What I Won’t Get Over and (Some of) What to Do Now

As we grapple with where we are and the road ahead

After midnight following Election Day, Donald Trump points toward a dark future. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

These early post-election days are a time to gather our thoughts. What just happened? What does it  mean? What comes next? How do I organize my life so that I stay healthy for the long haul? What should I do? What can I do?

I know that, for me, it’s important to sort through what I won’t get over—the wounding facts that will continue to eat at me. They require my conscious attention so I can manage their impact on my psyche. That’s the path to minimize wasted energy.

So with that brief thought, permit me to share with you seven factual realities that will never be tolerable, but which I must acknowledge.

I won’t get over:

1. How dangerously, profoundly unfit and ill-suited are the two men scheduled to be inaugurated on Jan. 20, enter our White House and lead our nation.

2. That the man the majority of voters chose to control the highest office in our land for the next four years is a convicted felon, an adjudicated rapist with a documented pattern of sexual assault, and a vicious bigot who mimics the hateful, demonizing language and ideas of Adolf Hitler—and none of that was a dealbreaker.

3. That a majority of voters did not believe they need to protect themselves, their wives, daughters or other women and their families from the intentions of Trump and his vice president to further endanger women’s health and undermine reproductive freedom.

4. That the nearly 250-year history of America’s democratic project is something that a majority is ready to toss away to support a man who’s made clear that he intends to be a dictator on day one, serves the interests of Russia’s Vladimir Putin and prefers to align with autocrats over America’s democratic allies.

5. That there is so much false nostalgia over Trump’s first term—despite the deadly, failed response to the pandemic and his prioritizing tax cuts for billionaires and corporations—that the majority is convinced Trump is more reliable to deal with inflation and serve the needs of the middle class.

6. That a woman of compassion, decency and intellect was not seen as the manifestly superior representative and leader of our country over a man who lies constantly, continually degrades our fellow humans, and responds to real economic issues by recklessly promising tariffs that will raise prices and the deportation of tens of millions of undocumented immigrants.

7. That a democratic country of such extraordinary potential and achievement is willing to commit political suicide and risk everything with a known tyrant who’s threatened to terminate the Constitution, employ the military to attack fellow Americans he deems “the enemy within” and use the levers of government to seek retribution against anyone who’s crossed him or refused to bow down to him.

George Washington warned us about the dangers of despotism. Tragically, Americans in our time have failed to hear his prophetic message. Now we must battle through a future in which—as Washington foresaw—a “cunning, ambitious and unprincipled” despot has taken power by exploiting “the ruins of public liberty.”

One of the over-arching conclusions from this election is that the right-wing information ecosystem is a powerful force in detaching a significant portion of Americans from factual reality. That includes—but is not limited to—Fox News, NewsMax, Elon Musk’s X social media site platform and a host of hateful propagandists like Tucker Carlson.

Note the data, shared yesterday by messaging guru Dan Pfeiffer in his excellent Substack newsletter, The Message Box, which underscores his insight that “Democrats are losing the information war” and “cannot reach the wide swath of voters who don’t actively consume political news.” Pfeiffer points to polling from Data for Progress, which breaks down voting behavior by how much people pay attention to political news:

• A great deal: Harris +8

• A lot: Harris +5

• A moderate amount: Trump +1

• A little: Trump +8

• None at all: Trump +15

As Pfeiffer wisely summarizes: “Most Democrats continued running the same communications playbook for the entire Trump era despite massive changes in the media ecosystem. We haven’t incubated our progressive political media enough nor have we been willing to go into the non-political spaces where the most critical segment of voters are getting their info.” This is a valuable call to action that can provide clear direction for the future, particularly as the public’s ability to know (and interest in knowing) what’s true will be further degraded, aided by the burgeoning right-wing media machine.

Now we have more evidence that the appeal of authoritarianism is on the rise, in America as well as globally. The anti-democratic, pro-Putin Trump has tragically, successfully tapped into this reality. A poll last year by Open Society Foundations surveyed over 36,000 people in 30 countries, representing over 5.5 billion people worldwide. Consider two of its findings that underscore the fact that while the commitment to democracy is still strong, it is waning:

• An average of 86 percent of the global respondents said it is important to them to live in a country that is democratically governed, yet only 80 percent of Americans did. That put America in the bottom five of thirty countries, below Turkey, China, India, Egypt and Mexico, to name just a few.

• Just 57 percent of 18- to 35-year-olds said democracy is preferable to any other form of government; 71 percent of older respondents said the same. And more alarming: Asked for good ways to run a country, 42 percent of those 18 to 35 globally believe the answer is “army rule” and 32 percent of that age group believe it’s “leaders who do not bother with parliaments or elections.”

There is plenty of work ahead for Democrats and other pro-democracy advocates to strengthen the commitment to democracy and democratic institutions, especially when trust in government is so low and the large majority of Americans indicate government is failing to serve their needs. Yes, that effort will be more precarious now, but even more urgent.

While heartbreaking, it is not surprising given these trends that Trump and the Republicans succeeded with a message of anger, grievance and scapegoating immigrants. So, too, as we learned from early 1930s Germany when Hitler was elected and now in 2024 America, anger over inflation and the struggle to survive will lure people to abandon democracy and reject incumbent leaders they hold responsible for their troubles.

But let’s keep in mind that Trump and the Republicans want us to believe we are facing an apocalypse and there’s nothing we can do about it. If we all throw up our hands in despair and do nothing, they will be right. But I remain resolute: We will see our way through this grim chapter. There will be a better future. The only way to get there is by standing up to these dark forces, shining a light and keep going forward.

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