Non-college educated, white men and especially non-college educated white women
drifted more dramatically conservative than ever before. We all know Trump
tapped into an undercurrent of racism and xenophobia, but I think we underestimated sexism, the -ism we pretend to have conquered. We all had forgotten that no one
hates a female boss more than another female.
NO... that's not what I want to say.
I am afraid I'll blink and four years will have passed. I'll
be afraid to open the curtains for fear the sky will be deregulation orange
from manufacturing all the Trump bobble heads. Dystopian armored law
enforcement Humvees and diesel pick-up trucks clog the streets. White men and
women carry assault rifles on the shoulders of their dirt bike pads while black
and brown people cower when they pass. Muslims and Jews, afraid of constant
raids--now live peacefully in Canada, having accepted the offer of two free
acres in Nova Scotia. The only Mexican I see, wears a tourist visa around her
neck to visit her first grandchild, in the community where she lived for 30 years
prior to her deportation. Gay bars mostly closed after homophobic assaults during the gay marriage ban battle of 2018. Transgender people are invisible again, but still in your bathrooms
without you noticing, harming no one. Local NPR stations crackle on the radio, underfunded,
unable to make repairs. Big brother-esque posters cover government buildings,
the orange reflecting onto passerby like jaundice. Flowers are luxury items—the heat and
pollution killed all the bees.
Enrollment in higher education declined following cuts to financial aid,
making empty buildings prime squatting locations for those displaced when
public housing was eliminated. The
planned parenthood offices couldn't afford the armed guards anymore so the
cancer center added a wing for the influx of late stage cervical, ovarian,
uterine, and breast cancer that went undetected. Toronto and Tijuana offer
weekend abortion packages for those wanting to avoid Pence's mandated
funerals.
NO... my exaggerated fears are not important either.
There was only so much good karma and kindness remaining in
this country and we used it all to support the Cubs.
NO... I am too despondent for humor.
My son is worried about this wall and confused as to why any
human would NOT want to help another. My daughter doesn't understand how someone so "mean" could win.
NO... it's too soon.
What I want to say is this: I don't remember Reagan as
president but I remember my grandmother explaining to me he was a movie
star and not a very good one. I was
eight when George H.W. took office so I remember looking at the Dukakis bumper sticker on
the side of the washing machine and being sad. I vaguely recall Bush as president, bombings on CNN and my Dad explaining what a Gulf was.
What I remember
clearly was being eleven and captivated by the campaign of a young, charismatic Bill
Clinton, an awkward Chelsea, and the quiet power of Hillary, a female lawyer—the
first one I’d seen (it’d be two years until O.J.). I understood the importance of the budget excess and rode a wave of economic good fortune
into my first jobs. More than anything, I was an
adolescent with one less worry because I felt my country was safe in the hands
of this family.
This sounds like I’m dwelling, but it’s really a message of
hope for my children:
May your worst memory of this be a sad bumper sticker
or better yet, may you only remember my mother’s explanation of how Trump was a
reality TV star and not a very good one at that.
Little ones, may he be your Reagan and Bush rolled into
one, and all your real memories begin with your champion from 2020 and beyond…Whoever
she may be.
