*Updated.
America Elects a Bigot-Charles Blow
He won, legitimately...
...
It is hard to know specifically how to position yourself in a country that can elect a man with such staggering ineptitude and open animus. It makes you doubt whatever faith you had in the country itself.
...
I can only assume that President Donald Trump will be a bigot...It is absolutely possible that America didn’t elect him in spite of that, but because of it. Consider that for a second. Think about what that means. This is America right now...
...
Count me among the resistance.
America Elects a Bigot-Charles Blow
He won, legitimately...
...
It is hard to know specifically how to position yourself in a country that can elect a man with such staggering ineptitude and open animus. It makes you doubt whatever faith you had in the country itself.
...
I can only assume that President Donald Trump will be a bigot...It is absolutely possible that America didn’t elect him in spite of that, but because of it. Consider that for a second. Think about what that means. This is America right now...
...
Count me among the resistance.
...
When I think...of all the people who voted to make this man president...I cannot help but feel some measure of anger. I must deal with that anger. I don’t want to wrestle it to the ground; I want to harness it....
That is a person who must be placed under unrelenting pressure. Power must be challenged, constantly. That begins today.
Ending the American Romance-Paul Krugman
Some morning-after thoughts: There’s...a vast disillusionment that as of now I think of as the end of the romantic vision of America (which I still love).
What I mean is the notion of US history as a sort of novel in which there may be great tragedy, but there’s always a happy ending. That is, we tell a story in which at times of crisis we always find the leader — Lincoln, FDR — and the moral courage we need.
It’s a particular kind of American exceptionalism; other countries don’t tell that kind of story about themselves. But I, like others, believed it.
Now it doesn’t look very good, does it? But giving up is not an option. The world needs a decent, democratic America, or we’re all lost. And there’s still a lot of decency in the nation — it’s just not as dominant as I imagined. Time to rethink, for sure. But not to surrender.
I feel the sorrow, the grief, the anger, the shock that Charles Blow and Paul Krugman feel. I felt it. A week before the election I texted my kids, "I am sorry. My life is almost over but yours are just beginning and I and my generation have bequeathed you a different America than we had. This is the end of that America. If Trump is elected it is a new, different, dangerous America 2.0."
It is difficult to place oneself in America 2.0, as Mr. Blow says. Bono said in 2012, "...this is about keeping faith with the idea of America." Well, America had a different idea on November 8! And, similarly to Mr. Blow I don't have faith in America anymore.
Mr. Krugman writes it is "the end of the romantic vision of America," that in times of moral crisis we always come up with a leader to surmount the challenge, in Churchill's phrase, "America always does the right thing at the last possible moment."
Well, at the last possible moment we didn't this time!
No, though there is still much decency in America, it is not as dominant as we thought.
It is a different America. Different from the one Mr. Blow and Mr. Krugman and Mr. Churchill knew. From the one I knew.
It is worse than what Mr. Blow and Mr. Krugman write. I wish to re-emphasize this. If Hillary Clinton had been elected on November 8 Mr. Blow and Mr. Krugman would not have written these articles in that way on November 9. The articles would have been of the "Whew! Close call" variety. Of course the election mattered, we got the worst of both worlds with Trump's election, but there is a psychological and behavioral difference in how we react to a close call than to an actual crash, we tend to write off the close call, "stuff happens," "coulda been worse," and not inquire into the cause: "Is this car I was driving when I had that close call safe?" We tend to make that inquiry after a crash, not after a close call.
And so I want to emphasize this: 62,000,000 Americans voted for a different America and a different Idea of America on November 8. Those 62,000,000 and their Idea of America were with us on November 7 and were with us on November 9 when Mr. Blow and Mr. Krugman wrote their articles. The election mattered. It gave presidential power to those 62,000,000. The election changed the Idea of America with immediate effect. But, America 1.0 was likely history on November 7. 62,000,000 cannot be written off. This is what democracy looks like. This is what America looks like.
What to do? Clinton won the popular vote by 574,064 votes. That is greater than Al Gore's margin over George W. Bush in 2000. That is greater than the population of America's thirty-second largest city, Albuquerque, New Mexico. That is twice now in 16 years that a loser in the popular vote has won the presidency in the Electoral College.
Do we abolish the Electoral College? Is that car we are driving unsafe at any speed with the Electoral College add-on? That was the question that was the subject of the phone call from my son last year. He was assigned to argue the "For" position on the Electoral College in his political science class. I was given the same assignment 43 years ago. I believed on both occasions that "For" was the correct position.
I do not now. Not after twice in sixteen years. Not after getting Bush the first time and now Trump.
Abolish it. I have no faith in the structures erected by our Founding Fathers to prevent America 2.0.
Abolishing the Electoral College would not get rid of the problem of the 62,000,000 but it would have delayed the coming of America 2.0.
What (else) to do?
#NotMyPresident? "He won legitimately," began Mr. Blow and indeed he did. Trump is your president, and legitimately so.
"Resistance" "unrelenting pressure," says Mr. Blow.
"No surrender," says Mr. Krugman.
Protest?
Aye to all.
Who? Who do we resist? Apply unrelenting pressure to? Not surrender to? And so I want to emphasize this: the 62,000,000.
How? How specifically?
Protest. Take to the streets. From Miami to Portland, and New York to Los Angeles anti-election protests have been going on since November 9--unprecedented in recent American history. Constant protest. Block highways, like the kids in Hong Kong did. Shut them down. Block airports, shut them down. Block the entrance to Trump Tower. Make him enter through a crowd, like British citizens did at Boris TrumpTwin's home. Shut down the government.
War is politics by other means?
more
When I think...of all the people who voted to make this man president...I cannot help but feel some measure of anger. I must deal with that anger. I don’t want to wrestle it to the ground; I want to harness it....
That is a person who must be placed under unrelenting pressure. Power must be challenged, constantly. That begins today.
Ending the American Romance-Paul Krugman
Some morning-after thoughts: There’s...a vast disillusionment that as of now I think of as the end of the romantic vision of America (which I still love).
What I mean is the notion of US history as a sort of novel in which there may be great tragedy, but there’s always a happy ending. That is, we tell a story in which at times of crisis we always find the leader — Lincoln, FDR — and the moral courage we need.
It’s a particular kind of American exceptionalism; other countries don’t tell that kind of story about themselves. But I, like others, believed it.
Now it doesn’t look very good, does it? But giving up is not an option. The world needs a decent, democratic America, or we’re all lost. And there’s still a lot of decency in the nation — it’s just not as dominant as I imagined. Time to rethink, for sure. But not to surrender.
I feel the sorrow, the grief, the anger, the shock that Charles Blow and Paul Krugman feel. I felt it. A week before the election I texted my kids, "I am sorry. My life is almost over but yours are just beginning and I and my generation have bequeathed you a different America than we had. This is the end of that America. If Trump is elected it is a new, different, dangerous America 2.0."
It is difficult to place oneself in America 2.0, as Mr. Blow says. Bono said in 2012, "...this is about keeping faith with the idea of America." Well, America had a different idea on November 8! And, similarly to Mr. Blow I don't have faith in America anymore.
Mr. Krugman writes it is "the end of the romantic vision of America," that in times of moral crisis we always come up with a leader to surmount the challenge, in Churchill's phrase, "America always does the right thing at the last possible moment."
Well, at the last possible moment we didn't this time!
No, though there is still much decency in America, it is not as dominant as we thought.
It is a different America. Different from the one Mr. Blow and Mr. Krugman and Mr. Churchill knew. From the one I knew.
It is worse than what Mr. Blow and Mr. Krugman write. I wish to re-emphasize this. If Hillary Clinton had been elected on November 8 Mr. Blow and Mr. Krugman would not have written these articles in that way on November 9. The articles would have been of the "Whew! Close call" variety. Of course the election mattered, we got the worst of both worlds with Trump's election, but there is a psychological and behavioral difference in how we react to a close call than to an actual crash, we tend to write off the close call, "stuff happens," "coulda been worse," and not inquire into the cause: "Is this car I was driving when I had that close call safe?" We tend to make that inquiry after a crash, not after a close call.
And so I want to emphasize this: 62,000,000 Americans voted for a different America and a different Idea of America on November 8. Those 62,000,000 and their Idea of America were with us on November 7 and were with us on November 9 when Mr. Blow and Mr. Krugman wrote their articles. The election mattered. It gave presidential power to those 62,000,000. The election changed the Idea of America with immediate effect. But, America 1.0 was likely history on November 7. 62,000,000 cannot be written off. This is what democracy looks like. This is what America looks like.
What to do? Clinton won the popular vote by 574,064 votes. That is greater than Al Gore's margin over George W. Bush in 2000. That is greater than the population of America's thirty-second largest city, Albuquerque, New Mexico. That is twice now in 16 years that a loser in the popular vote has won the presidency in the Electoral College.
Do we abolish the Electoral College? Is that car we are driving unsafe at any speed with the Electoral College add-on? That was the question that was the subject of the phone call from my son last year. He was assigned to argue the "For" position on the Electoral College in his political science class. I was given the same assignment 43 years ago. I believed on both occasions that "For" was the correct position.
I do not now. Not after twice in sixteen years. Not after getting Bush the first time and now Trump.
Abolish it. I have no faith in the structures erected by our Founding Fathers to prevent America 2.0.
Abolishing the Electoral College would not get rid of the problem of the 62,000,000 but it would have delayed the coming of America 2.0.
What (else) to do?
#NotMyPresident? "He won legitimately," began Mr. Blow and indeed he did. Trump is your president, and legitimately so.
"No surrender," says Mr. Krugman.
Protest?
Aye to all.
Who? Who do we resist? Apply unrelenting pressure to? Not surrender to? And so I want to emphasize this: the 62,000,000.
How? How specifically?
Protest. Take to the streets. From Miami to Portland, and New York to Los Angeles anti-election protests have been going on since November 9--unprecedented in recent American history. Constant protest. Block highways, like the kids in Hong Kong did. Shut them down. Block airports, shut them down. Block the entrance to Trump Tower. Make him enter through a crowd, like British citizens did at Boris TrumpTwin's home. Shut down the government.
War is politics by other means?
more
