Last night, on our drive home from watching the terrifying election results roll in at our friends' home, we may have experienced a portent of what a Trump America will be like.
We were passing a truck on I-5, a two-lane sleepy section that passes through our rural counties. It was about ten, late enough that the election results were clear. We have a Hillary sticker on our car. I heard my husband swear as he swerved dangerously close to the semi. Though we were driving about 70 mph, a red sedan flew past us on the left shoulder, nearly hitting us and driving perhaps 120 or faster. In hot pursuit was another car which did the same. We were understandably shaken, not the least because we already were upset by the prospect of Breitbart taking over all three branches of our government.
As we pulled off for our exit, we saw both of those cars had also exited there and were pulling into the Chevron station. We were on the phone with 9-1-1 so pulled in to get better descriptions of the cars and license numbers. The occupants were now out of their cars, whooping and cheering -- young white men happy, yet somehow onerous.
We can't know for certain that their revelry was because of election returns, but it did feel that way.
Most people I know are horrified that such a despicable and dangerous man has just won our presidency, and with a Congress and (soon) Supreme Court that will likely give him carte blanche. We know his lifelong attitudes to minorities, women, and anyone who opposes him. He has openly threatened vengeance on those in the press and politics who dared oppose him. We are entering the days of a Putin or Erdogan at the helm.
I fear for what he may do. But in the immediate period -- the next months -- I am most fearful of his supporters. They have been granted permission to hate, to use violence against those they don't understand or who, like us, have ridiculed their ignorance. I am afraid for my Moslem friends and family, my Hispanic friends and neighbors, my African-American and multiracial friends, my intellectual friends, my political friends, my gay friends and family.
Erdogan locked up thousands of teachers and intellectuals and has attacked Kurdish minorities ruthlessly. Putin imprisoned business owners so he could steal their businesses. He has assassinated journalists who investigated his regime.
This is no longer over there. It's here. And a large number of Americans will wittingly make up Trump's brown shirts. I do not see him trying to rein that in. And I certainly don't trust the FBI to do so.
We were passing a truck on I-5, a two-lane sleepy section that passes through our rural counties. It was about ten, late enough that the election results were clear. We have a Hillary sticker on our car. I heard my husband swear as he swerved dangerously close to the semi. Though we were driving about 70 mph, a red sedan flew past us on the left shoulder, nearly hitting us and driving perhaps 120 or faster. In hot pursuit was another car which did the same. We were understandably shaken, not the least because we already were upset by the prospect of Breitbart taking over all three branches of our government.
As we pulled off for our exit, we saw both of those cars had also exited there and were pulling into the Chevron station. We were on the phone with 9-1-1 so pulled in to get better descriptions of the cars and license numbers. The occupants were now out of their cars, whooping and cheering -- young white men happy, yet somehow onerous.
We can't know for certain that their revelry was because of election returns, but it did feel that way.
Most people I know are horrified that such a despicable and dangerous man has just won our presidency, and with a Congress and (soon) Supreme Court that will likely give him carte blanche. We know his lifelong attitudes to minorities, women, and anyone who opposes him. He has openly threatened vengeance on those in the press and politics who dared oppose him. We are entering the days of a Putin or Erdogan at the helm.
I fear for what he may do. But in the immediate period -- the next months -- I am most fearful of his supporters. They have been granted permission to hate, to use violence against those they don't understand or who, like us, have ridiculed their ignorance. I am afraid for my Moslem friends and family, my Hispanic friends and neighbors, my African-American and multiracial friends, my intellectual friends, my political friends, my gay friends and family.
Erdogan locked up thousands of teachers and intellectuals and has attacked Kurdish minorities ruthlessly. Putin imprisoned business owners so he could steal their businesses. He has assassinated journalists who investigated his regime.
This is no longer over there. It's here. And a large number of Americans will wittingly make up Trump's brown shirts. I do not see him trying to rein that in. And I certainly don't trust the FBI to do so.
Thank you for your article, Linda. I relate 100% to what you are saying.
ReplyDeleteToday, I feel let down by my fellow citizens and terrified of what this Trump regime will look like for our future.
What do our daughters take away from this? That America believes it is okay to allow a man stomp them down with little more than a few passionate untruths spoken at a podium? That no matter how hard they try or how strong they are, the misogynist bullies will win?
How about our sons? That it's perfectly alright to engage in "locker room talk," and call women fat ugly pigs? If it is okay for the president, it is okay for me?
My son is Muslim. He is already scared to mention his faith in a public setting as he endures Islamophobia on a daily basis. How much worse will it get for him?
I am scared for our children, for how this will affect their outlook on the world.
And I am scared for my champion, Hillary, as I listened to crowds chant "lock her up, lock her up" at every Trump rally I could endure hearing.
Thank you for allowing me this space to vent and commiserate away from the social media arena. I know exactly how you feel today.
-Shannon