Moving Forward in Reality, November 9

When we all wake up on November 9, the election will be over. Amen and Hallelujah! Hillary will win. I think that is fairly clear if one is living in reality, not the delusional fantasy Trump-world. She will likely carry the Senate along with her, but the House is less certain, although it is within the realm of unlikely possibility.

So, what happens late at night, after midnight, in the wee hours of the 9th, when the results become clear enough for even Fox News to agree. Will there be anything resembling a concession from Trump? Is he capable of such a thing?  I have my doubts. The results may be crystal clear by 9 pm on the 8th, but let’s give him a few hours to come to terms with it all. My guess is that Trump will declare it all to be “rigged” just like he does with any poll he doesn’t like.

So, in those wee hours, what? Will Trump slink back into Trump Tower or go on the offensive and refuse to admit defeat? Will his most fervent followers take to the streets? Realistic Republican leaders may need to take to the streets themselves along with the airways en masse to defend the process, and calm down the angry Trump folks. I am trusting them to do this. I have no choice. Only Republicans living in reality can do this particular task.

What then, from January onward? Hillary is still very polarizing. I believe her to be competent and no more dishonest than any other average politician, but reality dictates that I acknowledge that she is a lightning rod for the opposition as well as for the progressives within her own party. For the good of the country, I believe that the best thing she could do right from the beginning is to declare that she will not run for a second term, and that she will focus her energy on working together with Congress to actually govern beyond gridlock. This would remove the incentive to block her at every turn for the purpose of denying her a second term. It would open up positive possibilities.

To be clear, I don’t think this is a likely outcome, but I do think it would be a good thing in the long run. It would be a noble gesture, one that put country above personal ambition, and would be a strategic move to push Republicans toward cooperation.

Republicans at this point would be wise to work with her. Congress is nearly universally despised in recent years, and the tactic of party-line polarized obstructionism has been a catalyst for the emergence of the disaster that is the Trump candidacy.  If they can govern, actually govern, through compromise and civility, we can begin to heal the deep divisions that exist within our society.  We must address the legitimate concerns of Trump voters even as we reject their racism, misogyny and xenophobia. This is work for serious, thoughtful people of goodwill.  Our elected leaders must rise to this standard and stop feeding the trolls of division and extremism.

In 2020, after the census, our next great task must be to undo the gerrymandered districts that have led to extreme polarization in the House. No one is served by solid, “safe” districts (on either side) where moderation and compromise are dirty words. We need to bring back the middle ground.

As citizens, our task is to learn again to be civil to one another, to rise above the worst in our midst, to re-marginalize the scary fringe that has become so normalized in recent months, to realize that we all must live together when all is said and done.

Since I am living in reality I must acknowledge the likelihood of Trump refusing to fade away gracefully. He will probably make noise from the sidelines. We must ignore him. We must, as a nation, simply walk away and deny him the attention he craves so desperately. We have more important things to do. No more free media. No more retweets. No more passing along stories of his latest shenanigans. No more. As a country, we need to drop him like the toxic sludge he is.  I don’t doubt that he and his small band of the most deplorable will populate the fringes (and we should keep an eye on them), but they have no place in the American mainstream from November 9 onward.

Moving forward, we must heal. Moving forward, we must learn to work together again. Moving forward, all of us must call on the best within us. There is no other path.