With only hours until the inauguration, I remain shocked and disoriented by what happened on November 8th. A candidate who broke all the rules of politics — and most of the rules of decency — was elected, attracting more than 46 percent of the national vote.
As a Democrat living in a very blue city within a suddenly red state, most of the people I know are still processing many of the same emotions as me.
Many of my fellow progressives say that now is the time for us to pivot to a permanent state of attack: we must spend the next four years overwhelming Donald Trump with assaults on his ideas, his actions, and his character to ensure that he is never legitimized in the minds of most Americans.
Others have said that now is a time for healing: with the election behind us, we should wish our new president well, and focus on the things that unite us as Americans.
While I understand each of these sentiments, I disagree with both of them.
Some of my friends have pointed out that the Republicans won by relentlessly and effectively demonizing their Democratic opponents. They say that we would be foolish and weak not to give as good as we got.
At my most frustrated, this argument has a lot of appeal. But then I take a good look at the Republicans today, and they don’t look very happy to me… they look frightened.
Yes, they won, but I wouldn’t trade places with them. Their victory was hollow. It came without a mandate or even an agenda. They were united not by a vision for the country, but by an intense dislike for the sitting president. On January 20th at noon, they won’t have even that anymore.
Democrats can spend the next four years summoning their vitriol for Trump. It will probably feel good, and it might even pay temporary political dividends. But when we do win again, our victory will be like theirs, and Democrats will have no path to effective governance. We’ll be the party that is against Trump, but stands for nothing.
That does not mean, however, we should give Trump the benefit of the doubt.
The notion of setting aside our differences and rallying around the new president is a quaint one, but would be misplaced in this situation.
Since November 8th, his behavior has been at least as troubling as it was during the campaign. His cabinet choices and his public statements suggest our nation is transitioning toward a hands-off environmental policy, a hostile immigration policy, a disparaging attitude towards our civil rights heroes, an anything-but-Obamacare healthcare system, and an amoral, destabilizing foreign policy. Any of these must be met with organized and fierce resistance.
Further, we cannot allow his victory to contribute to a coarsening of our culture. The prejudice and degradation he apparently got away with during the campaign needs to be rebuked even more forcefully now that he is president.
But, there also is a possibility — however remote it seems today — that Trump might try to do something good in the next four years. He might make good on his pledge for a massive infrastructure project that helps hard-working Americans. He could decide it makes more sense to fix the flaws of Obamacare rather than throw millions off of their health insurance plans. He may seek a way to genuinely help those rural low-income communities where he received so many votes.
If he does any of these things, he will need the support of progressives – and we should lend it to him. Anything that can actually move the country forward in the next four years is worth doing, even if Trump gets the political credit for it.
Most of all, we need to stay engaged. That’s harder than it sounds. It’s time-consuming and not terribly exciting. After an election like this one, the idea of turning away from the news and focusing entirely on football or Game of Thrones sounds pretty attractive.
But there’s too much at stake. We have to follow the policy debates in Washington, call our congressional representatives, post alerts on social media, and write letters — like this one — to our local publications. We need to keep an eye out for political talent and nourish it when we recognize it.
Cities will continue to be the protectors of progressive ideals, but we would do those ideals a disservice if we don’t reach out to fight rural poverty with the same fervor we combat urban poverty. If we start from the premise that those who disagree with us are inherently bad people, we will wind up talking only to ourselves. As Democrats, we alone cannot change the tone in Washington. However, we have the power to change our own tone. Respectful debate is a good thing, especially when it includes listening.
It would be insincere to say that I’m optimistic about the next four years. I most certainly am not. But nor am I fatalistic.
I have heard many of my fellow progressives use the rallying cry “Not my president.” To me, that feels empty – not to mention factually incorrect.
I prefer “Still my country.” And I will fight for it.
Shannon Hardin
Columbus City Councilmember
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