I knew you would be trouble but I didn’t anticipate how much or for how long. I didn’t anticipate how high-maintenance you would be, when you, with your big head, your big mouth, and your shocking ideas, eclipsed every other craven presidential wannabe in that first GOP cattle call back in 2015. Continue reading
The November election is actually some three-thousand little elections. That’s roughly how many counties the United States has. Elections are organized and run at the county level, under the supervision of state and local election officials, using procedures that rival Democrats and Republicans have worked out over hundreds of years.
It’s the very decentralized yet sophisticated character of American voting that’s got the unpopular incumbent president, Donald Trump, running scared. Last time around, spoilers and a shrewd assessment of the electoral map propelled Trump to a legitimate victory over the more popular but complacent Hillary Clinton. Now, having alienated Americans with his crassness and criminality, Trump wants desperately to discourage and cow all of us individual voters, whose sentiments are destined to flow through our ballots and aggregate into those carefully counted county-level returns.
The county totals determine which candidate will be awarded the electoral votes of the state. Electoral votes are proportionate to a state’s population, but only active voters determine which candidate walks off with them.
You must be registered to vote if you want to make Biden president in 2020! Take the first step by visiting CanIVote.org. This is a non-partisan, bilingual website sponsored by the National Association of Secretaries of State (i.e., the pertinent officials in all fifty states). No matter where you live, this website can direct you toward state-specific voting information that you need. Use it to check whether you are registered, to find your polling place, or obtain the forms needed for early / absentee voting. One can even use it to sign up to become an election worker. It’s super-convenient.
As a resident of Chicago, I’ll be voting in Cook County, Illinois. Clicking through the CanIVote website takes me right to the Illinois State Board of Elections page, where I can find all the deadlines for registration and early voting, review my options for voting in-person, and read the directions for voting by mail. Voting is more complicated than usual this year because of the pandemic, so it’s essential to learn everything one can about the location specific parameters, before this momentous election season begins.
Image: “Map of the USA with county outlines”
adapted by Wapcaplet from a US Census Bureau map,
from this source.
Perhaps you, my reader, feel as I do, that it’s a challenge to act meaningfully in response to the present political situation—despite recognizing that, as the federal government shows signs of veering off course, all citizens have a responsibility to promote stability and work together to avert an all-out crisis.
So many Americans are unhappy—worried—distressed—alarmed—embarrassed—about the state of the union. We doubt our president’s sanity, and we fear the real destruction that could follow from having entrusted the entire executive branch to someone who is vicious, immoderate, unenlightened. We are unhappy and disappointed in the condition and posture of the political parties–both the Republicans and the Democrats lack unity, ideological clarity, and discipline.
Trump gained power partly by destroying many Republican reputations; and, since, as president, he has pushed the GOP to support his style of politics and ideological viewpoint, the influence of many moderate Republicans has been checked. This has further weakened what was formerly the most effective and palatable element of that party, an element that far-right zeal has gradually eclipsed. Many formerly respected Republicans have disgraced themselves by collaborating with Trump or, by their silence and inaction in the face of his outrageous condescension toward them, have shown themselves to be terrible cowards. The hearings that placed a maudlin Brett Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court displayed the moral bankruptcy of Trump’s Senate collaborators.
The condition of the GOP is highly worrisome because it is the nationally dominant party. For nearly three years, Trump has been cannibalizing it, eating its heart out, and injecting it with a virulent moral rot.
Meanwhile, the Democrats remain riven; not only do they remain too weak to determine the direction of national politics, but they have yet to unite around a figure or an approach capable of undermining Trump’s popular appeal.
The condition of the parties and their inability to advance a legislative agenda that could rally the nation behind a set of positive political goals, demonstrates to the nation that Trump is in fact unchecked and unchallenged. Congress can’t counter the president’s power. Watching this bizarre situation unfold every day leads many of us to perceive the federal government, and hence the entire republic of the United States, to be dangerously near a breakdown of an unpredictable kind.
That there is no leadership—that there is no coalition mobilizing and unifying an opposition—is perhaps because, though we all perceive the political actions of the president to be highly abnormal, and we all perceive the relations between the president and Congress to be in near-paralysis—what danger we are on the brink of is very unclear. Personally, I doubt the president can be impeached (that is, I don’t think the Senate has the will to convict him and throw him out–please see the post I have written on this subject), so even if we agree our affairs are in a critical state, the most constructive course is to concentrate on positive politics, on mobilizing opposition to Trump across party lines, and defeating Trump at the ballot box.
I hope we will see a resurgence of party control and even deal-making among rival candidates—this is the only way to achieve the necessary degree of unity in either party. If the Democrats have a long slug fest like they did last time, there won’t be enough time before the general to get everyone behind the chosen nominee. The challenge is even greater on the Republican side, where I hope we will see some more conventional players (like Romney and Flake) perhaps teaming up to try to rob Trump of the nomination.
The prospect of a unified opposition isn’t too bright, however. Presidential hopefuls who aren’t equipped to beat Trump or run the country are already throwing their hats in the ring. If the national parties can’t exercise discipline over such narcissistic candidates, divisions will increase, allowing Trump to retain his ascendancy. The lost art of pulling together is all-important now.
Dynamics: Underneath the Trump presidency are a pair of fragmented and outmoded political parties, contributing to the public’s rightful perception that national politics are inchoate. The Trump presidency itself represents a vertiginous jolt, one that delights those who supported him even while it startles and alarms everyone else. A nasty political struggle that will take the US in a new direction has begun.
The press: It is a particularly difficult time for them. Journalists, opinionators, and social-science experts have just been through an experience that established the limits of their influence and damaged their authority. The vote showed how much of the nation is indifferent to their views. A majority of the states are inclined to reject the intellectual establishment’s worldview and its prescriptions regarding what is good for the US. The nation’s need for a vigilant, balanced, and discerning press remains urgent. Unfortunately, some previously reliable figures (e.g. David Brooks) are wild-eyed and near hysterical post-election. Is the nation heading toward a Constitutional crisis? Toward tyranny? If so, we need journalists who are calm and can help the public focus constructively on matters susceptible to its influence. The public can do nothing about Trump’s personality. Move on.
Chinks in Trump’s armour (my sister’s approach): What aspects of the political situation offer leverage for averting national shame and moving the nation in a positive direction? Strangely enough, the present constellation of power, which pits an outsider against all officialdom, may give rise to more unity of purpose across party lines. Trump has made a few sound cabinet picks and shown some willingness to delegate to them. We need more people like Mattis and Tillerson to stay in the mix.
Image: Panoramic view of Washington City from the new dome of the Capitol, looking west.
Drawn from nature by Edward Sachse. 1856.
Courtesy of the Library of Congress.
My husband told me he plans to write out a list of what he fears from a Trump presidency. It makes sense, given how much fear is in the air. Until each of us gets a bead on the nature of our fears, chances are it won’t matter much what we do.
We are exhausted from a long and tortuous election season. Our nerves are wracked, our moral compasses are twitching. Our guts are writhing from a roller-coaster ride that isn’t over but barely beginning.
The presidential contest was close, but it was more than that: it was polarizing, salacious, and unedifying. It was omnipresent and momentous, hauling us all in together in a stinking net of civic obligation. Then it ended with an ugly surprise, revealing that the nation’s ‘leading citizens’ don’t deserve their reputation as a leading class. Today, American minds are still traumatized and reeling. People are depressed, resentful, angry, disapproving. Most of us sense further calamity brewing.
Who likes the feeling of powerlessness that sets in after ‘the people have spoken’? We, the electorate (yes, we’ll all complicit) have tipped the political order upside-down.
So, instead of bringing relief, the outcome of the election brings a new host of worries. Americans must continue to be attentive and mitigate the various forms of damage Trump’s presidency may cause. Fissures have opened up in both political parties; they, too, are divided and dangerously weakened. The next few years will see ongoing tumult and crisis, making it all the more urgent to clarify goals and conserve energies.
American politics requires stamina and organization. No one person or organization can fight every battle. So know your fears; name the nature of the danger as exactly as you can. Let the list you write define the wisest course to pursue.
Feel free to state what you fear most from a Trump presidency
and what you think people who share your fear should be doing.
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