I share the ache of those that are deeply dissatisfied that Individuals have chosen, for the second time, an unhinged, misogynistic, racist strongman for president.
A majority voted for a former president described as a “fascist” by his personal former workers members, who has promised “mass deportations” of the tens of millions of undocumented immigrants, who has vowed to reinstate his misbegotten Muslim ban, who intimates that he’ll hand Ukraine over to Russian President Vladimir Putin and permit Israel free rein in Gaza.
I’ll depart the election post-mortems to individuals whose jobs it’s to determine how and why Vice President Kamala Harris and different Democrats did not make their case, and what the get together should now do to regain the belief and votes of the annoyed working-class Individuals and others who’ve abandoned them in droves.
As a mom, grandmother, aunt, pal and proud Californian, my project now could be to look ahead, and to assist these I really like discover some shards of hope on this darkish second.
In any case, some good issues occurred Tuesday night time.
For starters, this interminable marketing campaign is lastly over. Many people might hate the outcomes, however a minimum of we received’t must hearken to 4 extra years of President-elect Trump’s whining, wheedling and lies about who received.
California’s Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank), who led the first successful impeachment towards President Trump, handily won a seat within the U.S. Senate. Not that his Republican opponent, former skilled baseball participant Steve Garvey, ever actually stood an opportunity, but it surely’s comforting to know that such an outspoken Trump antagonist received in a blowout, and can turn into one of many highest-profile Democrats in Washington. When the wildfires come and Trump as soon as once more plays politics with federal relief dollars, California will want somebody who can play hardball.
In different excellent news, American voters delivered one more rebuke to the Supreme Courtroom’s horrible 2022 resolution that ripped away the 50-year-old constitutional proper to abortion.
Ten states had measures guaranteeing access to abortion on their ballots on Tuesday. Voters in seven — Arizona, Colorado, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, Nevada and New York — supported amending their state constitutions to guard that basic proper.
Voters in solely three — Florida, Nebraska and South Dakota — didn’t. However even in Florida, nicely over half the citizens — 57% — voted in favor of preserving the precise to abortion to the purpose of viability. Sadly, the edge for amending Florida’s structure is 60%, so the state’s ban on abortion after six weeks will stay in impact.
Now we’ll be taught whether or not Trump and his vice president-elect, JD Vance, have been telling the reality once they repeatedly claimed to oppose a nationwide abortion ban. Personally, I feel they may do all the things of their energy to appease their right-wing Christian base by working to limit entry to treatment abortions, which contain a routine of capsules, not surgical procedure. The excellent news is that there can be a wholesome resistance to this transfer, and an already well-developed underground medication pipeline will develop. As they’ve because the Dobbs resolution, women will continue to end pregnancies they don’t want to carry, whilst the federal government threatens them.
I do know it’s well-liked to pooh-pooh id politics; Harris, well, by no means overplayed her hand as doubtlessly the primary Black and South Asian girl to turn into president. However typically id not solely issues — it’s value celebrating.
For the primary time in historical past, two Black women will concurrently serve within the U.S. Senate: Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland and Lisa Blunt Rochester of Delaware. Additionally in Delaware, voters elected Democrat Sarah McBride, 34, as the primary out transgender member of Congress. That is greater than symbolically necessary at a time when Republicans reminiscent of Trump have ginned up concern with outlandish, unfaithful tales about kids going to high school within the morning and coming dwelling within the afternoon having acquired gender transition surgical procedure.
Blessedly, North Carolina Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, who reportedly called himself a Black Nazi and declared that slavery was not unhealthy, was trounced for governor by his Democratic rival, Josh Stein.
In Florida, Democrat Monique Worrell, the reform-minded African American state lawyer who was ousted by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis in a blatantly partisan transfer, was reelected: Fifty-seven % of Florida voters repudiated DeSantis, who had accused Worrell of pursuing lenient sentences and declining to prosecute sure fees.
“No governor’s petty political maneuvers and no quantity of darkish cash can silence the voices of 1000’s who demand a good, good strategy to justice over the failed, outdated insurance policies of the previous,” Worrell stated in an announcement launched by her marketing campaign.
I refuse to surrender hope as a result of our nation’s citizens so typically features as a self-correcting organism. When politicians go too far, voters slap them again towards the middle.
It received’t take lengthy for Individuals to tire of the inevitable chaos and cruelty of a second Trump administration. They could be briefly lulled by his promise to continue the tax cuts that promised to assist the center class however overwhelmingly benefited the wealthy.
However as soon as they notice that his tariffs will have raised prices they assume are already too excessive, his mass deportations could have left 1000’s of employers stranded and greens rotting within the fields, that inviting Russia to do “whatever the hell they want” to NATO nations could have undermined America’s position as a superpower, they may bitter on him. Simply as they did in 2020.
It could take 4 ugly years, however belief me, the pendulum will ultimately swing again towards regular. It at all times does.
Threads: @rabcarian
