An Election at the Edge of a Precipice
Posted on Nov 5, 2024 by Trevor in Politics
Despite my having personally cast a vote against the man six times—3 primaries and 3 general elections—the malignant ogre that has been a key fixture of American politics and even non-political discourse for the better part of the last decade stands a coin flip’s chance of being re-elected. And I am genuinely at a loss to explain how we got here.
I typically avoid talking about politics with people face-to-face because I live in an area where most hold views that diverge significantly from mine. In this era of Trumpism and the accompanying rise in extremism, politics is even more of a third-rail topic than it normally is.
It has been a source of deep, gut-wrenching distress to see the people in my life that I know and love not only vote for this horrid man, but in some cases take glee in supporting him, his behaviors, and his policies. I admit I lack the psychological tools to process this. It has caused a deep loss in the trust and respect I place in many family, friends, and neighbors.
I can hear the retort: “So, just because of a difference in political views? Isn’t that insanely shallow?”
But it’s not that. I’ve long been a proponent of having healthy, civil debates of ideas and inviting all sorts of viewpoints to the table to solve challenging problems. This is different.
I’ve spend a lot of time trying to put my finger on what disturbs me the most about seeing people I know support that guy, and I wanted to try to capture it in words.
Imagine a candidate for president that promoted policies up and down that aligned perfectly with my preferences. Maybe this candidate even proposes that software devs get to cut to the beginning of the line in theme parks and restaurants, offers to subsidize Major League Soccer so each team gets an ongoing $10 million to recruit more of the world’s best talent.
But then this candidate brags about grabbing women’s pussies. Or instead, has a history of scamming small-time contractors. Or is found in court to have raped a woman. Or mocks a disabled reporter. Or incites a mob to attack the nation’s capital because they falsely claim the election was stolen. Or sleeps with a pornography actress when their wife just had a baby and commits a felony to pay her off with campaign money. Or, any number of literally hundreds of atrocities that this candidate commits, each of which individually should be uncategorically disqualifying for anyone.
I would unquestionably reject this candidate immediately. And I feel strongly that everyone else should as well. I don’t care if you think their policies might be good. And it’s not really a policy discussion we’re having here anyway.
For example, I’m fine discussing immigration policy with someone who thinks we need tighter border security, or that we should limit how many immigrants we let in, or how we should distribute refugees, etc. I probably disagree deeply with them, but I can still respect their view, so long as it’s thoughtfully considered, respectful of others, and rooted in facts.
Today’s political landscape, however, is not like that. At the very least, most of the present-day Republican candidate’s rhetoric winks at, laughs at, or tolerates racism. In many cases, his campaign overtly embraces it.
When he first announced his candidacy, nearly everyone knew he was a vulgar, disgusting man with a history of stiffing people. Almost every single leader in the Republican party made statements of unprecedented levels of specific disgust and horror at the prospect of giving the car keys to such an odious man. We all knew at that early date just how offensive he was.
But as time went on, it seems people gradually desensitized themselves to his relentless barrage of insults, vulgar provocations, and incitements to hostility, the ones we all worried would feature so prominently in his presidency. Soon those people were marking his name on their ballots.
After the January 6 insurrection, we all got a chance to hit the reset button. Nearly everyone shuddered in horror at what happened and how close we came to an even worse outcome as a nation. Former supporters of his turned against him and declared once more that this a line they couldn’t cross. Again, so many people, even former supporters, realize how intolerable this was.
And yet, here we are again, with millions of people once again moving across that line, even if reluctantly, allowing themselves to forget or minimize what happened.
See, my family, friends, and neighbors, most of them are very good people. Without many exceptions, they are kind, they are good company, they are part of what makes America great. This conman threatening to inflict another four years of catastrophic damage upon our country does not deserve their support, willing, reluctant, or otherwise.
I said I have lost a lot of trust and respect for some of these people, and I really feel bad about that. Maybe I should keep that to myself. But here’s the thing: I do believe that they are still good people.
In fact, I will guarantee that the day will come when none of them will admit they supported this guy. (Ideally, they will admit they were wrong to support him, but that’s not how human nature works, unfortunately.) They will downplay their enthusiasm for casting their vote, or perhaps claim they voted third party or “don’t really remember”.
Because whether he wins or loses, eventually his toxic character will become separate from the identity that many of his ardent supporters have adopted onto themselves, and with the passage of time, this will allow them to see him more clearly for what he is. And they will feel disgust.
It is, of course, my most sincere and deep hope that he is soundly defeated, and that we as a nation come together to recognize the unprecedented harm caused by this divisive chapter in our history. But to have any kind of serious national reckoning of what went wrong that got us so close to the precipice, I fear we will not be able to simply “forgive and forget”. That’s not a call to hold grudges, but for accountability and a determination to shore up the failures that let us get so far off track in the first place.
