I am in shock. I could not believe the headlines when I finally got the courage to look this morning. About the only things I can say are that 1) I think Kamala ran an incredible campaign; 2) there are people in this country who just have to see what authoritarian is; and 3) I am so thankful for you and the others at TPM, as well as the wider Substack community, who give us community, a chance to feel heard, and intelligent writing to digest. Take care everyone.
I think it’s important to recognize that a lot of this is the culmination of a decades-long push by rich assholes to make America into a place where it’s safe for rich assholes to BE rich assholes. They’ve exploited and aggravated the fault lines in our society to make it happen.
"As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.”
Gee, Mr. Khrome...we already had a dose of the plain folks "heart's desire" President. It was a four year long rolling disaster that has somehow been (conveniently) forgotten all because of inflation (which is only going to get very much worse with boy genius Skippy the Dipshit and Trump the Ignorant's tariffs) and all those brown people looking for a better life.
Thank you David. I have always appreciated your words, but never more than now. My heart is broken. As a friend told me this morning, knowing that this was the will of the majority of Americans is actually worse than thinking it was from the interference of malign adversaries (though it was that too.) My heart breaks mostly for my daughter, who now may never have the opportunity to vote at all. It’s for kids like her and the most vulnerable among us that I will continue the work. Just not today. Today I grieve from the betrayal of people I mistakenly thought capable of better.
Thank you for this. Me and my household live in the Seattle suburbs and we're devastated. Dems won big in our state which doesn't mean much other than the coasts remain ardently blue and governors are strong and ready to defend against tyranny. I hope.
I live in Seattle and I’m feeling the same way. I’ve never been more grateful for our blue bubble, and the rejection of most of the ridiculous billionaire-driven initiatives. In particular, the rejection of I-2117 means that a strong majority of Washingtonians are willing to sacrifice short term self-interest (the price of gas at the pump) for long term climate resilience.
The myth that the GOP is strong on the economy has been perpetuated for so long. I'm afraid their supporters are going to find out they've been fooled. Let's all be sure to mark this: inflation has been going down while Biden has been in office. It's important if all this is indeed about the "economy."
The economy will continue to get better but now they'll think it's because Trump is in office. January 21, 2025 they'll believe the economy miraculously turned around.
I am so tired and even attempting to look to the future right now makes me want to go back to bed and pull the covers over my head. I am thankful for you, David, and everyone at TPM for their vigilance in covering this election. I plan to do a lot of outdoor walking and yoga over the next few weeks and see if that doesn't help me regroup. I may have a bottle of whiskey on tap as well to soothe the night terrors. Hang in there, everyone. Even though a majority voted for him there is a sizeable minority that did not and we will rally. My thoughts are with you all. Take care of yourselves.
Hi, I have also though all these thoughts. But as a liberal progressive professor living in deep red Indiana, we need to stop assuming that the 51% who voted for Trump are idiots, white supremacists, or need a really good lecture from us "know betters." Certainly there are some of those, and many shysters and propaganda pushers. But most of that 51% are our fellow citizens, trying to do well in a rapidly changing world, working hard, loving their kids, helping their neighbors --but who are facing increasing difficulties in every part of life that no one does anything about (not that Trump will, that is not my point, he will make it worse). But we need to see why they see democrats as condescending (I see it all the time her on TPM as well major news, every time rust belt, cornfield, hicks, not NYC, not elite, etc etc is mentioned if a state like Indiana or Wisconsin gets mentioned) and as not caring or knowing about their lives and issues. Really if the righteous left keeps doing it what does --trying to raise folks moral standing --we will keep getting what we are getting. A majority of folks looking for someone to break to the non governing, non-doing anything federal government. I know --no doubt that they are making the wrong choice in Trump and that Harris would be better and Biden did a good job, but we have to think about how we present the case. we really need to think about this.
Sympathetic to many aspects of this. I hate that you see at TPM and in this post what seems like condescension. But I can't subscribe to the notion that "a majority of folks looking for someone to break ... the non governing, non-doing anything federal government" is a result of the "righteous left." Clearly, the election results show the alternative was more appealing to more people. But it troubles me to pin the causation on any one factor–and especially to blame the left for the lurch to the far right. Indiana is deep red for a lot of reasons independent of what the left is doing. Still, I hear you on still needing to make the case and not reducing Trump voters to caricatures.
It’s finally clear that we have no opposition party on the national level. So what’s the plan?
I’m thinking local and state for now. Maybe if we’re successful enough then, then maybe some power nationally.
The other thing is to note that TR’s progressive policies, the New Deal, the post-WWII period through the Great Society periods were hugely anomalous. Tuesday’s result — voters and non-voters giving power to a completely unfit party is who we are as a nation.
I appreciate the respectful back-and-forth discussion here.
One thing I would mention is that Trump and the rightwing mediasphere are just as skilled, more so, at painting Democrats as a ridicule-worthy monolith - for example, think of the many unflattering caricatures of “woke” out there.
As a liberal woman with MAGA family, I hear condescension all the time - nobody but they and others like them are truly patriotic, truly Christian, etc.. And these are not Republicans down on their luck; financially comfortable, big house, but are diehard evangelicals fighting the non-existent bogeyman who turns kids trans. So how does one present a case to them?
My son (50) said the same thing to me tonight when we had dinner in Seattle where we live. Thanks for talking me down. I will send your comment to him. Do you teach at Earlham by chance?
I disagree. Inflation has been going down during Biden's presidency. Infaltion happens from time to time in a capitalist society, especially after a major pandemic, which we came out of remarkable well all things considered. As a supposed coastal elite, I have the right to be as offended by that term as any other term that gets thrown around. I do not hear the aspersions about midwesterners, BTW. Methinks they projecteth too much. If they want to be victims and give others that power, that's on them. It doesn't give them more rights than anyone else has.
Color me skeptical that “a better case” from Harris would’ve mattered one bit. The “condescension” Democrats supposedly engage in towards rural folk is mostly imaginary, a caricature constantly ginned up by right wing media and politicians that bears little resemblance to the solicitousness and live and let live attitudes I’ve mostly found in other liberals and leftists. The consequent searing contempt a lot of rural folk seem to have toward liberals, on the other hand, is very real, and frightening, and just taken as a given. I have tried to comprehend the shuddering lack of even a scintilla of empathy that would enable someone who presumably thinks of himself as a good person to vote for someone who promises a vision of America that will entail tremendous suffering, and all I get in response are lies and evasions and an insistence that he doesn’t really mean it, or an insistence that the other side is worse, despite it being just demonstrably untrue. I for the moment am done trying to understand these people. We need to figure out how to defend ourselves from them.
David, I am deeply grateful to be able to hear your voice this morning. My parents lived through the horrors of Hitler, WWII, Pearl Harbor, and their response was to fight. Ours will be a different kind of fight; a fight to save our planet. I am so grateful for you and the community here.
Thank you for this, it is helpful to put the situation in perspective.
But, you are assuming we will have another election cycle in four years. Are you so sure about that?
You say, "I feel a special empathy for those who came of age in the 1960s at the peak of Great Society reforms and have spent their adult lives witnessing their erosion." They didn't witness in the erosion - they participated in the erosion.
"In past elections that led to stinging defeats, you could take some solace in knowing that the pendulum of American political life swings back and forth with some regularity. The latest reversal, while seemingly devastating, could be reversed within the span of one election cycle. We sit here this morning with justifiable fear and trepidation that the mechanisms for such reversals of fortune – free and fair elections, majority rule, the rule of law itself – may not be available to us this time."
Not all of us oldsters participated in the erosion. Many of my friends and I came of age in the 60s and were active in progressive causes. I have voted democratic for 52 years, and I am saddened and traumatized by what is happening now.
Thank you for this, David—especially the ending. This morning I was reminded of how stunned my 17-year-old self felt in 1968 when Bobby Kennedy was killed. So sad and angry. Now I am also sad for myself who, at 73, is not likely to ever see a woman president—maybe not another president at all. I am very disappointed in young men for flocking to that monster. I hope they learn a lesson. The road ahead for young women is going to be rough. But I guess it always is.
going to need a bit of time to recover. I'm in Asheville, things have been nuts since Helene and we still have no date for when we'll have potable running water. but your seriousness and commitment echo what I've seen elsewhere from people I really value this morning.
we didn't choose it, but it's here. and we have to summon our best, most focused and resolute selves to understand that this is a lifetime commitment. right now that just makes me tired. but I get it and accept it.
Your honesty is your clarity. Sometimes clarity is the most we can hope for in life. That was true in WWII Europe, also. It was only the external force of US military might that made possible the Nazi defeat. No other country is poised to -- tragically -- take our former place. The evil now is not only national, but also global. The global climate does not have the luxury of time. About the only thing left for us Boomers is memories of how oxygen in US was "delicious" to breathe in the 60s.
I am in shock. I could not believe the headlines when I finally got the courage to look this morning. About the only things I can say are that 1) I think Kamala ran an incredible campaign; 2) there are people in this country who just have to see what authoritarian is; and 3) I am so thankful for you and the others at TPM, as well as the wider Substack community, who give us community, a chance to feel heard, and intelligent writing to digest. Take care everyone.
Call him a dictator, not an authoritarian. That is what he says he wants to be.
I think it’s important to recognize that a lot of this is the culmination of a decades-long push by rich assholes to make America into a place where it’s safe for rich assholes to BE rich assholes. They’ve exploited and aggravated the fault lines in our society to make it happen.
Agree. It so happens that was the topic of yesterday's Morning Memo: https://talkingpointsmemo.com/morning-memo/election-reforms-campaign-finance-dark-money-oligarchy
My only quibble would be: Let's not deprive everyone who succumbed to it of their own agency.
On that note:
"As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.”
HL Mencken
(h/t MJ Rosenberg)
Gee, Mr. Khrome...we already had a dose of the plain folks "heart's desire" President. It was a four year long rolling disaster that has somehow been (conveniently) forgotten all because of inflation (which is only going to get very much worse with boy genius Skippy the Dipshit and Trump the Ignorant's tariffs) and all those brown people looking for a better life.
Thank you David. I have always appreciated your words, but never more than now. My heart is broken. As a friend told me this morning, knowing that this was the will of the majority of Americans is actually worse than thinking it was from the interference of malign adversaries (though it was that too.) My heart breaks mostly for my daughter, who now may never have the opportunity to vote at all. It’s for kids like her and the most vulnerable among us that I will continue the work. Just not today. Today I grieve from the betrayal of people I mistakenly thought capable of better.
Thank you for this. Me and my household live in the Seattle suburbs and we're devastated. Dems won big in our state which doesn't mean much other than the coasts remain ardently blue and governors are strong and ready to defend against tyranny. I hope.
We in CA feel the same way. I finally stopped crying in hopes of this going forward.
I live in Seattle and I’m feeling the same way. I’ve never been more grateful for our blue bubble, and the rejection of most of the ridiculous billionaire-driven initiatives. In particular, the rejection of I-2117 means that a strong majority of Washingtonians are willing to sacrifice short term self-interest (the price of gas at the pump) for long term climate resilience.
The myth that the GOP is strong on the economy has been perpetuated for so long. I'm afraid their supporters are going to find out they've been fooled. Let's all be sure to mark this: inflation has been going down while Biden has been in office. It's important if all this is indeed about the "economy."
The economy will continue to get better but now they'll think it's because Trump is in office. January 21, 2025 they'll believe the economy miraculously turned around.
I am so tired and even attempting to look to the future right now makes me want to go back to bed and pull the covers over my head. I am thankful for you, David, and everyone at TPM for their vigilance in covering this election. I plan to do a lot of outdoor walking and yoga over the next few weeks and see if that doesn't help me regroup. I may have a bottle of whiskey on tap as well to soothe the night terrors. Hang in there, everyone. Even though a majority voted for him there is a sizeable minority that did not and we will rally. My thoughts are with you all. Take care of yourselves.
Hi, I have also though all these thoughts. But as a liberal progressive professor living in deep red Indiana, we need to stop assuming that the 51% who voted for Trump are idiots, white supremacists, or need a really good lecture from us "know betters." Certainly there are some of those, and many shysters and propaganda pushers. But most of that 51% are our fellow citizens, trying to do well in a rapidly changing world, working hard, loving their kids, helping their neighbors --but who are facing increasing difficulties in every part of life that no one does anything about (not that Trump will, that is not my point, he will make it worse). But we need to see why they see democrats as condescending (I see it all the time her on TPM as well major news, every time rust belt, cornfield, hicks, not NYC, not elite, etc etc is mentioned if a state like Indiana or Wisconsin gets mentioned) and as not caring or knowing about their lives and issues. Really if the righteous left keeps doing it what does --trying to raise folks moral standing --we will keep getting what we are getting. A majority of folks looking for someone to break to the non governing, non-doing anything federal government. I know --no doubt that they are making the wrong choice in Trump and that Harris would be better and Biden did a good job, but we have to think about how we present the case. we really need to think about this.
Sympathetic to many aspects of this. I hate that you see at TPM and in this post what seems like condescension. But I can't subscribe to the notion that "a majority of folks looking for someone to break ... the non governing, non-doing anything federal government" is a result of the "righteous left." Clearly, the election results show the alternative was more appealing to more people. But it troubles me to pin the causation on any one factor–and especially to blame the left for the lurch to the far right. Indiana is deep red for a lot of reasons independent of what the left is doing. Still, I hear you on still needing to make the case and not reducing Trump voters to caricatures.
It’s finally clear that we have no opposition party on the national level. So what’s the plan?
I’m thinking local and state for now. Maybe if we’re successful enough then, then maybe some power nationally.
The other thing is to note that TR’s progressive policies, the New Deal, the post-WWII period through the Great Society periods were hugely anomalous. Tuesday’s result — voters and non-voters giving power to a completely unfit party is who we are as a nation.
So what’s are you thinking, Professor?
I appreciate the respectful back-and-forth discussion here.
One thing I would mention is that Trump and the rightwing mediasphere are just as skilled, more so, at painting Democrats as a ridicule-worthy monolith - for example, think of the many unflattering caricatures of “woke” out there.
As a liberal woman with MAGA family, I hear condescension all the time - nobody but they and others like them are truly patriotic, truly Christian, etc.. And these are not Republicans down on their luck; financially comfortable, big house, but are diehard evangelicals fighting the non-existent bogeyman who turns kids trans. So how does one present a case to them?
My son (50) said the same thing to me tonight when we had dinner in Seattle where we live. Thanks for talking me down. I will send your comment to him. Do you teach at Earlham by chance?
I disagree. Inflation has been going down during Biden's presidency. Infaltion happens from time to time in a capitalist society, especially after a major pandemic, which we came out of remarkable well all things considered. As a supposed coastal elite, I have the right to be as offended by that term as any other term that gets thrown around. I do not hear the aspersions about midwesterners, BTW. Methinks they projecteth too much. If they want to be victims and give others that power, that's on them. It doesn't give them more rights than anyone else has.
Color me skeptical that “a better case” from Harris would’ve mattered one bit. The “condescension” Democrats supposedly engage in towards rural folk is mostly imaginary, a caricature constantly ginned up by right wing media and politicians that bears little resemblance to the solicitousness and live and let live attitudes I’ve mostly found in other liberals and leftists. The consequent searing contempt a lot of rural folk seem to have toward liberals, on the other hand, is very real, and frightening, and just taken as a given. I have tried to comprehend the shuddering lack of even a scintilla of empathy that would enable someone who presumably thinks of himself as a good person to vote for someone who promises a vision of America that will entail tremendous suffering, and all I get in response are lies and evasions and an insistence that he doesn’t really mean it, or an insistence that the other side is worse, despite it being just demonstrably untrue. I for the moment am done trying to understand these people. We need to figure out how to defend ourselves from them.
Thanks for this beautifully written piece. It helped me to let the tears flow..
David, I am deeply grateful to be able to hear your voice this morning. My parents lived through the horrors of Hitler, WWII, Pearl Harbor, and their response was to fight. Ours will be a different kind of fight; a fight to save our planet. I am so grateful for you and the community here.
Thank you.
Thank you David.
Thank you for this, it is helpful to put the situation in perspective.
But, you are assuming we will have another election cycle in four years. Are you so sure about that?
You say, "I feel a special empathy for those who came of age in the 1960s at the peak of Great Society reforms and have spent their adult lives witnessing their erosion." They didn't witness in the erosion - they participated in the erosion.
Not assuming! icymi:
"In past elections that led to stinging defeats, you could take some solace in knowing that the pendulum of American political life swings back and forth with some regularity. The latest reversal, while seemingly devastating, could be reversed within the span of one election cycle. We sit here this morning with justifiable fear and trepidation that the mechanisms for such reversals of fortune – free and fair elections, majority rule, the rule of law itself – may not be available to us this time."
Not all of us oldsters participated in the erosion. Many of my friends and I came of age in the 60s and were active in progressive causes. I have voted democratic for 52 years, and I am saddened and traumatized by what is happening now.
We not only don't learn from history but a majority are just fine with shooting it in the middle of fifth avenue.
Thank you for this, David—especially the ending. This morning I was reminded of how stunned my 17-year-old self felt in 1968 when Bobby Kennedy was killed. So sad and angry. Now I am also sad for myself who, at 73, is not likely to ever see a woman president—maybe not another president at all. I am very disappointed in young men for flocking to that monster. I hope they learn a lesson. The road ahead for young women is going to be rough. But I guess it always is.
thanks, Joe, I needed that.
going to need a bit of time to recover. I'm in Asheville, things have been nuts since Helene and we still have no date for when we'll have potable running water. but your seriousness and commitment echo what I've seen elsewhere from people I really value this morning.
we didn't choose it, but it's here. and we have to summon our best, most focused and resolute selves to understand that this is a lifetime commitment. right now that just makes me tired. but I get it and accept it.
Your honesty is your clarity. Sometimes clarity is the most we can hope for in life. That was true in WWII Europe, also. It was only the external force of US military might that made possible the Nazi defeat. No other country is poised to -- tragically -- take our former place. The evil now is not only national, but also global. The global climate does not have the luxury of time. About the only thing left for us Boomers is memories of how oxygen in US was "delicious" to breathe in the 60s.
I feel so unified after your message…will keep tuning in; we will work together 💕