We Know Exactly How We Got Here

I’ve been seeing articles all day decrying shock and despair over the election results. As if we haven’t seen it before only eight years ago.

Don’t get me wrong here. I am just as despaired as the rest of the population who didn’t want the U.S. to cave to a more overt form of the fascism it was already courting. As a trans person, as a person who is in community with BIPOC, disabled, Jewish, and Muslim folks…I have barely stopped crying today. (And I’m not a crier, for what it’s worth.)

However, I’m not in the least bit shocked. We already know that our country has a problem with seeing a woman in power. Some women joked about going to the polls to cancel their husbands' votes as if it were a game and not one of the most depressing things to land on TikTok. I heard someone being interviewed who said Black and Latino men in his community were “not ready for a female president.”

And white men? Well. I don’t think I need to go into a deep dive on their reasoning, apart from pointing out the obvious racist sprinkling that exists on top of the patriarchal sundae.

My landlord was quick to remind me that we had a primary before I was old enough to vote that pitted Obama against Hilary Clinton. That Hilary won the popular vote, but the DNC ultimately chose Obama.

Even as I write this, I realize that my standard for referring to candidates is highly gendered. I called Kamala Harris “Kamala” and Donald Trump “Trump”. (And used “Hilary” and “Obama” above.) I have, generally speaking, called female candidates by their first names and male candidates by their last - simply because that’s what I’ve been hearing and never questioned it until writing this post. How fucked up is that?

While sitting with this, I am mulling over the dual projects of gender equality and antiracism, and recognizing that ultimately we cannot address one without addressing the other. In many DEI programs, which already are riddled with flaws, I’ve seen a focus on one at a time. If we ever want to learn our lesson from the 2008 primary, the 2016 election, and now this election, we would push for a unified program of unlearning the perils of patriarchy and racism. [a]

Speaking of identities, I’m not shocked is because the liberal left has for years assumed they had all the marginalized identities in the bag, that all they had to do was show up at a protest here or march in a parade there. They settled for slow reform instead of radical structural change for issues that plague more than half the population. [b]

Those who are paying attention know that this is an absolute batshit scheme because - dally long enough on calling for a ceasefire to end a genocide, for example, as one of the latest show tunes in the Spinelessness Cabaret - the opposition has been just leaving the door wide open for the disenfranchised to wipe their feet on the welcome mat.

The noxious cocktail of sexism, racism, and just plain cowardice was a pipe bomb in the making for the Democratic Party. As I’m writing this, there are “How We Got Here” articles popping up all over the place. I don’t claim to be some kind of expert or novel thinker when it comes to listing out all of this analysis. Frankly, I wouldn’t even call it analysis - it’s as plain as day if you’re not head-to-ass already buried in the sand.

I’m only piping up with my two cents because if there was a time for the left generally (liberals to more radical leftists) to re-calibrate their ailing political playbook, it would be now. Now more than ever we are going to need to work together to understand how to erect a sizable opposition of what is to come.

For today, though, care for your body and your community, allow yourself to grieve. As one friend told me, long change involves also slowing down to recognize how the feelings are showing up in your body, and caring for your body as it experiences them. If you’re like me and are having difficulty keeping food down, consider some ginger tea and a walk outside. Little stolen moments like this will gift us the ability to build resilience down the road.

And we’re going to need a lot of that to make it through the next four years.

Footnotes

[a] I’m having some nascent thoughts on patriarchy’s hand in creating racism, but I will wait for another time to expound on it, since a sermon on colonialism is currently not the point.

[b] Together BIPOC communities and non-cis-male communities are larger than cis-white male communities.