Shame on The Universe   Poetry and Thoughts on the Universe

Ok, Wow.

This election was intense to watch. Obviously the majority of the media got it completely wrong. I know I didn’t expect Donald Trump to win. Even the most careful poll and aggregate sites, like 538, didn’t predict a high chance of this outcome. Some like the NY Times Upshot gave him a chance in the single digits. So this is a historic upset of a victory, regardless of the side you take.
Most of my friends are distraught over the news. I don’t think it is wrong to be so upset. People’s investment in this election was strong, and certain groups can be very negatively affected by the results. Although I didn’t have a strong pull either way, and although I feel that things are going to be as bad as people think, my heart goes out to you. Know I may not always agree with you on everything, but I will gladly lay down my life to protect your rights and freedoms.

So why did this happen? I don’t believe America’s bigots and racist all came out in droves, waiting for lynching to be legal. I don’t think it was a coalition of misogynist men who can wait to grab some p***y. I don’t think it was xenophobes wanting to get rid of “Jose” and “Muhammed”. I’m not saying people like that don’t exist, and I’m not saying all Trump supporters are saints. But I believe it is something much simpler.

Clinton’s supporters got cocky. Most of the liberals I know became too comfortable sitting in their echo chambers, feeling their sense of smug (and often unearned) sense of superiority. They kept downplaying the scandals Clinton was facing as nothing more than fear tactics and misogyny, and treated Trump supporters as nothing more than hate mongers and idiots. Supporting Trump became a scarlet letter, with people losing friends over even the inkling of support for Herr Furher Trump. I think Clinton supporter were well-intentioned in this, because a lot of the rhetoric being tossed around made him seem like the absolute greater of two evils. But by being so divisive, democrats created their own undoing.

When you make it so unpopular to support Trump that people can’t even speak his name, you don’t get rid of the support. All you do is shut down the conversation and eliminate your chance to convince others. People forced Trump supporters underground, making them insulate themselves in an echo chamber in order to save their own sanity. They stopped talking to the other side, stopped watching and reading most news, and gave up on challenging their own views. Only trolls, contrarians, and the true undecided continued the dialogue and only barely. I know I was terrified to speak out about the election at all, and had to constantly throw in jabs at Trump to show I don’t like the guy.
Come election time, however, his supporters came out in droves, and surprised everyone.

That isn’t the only reason Trump won, but I think it’s a big one. The emails are another reason, as is the 3rd party vote pulling a lot of the younger vote away. It is tempting to blame them for this election, and you wouldn’t be entirely wrong to do so. I think Comey was in a tough spot, and if I were in his position I would probably have done the same. If he didn’t announce the emails and they found something incriminating after a Clinton victory, imagine how much of a shit show would have occurred. As for 3rd party candidates, can you blame them for wanting to buck the system? For wanting to convince people to vote for good and not just lesser evils? Or should we have just embraced the two-party system, and told Gary to smoke a bowl and sit down?

But in the end, it comes down to Clinton failing to convince more people to support her. If we as a country value democracy we have to accept the results, even if they aren’t the ones we wanted. Keep in mind even the popular vote is only separated by 0.1% of the electorate. That could mean half the country is racist, homophobic, and sexist. But I have faith in humanity, nor do I feel I have the right to pass judgment on a large group of people who have just as many diverse reasons for voting as their opponents.

So we are left with Trump as our president. We have to play the hand we are dealt. But I believe adversity begets change, and if you think a Trump presidency is going to be bad, then fight it. Work to defend the rights of you friends and loved ones. Make you dissent and disapproval heard. Pressure your senators to be honest and represent you. Fight for voting reform and what you feel is right. It may be a hard road, but if it is important as you think it is then it is worth it.

I hope Trump surprises us by actually not being the monster he seems to be. At the very least I hope his presidency convinces people that we need to pull the reins on presidential power, because every power Obama grabbed is now in Trump’s tiny infant hands.

But I honestly don’t know. It could be a real shit-show. Either way, we are all in this together. So breathe, think, and realize the sun will always rise the next day. We have made it through darker times, and we will make it through these.

I may talk politics in the future, but this is the last I’m talking about this election. We’ve dealt with this bullshit for a year; time to go back to our car videos and porn for a few months.

Thank you for reading,

Shaman