What now?
The day in Georgia was quite dreary. It matched my mood. Never in my wildest dreams did I think that America would send a criminal back to the White House. About halfway through the election shows, I saw the proverbial writing on the wall. Yes, I wanted VP Kamala Harris to win, and I didn’t want Donald Trump back in the white house. It will be exacerbated by a Republican Senate. What do we do now? Keep the faith and keep soldiering on. If we think about it, changes in the presidency rarely impact on our day-to-day lives, but this one has the possibility of doing that. He spews hate, nonsense, and has crazy ideas. He really does exhibit symptoms of dementia, so the question is: Who will really be running the White House?
The other important question stemming from this result is will Trump now use his Project 2025 playbook? We’ve already heard MAGA Mike claim that they have a new health plan to replace the ACA. That probably means returning power to the insurance companies. Rich people don’t care about health insurance; they have enough to pay for anything that comes into their lives. The rest of us have valid concerns about healthcare, Social Security and Medicare. Trump is full of bluster and talk. We will have to wait and see if he enacts any of his crazier plans, like putting RFK, Jr. in charge of CDC and women’s healthcare and Elon Musk in some sort of role. One thing that terrifies me is Ukraine. Putin has already reached out to ask whether Trump will help him end this war. Likely, he will, and it won’t be in Ukraine’s favor. The whole thing is terrifying. But we have a choice to make. We can let this election throw us into depression and fear, or we can help to find out what Democrats need to do to win. Obviously, something is missing.
A few good things happened despite the bad. Eugene Vindman was elected to Congress, and Kari Lake lost. Glenn Kirschner, former prosecutor who is outspoken on Trump, posted a quote from Abraham Lincoln to help us heal: “Adhere to your purpose and you will soon feel as well as you ever did. On the contrary, if you falter, and give up, you will lose the power of keeping any resolution, and you will regret it all your life.”
Now is not the time for us to give up. We must fight even harder. Showing Up for Racial Justice wrote: “This is a time to reach for each other and recommit to our values of justice, solidarity, and community care.” This message is exactly what we must do. If you see something, say something. No one has power over your own individual freedoms except you. Do not accept what anyone else says. We were born to resist, and we must continue to do so. In the words of the late John Lewis, we must get into trouble, good trouble, necessary trouble. We have the backbone, the souls, and the heart to do it, and we will be victorious.
Shirley is a former entertainment writer and has worked in the legal field for over 25 years