Election Day
I don’t know what’s going to happen today or in the days after. I don’t know what sort of recreational madness is going to occur as we as a nation subject ourselves to hour after hour of cable news panels that will make us want to put our fists through drywall.
I do know that the future of American democracy is likely hanging in the balance. That’s not breaking news or some novel concept. You know that by now. It’s still worth repeating. What happens this week - or however long it takes to settle who will be taking the oath of office in January - will have ripples for decades to come.
You’re probably a little anxious right now.
I am too. Here’s what you need to keep in mind as you try and fail to avoid the news today. Here’s what you need to remember while you sit in front of your television - or worse, the dreaded New York Times needle.
Normally I would say that the die has already been cast. That couldn’t be further from the truth here. There are so many unknowns. Most of them revolve around what Donald Trump will or won’t do in the next, say, 72 hours. Some revolve around whatever legal appeals may or may not happen with mail-in ballots. And there’s also the matter that a number of Trump supporters may show up at polling places to act as so-called “observers,” and that they might bring guns.
The polls are looking good for Joe Biden. He’s playing in states like Georgia, Florida and North Carolina. Pennsylvania, which may basically be the entire election if the Republicans retain the aforementioned three states, is leaning Democrat. If the projections hold, Biden should win. The Democrats should have a fair chance at reclaiming the Senate.
The polls were wrong in 2016. Very wrong. We have no idea if they’ll be right tomorrow, and in the following days as the mountains of mail-in ballots are counted. And even if all of those counts go in Biden’s favor, Trump could simply take the matter to the Supreme Court, where he enjoys a 6-3 majority that includes three people who worked on the Bush v. Gore case. The courts in Texas have already forced the closure of all but one drive-through polling place in Harris County. That’s Houston, for all of you non-Texans.
I do know one thing. Whether or not Trump wins (or has the election handed to him), Trumpism will still be rampant in this country. The problems of neo-fascism will not simply disappear overnight as if the nation is waking from a bad dream. There will still be people firmly rooted in their fervent belief in white autocracy and police nationalism, a term brilliantly coined by Jeff Sharlet in this thread.
Trump has taken to flying the Blue Lives Matter flag at his rallies in the waning days of his campaign, sometimes in place of the usual American flag. This is a calculated choice, a demonstration of the core tenet of Trumpism that the state has the right to freely use deadly force against those who oppose it, and that that deadly force should rest solely in the hands of those deemed worthy of it by white power structures. Those beliefs will not vanish into the ether in a post-Trump world. If anything the true believers may be enraged by a Trump loss, or emboldened by his victory.
If America is to move forward into a future that values justice, we must reckon with this. We must hold the line against reactionaries and bigots. We will need to re-establish voting rights across the board, end gerrymandering, and eliminate the Electoral College. Minority rule through disenfranchisement cannot be allowed to last. It will be a tooth-and-nail fight, and one that will need to be contested on multiple fronts. True betterment of the American people will not come just from winning an election and returning to square one, but from doggedly insisting that Democrats too be held to a higher standard.
None of that will come to pass if Biden fails to win, or if the election is tilted in Trump’s favor by the courts.
I cannot sit here and say for sure that there will be violence this week. I also cannot say that there won’t be. I don’t know what the hell is going to happen today, but I do know that it’s going to be a long night. I know that four years of hatred is far too many, and that four more would be devastating.
Don’t expect a result tonight. Batten down your hatches and hold fast. Take care of yourselves.
If you haven’t already voted, do so as soon as possible.
Now, we wait. Stay safe.