If I saw a wolf I would run away. I would not engage the wolf.
Sometimes, in stories, like Little Red Riding Hood, for instance, or True Blood, for another, wolves come disguised as innocents and normals. They are still wolves, but one can be excused for not realizing it right away. Not everyone has the ability to see through a clever disguise.
However, when a wolf enters your space, announces that he’s a wolf, bares his teeth, and starts tearing people apart, how do you not realize that you are dealing with a wolf? How do people look at the wolf and see a savior? Or, even more bizarrely, a Daddy figure?
The Republicans are having a good time razzing us for our “whining”, as if we haven’t listened to them whine for the last eight years, ad nauseum. I understand why-I might feel the same way if the tide had seemed against me for 8 years and then, against most expectations, it turned in my direction. It must seem ridiculous to hear the left go on about the unfairness of it all after having had everything go their way for so long.
For the record, I think if it had been a different candidate, someone with some political experience, say, who didn’t talk about punching people in the face and pussy groping, who doesn’t have a long history of publicly excoriating people he doesn’t like, the outcry might not have been so loud and emotional. It’s not just that there’s a Republican in the White House; it’s that there is a wolf in our midst. He never pretended to be anything but a wolf and we elected him anyways.
I hope that if a Kardashian runs on the Democratic ticket in four years that I will not be swayed by her awesome tweets and botox-for-all platform, but who knows-maybe I’ll be so desperate for change I won’t care. I might raise an eyebrow when she appoints LaLa Anthony as her Chief Strategist and her sisters as Senior Advisors, but, then again, maybe I won’t. Maybe that’s how desperate I’ll be.
In short, I don’t blame the Republicans for electing a wolf in wolf’s clothing. But people who thought he should be president because they don’t like immigrants or gay people or pro-life people or black/yellow/muslim/whatever people? You are accountable for what happens from here on out. Democrats who couldn’t bring yourselves to vote for the other candidate so didn’t bother voting at all? You’re accountable, too. It’s disappointing and eye-opening. I will never again be someone who trusts the process and avoids politics. I am a white, female, college-educated Democrat. I was proud to vote for Hillary Clinton. I’ll be watching.
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Chicken's Consigliere 
It is strange, isn’t it? There were other choices early in the process, but he just kept on racking up the wins. It’s hard to figure. I read something yesterday that predicts there may be a lot more upsets in elections across Europe in the next year; that a number of leaders who have been in power for years will be voted out. It’s unsettling.
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Hi Jenny-What I see is a lot of copy cat politicking, and a lot of people jumping on board to support those candidates. Anyone saying that “the president doesn’t really have that much power, that there are checks and balances” is not seeing the whole picture. He’s created a strategy and it’s going to be used to elect other people just like him. Who all won’t get along because the last thing a narcissist wants is another narcissist stealing the show!
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He certainly tapped into a vein of America that we didn’t believe could be so true. They obviously are not the lunatic fringe, or even the fringe. I believe a lot of our social progress will be destroyed, and not until it happens will the people who did this realize that fat white men do not care about them. Then what, I do not know. I cannot believe decency was only a veneer.
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Hi Joanne, he certainly did and I agree. Got a little chuckle out of “fat white men”.
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Trump got a little more than 60 million votes, which is right in the ballpark with McCain and Romney, so no, he didn’t uncover some previously untapped well of resentment that added to some kind of “political revolution.”
Hillary Clinton so far has a bit more than 61 million votes, but since two of the most populous states are California and New York (California has roughly twice the population of New York) both reliably Democratic states, that’s not enough to win the electoral college since the gutting of the VRA. By comparison Obama got almost 70 million in 2008 and 65 million in 2012. We lost because not enough of us voted this time.
I knew they were gonna do this, and I wrote about it during the primaries: The Republican plan all along was to make this election so ugly and repulsive that enough people would refuse to participate in it that they would win. That’s exactly what they did, and they won.
There were also some shady vote suppression tactics that they pulled this time that helped them win: Greg Palast has written about a process called crosscheck which purged more voters from the rolls in at least three states than Trump’s margin of victory in those states. The guy behind that trick was Kris Kobach, who is secretary of state in Kansas now, and previously authored Arizona’s SB1070 “Papers please” immigration law. Look for him to receive a high level job in the Trump administration.
My own feeling is that Joanne is right: the fat white guys own this, and I don’t want to let anyone forget that when this whole thing starts blowing up in their faces.
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Hi Doug! The only problem is that if the fat cats fail, we all fail, now, so we can’t even indulge ourselves with the hope that stuff starts blowing up. We just have to…change…and organize ourselves better. My hope is that we can do it in a less repulsive way than the alt right did.
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I agree. As a liberal, I feel that I must hold myself to a higher standard, which is one of the many reasons I’m a liberal to begin with. What I was trying to say is that it seems like Republicans are very good at flushing their atrocities down the memory hole and continuing on as if nothing ever happened, or more commonly, if something did happen, both sides are equally to blame for it, when that is not even remotely true.
I am not being partisan, pessimistic, or hyperbolic when I say that bad things are going to happen (such as me losing a big chunk of my health insurance) because of this election, and I feel that now it’s my job to make sure that those who perpetrated this continue to own it so it doesn’t happen again in four years.
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Hi Doug-I wasn’t criticising-I was speaking about fighting my own nature to want things to go badly for them. I think the memory hole is an alt right strategy-they call for unity when they’ve been devisive for years, they accuse liberals of doing the things that they’ve been doing for years, and it’s infuriating. You can’t take it personally, though, because it’s strategy-not an honorable one, but not personally directed, either. I have to remind myself that 1.) it’s the work of a few and 2.) I know many Republicans and they are good, decent people who do not support this methodology. They are kind of stuck in a tough place-they want change and these imbeciles have just handed it to them. What to do? Just go with the flow, I guess. We’ll see what the next four years brings.
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OK, when I check your blog in the mornings to see what’s up and keep seeing the title to this post, it keeps making me think of Rilo Kiley, and Jenny Lewis’ reaction to the previous Republican we elected:
“It’s A Hit”
Any chimp can play human for a day
And use his opposable thumbs to iron his uniform;
And run for office on election day;
And fancy himself a real decision maker,
Then deploy more troops than salt in a shaker.
But it’s a jungle when war is made,
And you’ll panic and throw your own shit at the enemy.
The camera pulls back to reveal your true identity.
Look, it’s a sheep in wolf’s clothing,
A smoking gun holding ape.
I think it was the “sheep in wolf’s clothing part that I was being reminded of.
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Maybe it’s a favorite costume in certain circles:-) And the closer we get to the big day, the more convinced I become that we’re in trouble. Wish we could count on the Electors, but I’m thinking that’s a very slim chance. I think we’re stuck with him. Hope we’ve all learned our lessons. I’m happy to hear from you, Doug. I have never been to Oakland but I’ve been hearing about the fires on the news and it always makes me think of you.
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Still trying to figure out whether I knew any of the victims, so far it looks like I didn’t. The fire was kind of eerie to me, as I was living in a not-zoned-for-residential foundry building with no sprinklers, sub-standard structure, and a performance space where they held unlicensed events until there was a fire that cut off the electricity last year at this time.
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You nailed it.
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Thank you, Paulette.
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Chicken, I concur entirely with your thoughts here. There’s some difference between what comes next and the things the Bush administration broke the first 8 years of this troubled century. We’d need several more Obamas to fix the country but now we have this. My sincere dream is that Mr. Trump will contain himself, become the square-toed centrist this country really needs to restore partisan unity, but I’m full of doubt. For that kind of stability, we need a president who is devoted to government by discussion –an essential component of democracy– and skilled in it, which is why I voted for Mrs. Clinton and now advocate the abolition of the Electoral College. And yet, I remember Adlai Stevenson saying, “It’s not enough to have every intelligent person in the country voting for me –I need a majority.” I was much younger then, but understood the humor and the cleverness of the man. The dream has not yet turned to hope, but it would be encouraging to learn Trump was that smart.
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Thank you, Geo. I hope so, too, but he seems to be surrounding himself with people who a.) have a specific nefarious agenda or b.) are, by reputation, autocrats who aren’t very likely to listen to each other. Considering that my own agenda is quite different from anyone he’s brought on board so far, I’m concerned. But I’ve decided that this is going to be the year of no fear because these guys are mostly bullies and I’m not going to give them the satisfaction.
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Some friendly support from a Canadian to the north…I’m a fat while guy and I absolutely agree with everything you said. We’re watching this wolf/buffoon too.
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Thanks DBS-it’s always nice to hear from you. I guess I’ll have to take your word for the fat white guy part, but you are a Canadian-that’s different! Like Santa:-)
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Amen, sister.
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Dear Chicken, I was happy to reply to your welcome comments this evening. Thank you so much:
http://atrialinvader.blogspot.com/2016/11/back-page.html
http://atrialinvader.blogspot.com/2016/11/back-porch-poem.html
http://atrialinvader.blogspot.com/2009/02/introduction.html
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HI Geo-you are welcome and thank you.
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