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pennswoods) wrote2024-11-04 09:53 am
pennswoods) wrote2024-11-04 09:53 am
Entry tags:
2016 - 2020 - 2024
I was living in Sweden in 2016 and I remember proudly taking a picture of my envelope, ready to be mailed to the US in time to be counted. I had not been following US politics or the election that closely. It is a little understandable since I was living in Sweden and part of my life there was trying to acculturate to life in Sweden and Swedish and European news. I went to bed excited because I thought the US was finally about to elect its first woman president. I woke up and learned that the US had instead elected a man who was a blatantly racist, misogynistic, incompetent reality TV show star and social media influencer. That very morning I had a Swedish class in which I was the only American. The topic was on the election process in Sweden. Almost everyone in the room was horrified and instead of talking about Sweden, we talked about the US. I was asked to explain what happened. I couldn't. I felt so ashamed, humiliated and despondent. At work, my students and colleagues kept talking about it and asking me about it. I couldn't explain my country. I felt so much shame as an American and I felt so naive and out of touch but tired. I could not explain it to all the people who asked me because I didn't see it coming and I could not relate. It was a raw awful week - not nearly as raw and horrifying as it was for those in the US but it stands out because I felt so alone. There were no other Americans I could commiserate with, not even my husband who was so checked out of things due to his own issues that he had not even voted that election.
In 2020, I was living in Maryalnd and working from home and living a very limited isolated life due to the pandemic. I had voted by mail as well because of the virus. I had followed things closely, so closely online because online was the only contact I had with other people. Biden had not been my first choice, (that had been Elizabeth Warren) but the pandemic seemed to have turned society on its head and Biden seemed impermeable to Trump's erratic posturing, COVID denialism, and general bullying. It's laughable to think that the worst he could say about Biden is that he was scared of the virus and hiding in his basement. My mind was inflamed with all the predictions and worry online in the lead-up to election Tuesday. But I was keeping a close eye on the early vote, which was huge and also a reaction to the pandemic. I remember thinking that Trump survived COVID, but his presidency did not. His posturing and bullying didn't work against another white man and was undermined by his own body's response to this little cold. I spent a part of that Tuesday on a long run outside feeling a degree of peace. I learned not to be confident but the massive early voting numbers (despite everything being done in some states to suppress them) and the demographic shift in those numbers gave me a moment of hope.
Now in 2024, I have a day scheduled with 4-6 hours of meetings (All are 2 hours - I am planning to skip one because 6 hours of sitting in meetings in one day is really too much and unhealthy). I have early voted because of this and I moved all due dates for my classes to a later day this week so students are free to vote or do whatever needs doing on an election day. I posted my ballot a week ago because I knew I would not have time on Tuesday to spend at the polls because of all these meetings. We are leaving for Greece on Wednesday afternoon so I also have final packing and prep for international travel. I know I'm going to be distracted in these meetings, but it will probably be worse when I get home and try to pack. It will be even worse on Wednesday depending on the outcome. I'm not as worried as I was in 2020 and that's because I've been living in a bubble of misinformation and uncertainty. I was so despondent in April and May with the coverage and rhetoric around pro-Palestine protests that I got off social media in June. Trump finally had found a way to successfully bully Biden (going after his age) and the media was fixated on Biden's apparent cognitive decline. Nothing about Trump had changed in the past 4-8 years to make him a more qualified or competent leader, but there were still people who will vote for him. I was in Spain hiking the Camino when I found out via a text from a friend that he had been shot at. It was shocking but left few ripples. A week later, I was in Spain on a night boat tour of a marina when I found out via a FB post that Biden was withdrawing from the race and endorsing Kamala. Ever since then I felt a kind of surging of hope that has not gone away. I am holding on to that.
At the same time, unlike in 2020, I have not been paying careful enough attention to the news and the media and the polls. I recognize that the social media tools I use are guided by rage and misinformation and an algorithm that feeds me what I respond to. I don't trust that what I think and perceive is a norm. Right now, I am hearing about the Dobbs effect on this election and how it has been under-estimated by so many talking heads and analysts because people so easily underestimate just how angry this has made women of ALL ages. But I live in a very blue state and I am a feminist, so this is what I want to hear and believe. It would be poetic if Dobbs and the women's vote is a major contributing factor to a Harris and not a Trump presidency. IT won't be the only one. Harris has run a really interesting campaign that seems to be geared toward activating and speaking to different constituents. It's been a joy to watch and I hope it pays off.
I will be holding on to that hope as long as I can.
In 2020, I was living in Maryalnd and working from home and living a very limited isolated life due to the pandemic. I had voted by mail as well because of the virus. I had followed things closely, so closely online because online was the only contact I had with other people. Biden had not been my first choice, (that had been Elizabeth Warren) but the pandemic seemed to have turned society on its head and Biden seemed impermeable to Trump's erratic posturing, COVID denialism, and general bullying. It's laughable to think that the worst he could say about Biden is that he was scared of the virus and hiding in his basement. My mind was inflamed with all the predictions and worry online in the lead-up to election Tuesday. But I was keeping a close eye on the early vote, which was huge and also a reaction to the pandemic. I remember thinking that Trump survived COVID, but his presidency did not. His posturing and bullying didn't work against another white man and was undermined by his own body's response to this little cold. I spent a part of that Tuesday on a long run outside feeling a degree of peace. I learned not to be confident but the massive early voting numbers (despite everything being done in some states to suppress them) and the demographic shift in those numbers gave me a moment of hope.
Now in 2024, I have a day scheduled with 4-6 hours of meetings (All are 2 hours - I am planning to skip one because 6 hours of sitting in meetings in one day is really too much and unhealthy). I have early voted because of this and I moved all due dates for my classes to a later day this week so students are free to vote or do whatever needs doing on an election day. I posted my ballot a week ago because I knew I would not have time on Tuesday to spend at the polls because of all these meetings. We are leaving for Greece on Wednesday afternoon so I also have final packing and prep for international travel. I know I'm going to be distracted in these meetings, but it will probably be worse when I get home and try to pack. It will be even worse on Wednesday depending on the outcome. I'm not as worried as I was in 2020 and that's because I've been living in a bubble of misinformation and uncertainty. I was so despondent in April and May with the coverage and rhetoric around pro-Palestine protests that I got off social media in June. Trump finally had found a way to successfully bully Biden (going after his age) and the media was fixated on Biden's apparent cognitive decline. Nothing about Trump had changed in the past 4-8 years to make him a more qualified or competent leader, but there were still people who will vote for him. I was in Spain hiking the Camino when I found out via a text from a friend that he had been shot at. It was shocking but left few ripples. A week later, I was in Spain on a night boat tour of a marina when I found out via a FB post that Biden was withdrawing from the race and endorsing Kamala. Ever since then I felt a kind of surging of hope that has not gone away. I am holding on to that.
At the same time, unlike in 2020, I have not been paying careful enough attention to the news and the media and the polls. I recognize that the social media tools I use are guided by rage and misinformation and an algorithm that feeds me what I respond to. I don't trust that what I think and perceive is a norm. Right now, I am hearing about the Dobbs effect on this election and how it has been under-estimated by so many talking heads and analysts because people so easily underestimate just how angry this has made women of ALL ages. But I live in a very blue state and I am a feminist, so this is what I want to hear and believe. It would be poetic if Dobbs and the women's vote is a major contributing factor to a Harris and not a Trump presidency. IT won't be the only one. Harris has run a really interesting campaign that seems to be geared toward activating and speaking to different constituents. It's been a joy to watch and I hope it pays off.
I will be holding on to that hope as long as I can.
no subject
I was proud to cast my ballot for HRC in 2016, but one of the first elections I was eligible to vote in was in 2000. The travesty that was Bush v. Gore taught me not to count my chickens, so I knew there was a possibility that the orange menace could be elected despite losing the popular vote, and I knew better than to celebrate until her victory was assured. I saw so many things then to give me pause--the lies I heard being parroted by men I mistakenly thought were progressives. The butthurt Bernie stans. Everyone who condescendingly told me there was no way he could win. The "She has too much baggage" crowd. The "I'd vote for a woman, just not THAT woman" people. The "I just don't LIKE her" folks. The competing SHE's TOO CONSERVATIVE/SHE'S TOO LIBERAL claims. SO MANY of the same things I see this time around.
What I do think is different this year, and what I dearly hope will ultimately deliver Kamala the win, is a combination of folks who regretted their protest votes in 2016 and (as you say above) the Dobbs effect. The majority of white women were perfetly content to vote for the Leopards Eating People's Faces Party in 2016, a stat that absolutely gobsmacked me. And guess what? They got their smug faces eaten along with the rest of us when 45 did exactly what he said he'd do and appointed radical conservatives to SCOTUS.
I am trying not to get my hopes up. But neither am I quashing them as unrealistic. I don't think 45 will accept defeat this time either, but this time around, he and his asinine followers aren't going to catch anyone unawares. 45 has long been due a day of reckoning, and an electoral defeat would absolute be its beginning. I just hope that day comes before he kicks the bucket in a cocaine-fuelled orgy.