Everything Has to be Okay

Another year, another election

Few of us were prepared for the 2016 election results. With hindsight, we should have been, but at the time, I was certain Hillary Clinton was going to be elected. Trump’s candidacy was so absurd, so repugnant, that I assumed enough Americans would defer to their better natures and vote for the only logical choice. In some ways, that happened. Clinton won the popular vote, and not by a small margin. But our political morass is such that the person with the most votes doesn’t always win. This is difficult to reconcile but it is our unfortunate reality, nonetheless.

Trump’s first and hopefully only term as president was a disaster in so many ways. If you’re reading this, you already know the extent of the damage he did and I don’t need to remind you, but it seems like many Americans have forgotten just how bad it was for a great many people. The Muslim ban, his Supreme Court appointments, the odious people with whom he surrounded himself enacting odious policies, the disastrous COVID-19 response and on and on it goes. That doesn’t even get into all his international fuck-ups and the way the world’s leaders openly mocked his stupidity.

As unfathomable as the possibility of his first term was, it is even more unfathomable that he is, once more, a viable political candidate even though he is more toxic ever. The Dobbs decision. Liable for sexual assault. A convicted felon. A man facing even more prosecutions. Project 2025. Running with a stunted man child willing to sacrifice his soul to satisfy his ambition. Somehow, we live in a country where all of this is not only not a deterrent, it is a selling point. He is celebrated for his failings and his bigotry even as he visibly declines.

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I have tried to avoid despair over the past year and especially during these past six months. Even after Biden’s disastrous debate performance, I thought he could still win a second term. And when it was clear Biden was no longer politically viable, I knew Kamala Harris was up to the challenge.

All along I’ve said I think the Democrats are going to win. I am not delusional. I am not ignorant. I’ve seen the various polls and other numbers indicating that this is going to be a desperately close race. And still, I believe Harris will win, handily. I believe Democrats will win the House. I’m not sure what will happen in the Senate but I sure hope the Democrats hold on to their slim majority. This is the best case scenario but it is also the only scenario that allows for any kind of sane way forward.

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The frustrating thing about elections is that once they’re done, most people check out of politics until the next election cycle. Whatever is happening in our city councils and our state legislatures and Congress is not so much a concern. Once in a while, if something directly affects us or our loved ones, we will pay attention to a single issue, and then we’ll go back to the ignorant bliss of pretending politics don’t really affect our lives. This, even though we have so much evidence, in recent years, of how the decisions our political leaders make affect every single aspect of our lives. You can’t opt out of politics no matter how much you want to.

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So here we are, on the precipice of… something. Many people are saying this will be the most consequential election of our lifetimes and it feels that way. Either this country will vote for democracy or it will embrace unchecked fascism. And, as is always the case, some Americans will be more affected by the outcome than others. I do not have much faith in this country. Why would I? I’m a Black queer woman. I have no reason to believe this country will ever do the right thing and history, both recent and distant, bear this out.