So…what the hell do we do now?
I didn’t fully process the idea of Donald Trump becoming President until it was over. Treating him like a joke was my coping mechanism — an effort to will away the possibility that our country could hand the keys to a man accused of sexual assault, who denigrates minorities, mocks the disabled, and cares so much about himself and so little about the job.
But it happened. This is not a dream. And we’re left with a mix of sadness, fear and permanence that most closely resembles the wound that comes after the death of a loved one. You can be distracted from it, or fall asleep for the night, but the next morning it wakes up with you — a permanent ache that we now have to live with.
So the question I’m getting from my friends, from Keepin’ it 1600 listeners, and am asking myself is — what do we do now? How do we channel this anger and fear into something meaningful? There’s no one answer, but here are some thoughts I cobbled together on where to start that might be helpful.
Try to better understand what happened. Watching the news is physically painful. My Twitter feed is a cesspool on a good day and now it’s intolerable. But it’s important to try and figure out what happened. I doubt there will be a simple answer, but we have to face some hard facts and learn from our mistakes. More importantly, we have to try and figure out why so many people voted for him, and then figure out how to win them back.
A painful look at what would’ve happened if just 1 out of every 100 shifted from Trump to Clinton.
A deep dive into how Trump’s data team saw the electorate.
Slate’s Jim Newell argues that the Democratic Party establishment is dead.
ADDITION: Understanding why 53% of white women supported Trump.
Get involved locally. Presidential elections are sexy and exciting. Local elections form the foundation of the party. Volunteer at your local Democratic (or Republican if you’re #nevertrump) Party office. Register voters. Recruit candidates to run. Run for office yourself. You can have a huge impact on a local race.
Work on a Governors races. If you think things are bad for Democrats in DC, take a look at the states. Republicans have 33 Governors, 33 states with full legislative control and 26 states with a Republican governor and legislature (h/t @LPDonovan) That is a disaster. But it’s also a near-term opportunity to start winning seats back. Five states have off year elections in 2017, and 2018 will be here sooner than you think. Great Governors can make great presidential candidates and they control redistricting, which has huge implications for winning Congressional seats.
Don’t fetishize easy answers. California isn’t going to secede. The electoral college isn’t going to refuse to cast their votes for Trump. Those are both bad ideas for many reasons, but mostly because it’s a distraction from doing the hard work that will actually make a difference in the long run.
Keep speaking out. Democracies work when there’s a loyal, loud, constructive opposition. The fact that Donald Trump won doesn’t mean he’s right and you’re wrong. Keep standing up for what you believe, speak out when he’s taking the wrong course, and fight for what you believe. I’m all for trying to find common ground, but that’s very different than acquiescing or hoping for the best. But please don’t burn the American flag at a protest. It just plays into the alt-right narrative.
This list is too brief. It’s not actionable enough for me, either. But whatever you do, don’t give up. Don’t get lulled into apathy. If you became politically active during the Obama years, it’s easy to think that there will always be clarity and leadership. That’s not the case. Being a Democrat from 200o until the 2006 midterms was pretty much a nightmare. But it got better. We found our way, and we’ll do so again.
UPDATE: Donate to organization like the ACLU. We should all be worried about Trump’s willingness to trample our civil liberties. One of the last places to fight him is in the courts. The ACLU will be the tip of the spear.
UPDATE: Pay for journalism. It took just a few hours for Trump to break with established rules for press access, and he long ago pledged to change our libel laws to make it easier for him to sue news outlets that publish stories he doesn’t like. Great newspapers need our support. Pay for a subscription to the Washington Post, or the New York Times, or another outlet that you think did great investigative coverage this cycle. If you can, support your local paper.
If you have better ideas to add to these mediocre ones, Tweet them at me. I’ll update this post and maybe together we can figure some shit out.
