What Comes Next?

If you are anything like me, you woke up on Wednesday, November 6 with a sick feeling in the pit of your stomach. That is, assuming you slept at all Tuesday night after it became clear that Trump would win Pennsylvania and, likely, the other swing states and the election. That feeling hasn’t left me, but at least I was able to get a good night’s sleep last night.

It will take me time to get over the fact that fellow Americans have voted to put back into the highest office in this land a man who was twice impeached for high crimes during his first term, who was convicted and is awaiting sentencing for 34 felonies, who tried to overturn the results of the last election with lies, deceit and violence, and who has promised to be a dictator who will go after fellow citizens who disagree with him with U.S. troops.  I cursed what I perceived to be the stupidity of the American people who wanted such a person to lead this country. They got what they wanted; I, and millions who think the way I do, did not.

So, what comes next? Do we fight? Do we demonstrate? Do we declare fraud and try to change the result? A time to fight will come – perhaps sooner than any of us would like. But here is what I suggest for the short term – say, the next 30 days.

• Take a deep breath. Calm yourself. You probably have been on edge for weeks, months, maybe since the last election. Take a break from politics. Make plans to see a movie, a play or a musical;”
• Unplug from cable news – cable news pundits will speak ad nauseum about why this result happened. You don’t need to hear that. Buy and read a local paper. See what’s happening in your community. Follow your favorite sports team. Read and enjoy the comics;
• 
  Take some long walks. Clear your mind. See the beauty in the changing leaves. Breathe the crispness of the autumn air;
  
• Reconnect with friends and family – even those who voted for Trump. Don’t discuss politics – talk about the weather or sports or that new Tom Hanks movie, “Here”;
• Pick up a book – a fiction or fantasy – I started to read “Babel,” by R.F. Kuang.
• Lose yourself in some good music – “Blue,” by Joni Mitchell, The Band’s second, eponymous album, “2:00AM Paradise Café,” by Barry Manilow, or “The Carpenter” by The Avett Brothers
• Go to church, seek God, pray, meditate.
• Rest, recover, regain your strength. Eat healthy foods, drink plenty of water.

Then, thirty days from now, re-engage. Join with other like-minded patriots to fight for women’s rights, for voting rights, for defending our constitution and for keeping our democracy, and the America you voted for and will vote for again. And take heart. Trump is 78 years old. And when he takes the oath of office on January 20, 2025, he will be a lame duck, his term limited by our Constitution to 4 years.

A Post Endorsement

Much has been said about the Washington Post’s non-endorsement of a Presidential candidate in this election. (Yes, I cancelled my digital subscription to WaPo after reading that owner, Jeff Bezos, had put the kibosh to the endorsement of Kamala Harris, which had already been drafted by the paper’s editorial board.) I read Bezos’s explanation of his “principled” decision to not endorse any candidate, which had the distinct smell of cowardice.

And if can criticize Bezos’s silence for being a cowardly decision, it occurred to me that my silence could also be interpreted as cowardice. 

Consequently, today, this Post loudly and unequivocally endorses Kamala Harris for President of these United States.

Why am I endorsing Kamala Harris? Let me start with this: she is not Donald Trump. I lived through Trump’s first term and remember clearly how bad it was. He withheld military aid to Ukraine in order to try to extort from its new president an agreement to investigate Joe Biden. Trump was impeached for that, but his sycophants in the Senate voted to acquit him. With the assistance of the slithery, senior Senator from Kentucky, Trump was able to appoint three Supreme Court justices – enough to overturn Roe v. Wade, removing a constitutionally protected right that women had possessed for fifty years.

He bungled the response to COVID. Rather than encouraging Americans to get the vaccine that was rapidly developed to Trump’s credit, he sided with anti-vaxxers who discouraged its use. He tried to repeal the Affordable Care Act which prohibits insurance companies from denying coverage for pre-existing conditions and allows young adults to remain covered by their parents’ health coverage till age 26, rather than 18. His signature achievement was a tax cut that mostly benefited corporations and wealthy Americans. He lied constantly during his term in office – over 30,000 false or misleading statements. And he authored the Big Lie – that he won the 2020 election. He used that Lie to try to overturn the election results by fomenting an insurrection, which resulted in a second impeachment.

I could go on about how Trump is a convicted felon, a man found liable for sexual assault, a man found liable for hundreds of millions of dollars for cheating on his state taxes, a man who threatens to use the military against American citizens who oppose him. But, enough said about a boastful, but craven little man who was handed a fortune by his father and who would like to be President again to avoid prison.

My blog Post strongly endorses Kamala Harris because of who she is and what she believes. She will fight to restore a woman’s right to choose. She will stand with America’s allies and not kowtow to dictators and strongmen as Trump prefers to do. She supports unions and the middle class. She supports reasonable immigration reform including the bipartisan compromise bill that Trump single-handedly killed. She is a key member of the Administration that produced the best economy in memory with low unemployment, inflation low and trending downward, and stock prices soaring. She has had experience as a prosecutor, a Senator, and a Vice-President. She promises to listen to dissenting voices and to include a Republican in her cabinet. She is a voice for America’s future rather than a call to return to its past. For these reasons and so much more, Kamala Harris has this Post’s endorsement.