It was shocking that American voters in 2016 narrowly elected Donald Trump after he demonstrated he was a vile person who pledged to do reckless and hateful things to our country. It was much more disturbing that the populace more decisively elected Trump in 2024 after they had voted him out in 2020 following a presidency where he proved to be even more incompetent, divisive, and corrupt than we might have expected; after he disastrously mismanaged the COVID pandemic; after he was twice impeached, and indicted in four different criminal cases, for cheating in the 2016 and 2020 elections and for stealing classified documents; after he relentlessly lied that he won the 2020 election and incited an unprecedented violent assault on the U.S. Capitol, U.S. Congress, and his own vice president; after he was too much of a child to attend Joe Biden’s inauguration or ever concede the 2020 contest; after he was convicted by a jury of 34 felony counts of business fraud and election cheating and faces a possible jail term; after he was found liable by a jury for sexual assault, and liable by a judge for financial fraud; after numerous former top officials in his administration said he was wholly unfit for office; and after he ran this time as an even more extreme, divisive, hateful, and cognitively reduced version of himself.

Look, I’m no pollster. But I noticed in 2016 and 2020 Trump out-performed the polling, and I certainly was concerned about the same this year. I think we should conclude there are a lot of Americans who don’t want to admit to a stranger they’d do something as awful as vote for a vile con man. But they did it. The determined spreading of lies by oligarch boosters like Elon Musk, by Putin’s Russia, by right wing news outlets, and by Trump himself surely played a part.  But Americans made their choice, and now we all must live with it.

 

If you start listing all the issues where Trump’s return will matter, of course it’s a nightmare. Just as a starter list: reproductive choice and health; climate change; the mass deportation pledge; Supreme Court / judges; consumer protection; health care/RFK Jr.; taxes/deficit; civil/LGBTQ rights; Ukraine/Europe/Putin; Palestinians/Israel; January 6 pardons; the criminal cases against Trump; the revenge pledge; the whole unaccountable Charlottesville racist sexual assaulter congenital liar Hitler fascist dictator thing; Ric Grenell, Steve Miller, Steve Bannon, Mike Flynn, JD Vance….

But although the result is shocking because of the lawless and grotesque nature of the victorious candidate, the reality is that Americans, always ready to blame the incumbent party, have for decades regularly switched between Democrat and Republican presidents and Congresses.

And although Trump did enormous harm in office last time, we contained the threat in many respects.  And we can again. He’s obviously in cognitive decline, and what he himself will care about above all this time is getting back the free house, car, plane, food, get out of jail card, fealty, and attention.

 

Nevertheless, he and his staff are surely ready to do immense harm and threaten opponents.  More of our institutions and corporate chiefs may buckle. But many of us will fight hard, again. The struggle for democracy and justice is so far from over. 

 

Think strategically. Build community. Find joy and humor – people do that in much worse places. Be brave. Be there for each other. Never, ever give up hope.