smell of rotten and burning flesh didn’t make a difference to those in the vicinity who claimed they never knew what was happening. Like I mentioned, when my uncles went into Auschwitz, they took all of those guards that were still there and executed them after they saw what was inside. Then, they went into town and brought all the civilians to bury the bodies of those guards and all the dead who were piled up like cord wood after being poisoned in the false shower gas chambers!
This is just history repeating itself once again. There are still enough boogeyman out there to keep the honeypot full of grievance. The Germans had guard rails also, but they were eviscerated by the better organized enemy from within. And all those that were identified as the enemy, paid the price. There were plenty of Jews in Germany that played footsie with the Nazis, kind of a self-preservation type of thing. And what happened? They were executed once they served their purpose. And, back to eating their own, night of the Long knives eliminated the possibility of a coup to stop what was becoming a runaway train.
In this country, they’ve had an opportunity to learn from the mistakes they made the first time. There won’t be any dawdling or dilly dallying, they won’t allow the seed of descent to germinate. The fear of what could happen to you, will keep everyone quiet, and those who are not quiet, will disappear. They eat their own! It happened in Rome, it happened in Germany, and, is happening here! Marv, a lot of folks didn’t like what he had to say, but, he knew his history!
The laws and structure that would protect against autocracy, will be ripped up, And as I recall, speaking about if martial law wasn’t declared, that the other guy would do it! So now, here it is!
It’s obvious – my new car, my bigger home, my cheaper eggs are more important than struggling immigrants, than women’s rights, than justice for all. So sad.
Rex Huppke in USA Today:
“Voters chose Trump. He won. Cruelty won. Bullying won.
And that’s who America is right now. We are Trump, and we will own every bit of the shameful and painful and embarrassing things he does. We are not “better than this.” We lost the right to make that claim the moment the presidential race was called. “
John Sorg – thanks for the history lesson and comparison. We are watching history repeat one of the ugliest times in human existence.
In a similar vein, this amazing column by Carlos Lozada is well worth a read:
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/06/opinion/trump-wins-harris-loses.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
I now live in Canada; my son and his family live in France. And there are so many signs that both countries could be headed done the same authoritarian path as the U.S. I am despairing for our grandchildren (our four-year old granddaughter, who lives in Richmond, VA, had announced that she wasn’t for Trump because he’s mean). How do we raise her generation to continue to be hopeful and to become the kinds of change agents that we have aspired but failed to be?
I went to my 10 year old granddaughter’s school this morning to watch her in a program celebrating our veterans. (She had a speaking part.) It was 7:45 AM and I had just been up long enough to get dressed and see the election results. I couldn’t bring myself to say the Pledge or sing “America the Beautiful.” I felt so despondent looking at all the little kids sitting on the floor in front of me – Hispanic, Asian, black and little girls of all colors – and wondered what this election will bring into their lives. I am utterly heartbroken that the country I live in has turned into something unrecognizable and frightening,