Yesterday afternoon, several hours after Cliff and I went to vote, I was able to take some time at my favorite La Colombe location to debrief the presidential election this year, pre-results.
The assumption, like in many of the coastal-state bubbles, was that Hillary Clinton would be the next U.S. president. In my journal, which typically contains updates solely on my personal life and the people in it, I wrote that we would have our first female president come late in the evening. That, in spite of my disdain of this election for the past year, I was proud, in the same way that I was proud of my vote in 2008 and in 2012-- two very momentous years for me.
Spontaneously, as we were both finished with our workdays somewhere in SoHo on election-eve, I met with my friend Henry. For the brief one-stop we had on the train together after dinner, he said to me, "If Trump gets elected, it will be a tipping point." I agreed, but did not consider the doom it implied, because, like many of my peers and colleagues would think, it seemed ludicrous that it would even be a statement to contemplate.
The reluctant loyalty we put in our partisanship is shocking. It was them that threw their hands up to racist, sexist, and just fucking insane, vague promises in hopes that he might work out. When Obama won in 2008, idiots said we had transcended race. This election in 2016 further proves we have certainly not, and that the values here remain rigid in white supremacy.
As is the sentiment towards the tragedy of the news, our response is valid. However, I think more than ever, with no one on our side but ourselves in this bubble, it's our time to stop complacency from taking over.
