We Will Overcome the Cloud of A Trump Presidency

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Last updated on July 17th, 2023 at 09:30 pm

There’s a cloud over America. It’s a cloud my mother experienced as many Jewish children did in the 1930’s. It’s a cloud she hoped I would never see and one with which I wish we wouldn’t be living. But believe it or not, we have it in us to see the silver lining in that cloud.

For all the grief and anger we’re feeling right now, at least we know what we’re getting. It’s the people who believed in Trump’s message of hate who are in for a fall. They’re under the mistaken belief that Trump cares about anyone other than himself. They believe in his wall and the pride he took in grabbing women by the “p” word. They believe that getting rid of the Affordable Care Act will give them the doctor they want when in reality they won’t have access to a doctor at all. They also believe that the successes which eluded them under a system that already favored them will magically appear like unicorns and fairy dust.

They have no idea what they have done to America or to themselves. When it hits it will hit hard.

Unlike before, they won’t be able to blame Democrats, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, women, people of color, immigrants (documented or otherwise) the LGBT community or their lack of access to a gun.
The trashing of America that is inevitable as Republicans rip food out of children’s mouths to give their donors more handouts will be on them.

They will have no one to blame for the women who die in childbirth other than themselves. They will have no one to blame for working like slaves for pennies, if that, than themselves.

Taking responsibility for their actions and the inevitable failure of Republican policies will be harder on them than these moments are on us. It seems hard to believe, but we will get through this.

We’re in for a rough ride, as Republicans try to govern with ideas that already left their voters behind. We’ll have to fight every step of the way. The world is in for turmoil as Vladimir Putin calls in favors from his newest useful idiot.

All of this breaks our hearts. Many of us wish we could run and hide. I sure did when the results became unavoidably clear.

But that’s never the answer. It’s time to get back to work for the America that is great because it includes everyone.

America was imperfect but still better than anything Trump represents simply because he resorted to vote suppression and voter intimidation. Leaders with winning ideas win people over. They don’t crush them into submission. They don’t put the media in a pen. They have more to offer than hate speech targeted at everyone their base blames for its own failures in life.

But hiding or running away merely hands the country to them. This is our country and these are our values. The America that Trump and his followers want isn’t the America we want to leave for our children. Our children, our country, and our values were worth fighting for yesterday. Our country, our children, and our values need us to fight for them today more than ever.