Thank you for all you did, Mrs. Clinton.
I just finished writing a handwritten note to her (hardly ever do handwritten anymore), and I’m hurting all over again. FYI: P.O. Box 5256, New York, NY 10185-5256
I had an amazing revelation of the obvious: Elizabeth Warren is now the head of the Democratic Party. She’d damn well better be, anyway. Because from this point forward, there are only going to be Warren Democrats and Vichy Democrats. And I’m hoping there won’t be any of the latter.
Meanwhile, there may, just possibly, be someone in your life who will benefit from this website by gaining an understanding of what has already started happening. Someone who doesn’t think there’s any such thing as what some are calling “hashtag terrorism” and others call “stochastic terrorism.” That all these anecdotes we’ve been hearing are just anecdotal without realizing that at some point anecdotes accumulate into data.
Someone, who, as a few commenters here did when I dropped the words “white privilege” in a post, said that the reason we lost the election was because we neglected the needs of the angry white people “in favor of non-stop minority outreach on the other side of the country.”
There are a lot of people I know who are devoting a lot of energy to trying to convince themselves that maybe the Trump regime isn’t going to be as bad as we we fear. No worse, say, than GWB, as if that’s an encouraging metric. It’s the only way they can process it and deal with the fear, I think. The only way they can cling to their shattered faith in democracy. They are closing their eyes to the coming shit tsunami and will only acknowledge its existence when it batters down on them like a septic fecal hammer.
When they finally come to, they’re going to run to the shelter of Vichy if we aren’t already there, formed up, resisting and waiting for them to join us. Rally Around Liz, folks. Those of you fortunate enough to still have Democratic representation, write them goddamn letters, make phone calls and tell them to rally round Liz. Those of you with endangered Blue Dog reps, remind them that they will get no credit from their voters for aiding the enemy. None.
And those of you who see your fellow-countrymen being beset by goons, stand up. Fight back. Resist. Bravery is a good, thing, but it is an innate trait, a deficiency in your fear gene or, for many, an addiction to adreneline. Bravery wins fights, but it doesn’t win battles. That takes courage, the capacity to suck it up, stand up, put one foot in front of the other, and start fighting and keep on fighting on even though you’re so desparately afraid that your toilet training has failed. That’s the only way through this.
And yeah, if I sound very much like someone trying to convince himself there’s a path forward out of the darkness, a place of light on the other side of it that we can fight our way through to see, even if we can’t see it now, it’s because I am. And because even if I’m wrong, if my faith is misguided, at least it means being faithful to myself in the darkness.
Thank you. Just wrote my first letter in many many years.
Thanks for the info. Very much appreciated.
Here’s something tangible. I live in a small town west of Philly. Lots of Mexicans work agriculture here, and have been filtering into the mainstream for years. Last night two or three hundred area residents of pretty much every ethnicity marched to say we will not let anyone be abused. People clapped and waved from storefronts and windows. The cops directed traffic. One yahoo in a pickup gunned his engine, held a Trump sign to his door with both hands, as far as I could tell, and yelled “Fuuuck you! Trump!” before speeding off. The next instant a cop car was zooming after him, lights going. There are Mexicans on the police force, I should add, and blacks and Jews on the borough council. The mayor is gay. The community is shocked, disgusted, and determined to protect its own.
Warren does seem to the the tip of the spear right now. We could do worse. It does make sense to help any potential Vichyites on our side see that there’s no compromise possible. Every inch of ground ceded puts all the rest in greater jeopardy. The only way out is a determined, sustained struggle and a lot of luck. But the European history of this crap includes good examples of how to fight back. We wore the anti-Brexit safety pin last night, a thing that seems to be catching on. All I can say is last night was the first time in the previous three days I didn’t feel sick with terror. My town says no to this. And I know we’re not alone.
Not only did she unexpectedly lose but her career in public service is suddenly over also. A double whammy, enough to give a person an identity crisis.
It gets worse. Just saw this tweet–
Democrats now control only 13 state legislatures (26%). If they lose 1 more they fall below the % needed to stop constitutional amendments.
Here’s another dose of reality, from another tweet:
A third of all House Democrats now hail from three states (CA, NY, MA). California alone accounts for 20% of the House Democratic caucus.
I’m sure that these times must be very difficult for you, but you brought it on yourself. You chose to be a neoliberal instead of caring about the needs of working people. If you had allied yourself with the Elizabeth Warrens of the party before there was an Elizabeth Warren instead of being a cats paw for Corporate America, this would have been a cakewalk.
You blew it all by yourself from the very beginning. Now your choice is to either fade into the darkness or complete change your spots and actually become a real liberal in the mold of Jimmy Carter. Forget the presidency. Work on your legacy.
Yes, keep dreaming! I have no hope that people like you would ever wake up to the truth that America will more readily accept a racist, anti-woman fascist before they will accept a true progressive! That facts and reality are not part of their vocabulary is one thing far left and far right have in common!
You’re as full of shit as a two-hole outhouse.
I thought atheist would be the longest shot but the way our populace treated a female is utterly disgraceful and has me second guessing.
This only ends with education. The jobs these trumpers want don’t really exist anymore- they’re not educated enough to change industries easily- they look at educated people as “elites.”
Education has been demonized and there is truly a revolt against it.
Mrs. Clinton needs no virtual Internet social media lectures on what she shoulda, coulda or mighta done. She won this election in the count of popular votes which are approximately 300,000-400,000 more votes than the pig and will probably be higher because some absentee ballots are still being counted . She and this country faces an 18th century Constitutional provision here in the 21st century and so to have run as a different kind of liberal would mean that she’d only lose the Electoral Vote two times. She won this election, and her legacy is clear even now. And by the way as much as Jimmy Carter might have been a “real liberal” he lost his second election to another conman.
So take your lectures to your red state government, tell them to change things up.
@thunderclapnewman . . . who always cuts to the chase 
@natasbob Here’s a TTTTT voter who did so partly to get some respect from the rest of us educated elites, academics, snobs and liberals.
I can’t begin to image the pain Clinton must be in. And the wounds this campaign must have touched in women across the country is staggering. An extremely qualified woman who does her homework, works hard, and knows the ins and outs of a job loses out to a buffoon who stumbles around, makes stuff up, and is oblivious to the job requirements. Add in a cast of odd men, from her husband, Julian Assange, Vladmir Putin, Anthony Weiner, and James Comey who insert themselves and sabotage the woman. As a final touch, on live TV the man says she should be thrown in jail and is a nasty woman.
One thing this ordeal shows is that it is a bad idea for the spouse of a president to enter the political arena upon leaving the White House. Hillary has been the focus of attention for democrats for the past 16 years. And while she would have made a great president, she was not a natural politician and carried loads of baggage from her time in office.
In the future, power couples should decide which of the two should be the office holder, and after putting in their 8 years, move on to an elder status role, letting the country and party evolve. Trying to get 16 years in the White House by flipping roles is a really bad idea.
The last 3 days have been an emotional roller coaster for me. First I was devastated and in shock. Then I started making plans to leave the country. Then I thought I’d stay and fight back. I can feel all three within a space of an hour.
It’s encouraging to share ideas with people who see a way out of this. A way that’s practical and optimistic. Not sure I’m there yet, but you’re very reassuring @mattinpa.
She has handled this with such grace and class. I don’t remember Romney or McCain doing so with such elegance and, again, grace. I can’t fathom the pain she’s in. It must be unbeatable. I know the pain so many of us feel, but that’s got to be 100 fold for her. Truly, I wish her the best.
That, and a general cruelty toward others.