Bravo. Great essay. I am a 70 year old white Georgian who was a preteen during the Jim Crow era and remembers Klan rallies in Atlanta. I was into current events during the Civil Rights Era and the Vietnam War. I have observed that the American mood become worse than anytime in my life beginning when Trump came down the escalator in 2015. Trump gave license to people to HATE other regular people and 46% of the country took him up on it. Trump has given elected officials license to make up lies to their constituents that endanger their constituents. For example, Jake Tapper played Trump actually naming Adam Schiff as an enemy of the people in the sentence referencing the need for the National Guard or military for Virginia Governor Youngkin and Youngkin actually denied Trump had mentioned any elected official!
Trump's destruction of our national soul is the worst of his many offenses. The nation can survive 4 years with a marginal tax rate that is too low or to high. It cannot survive the psychological affect on the American people
Everything about Trump and that he actually has a chance of becoming president again completely breaks my brain in ways almost nothing has in my entire life. It mostly makes me incredibly sad.
Last year on a trip to Denver, my fiancé and I stumbled into a store that is literally called “Be A Good Person.” The entire store had hats, shirts, mugs, belts and other merch with that slogan on it. Their “auxiliary” slogan is “The Most Basic Concept.”
As one who aspires to be a good person, and as an admirer of good people, I was so taken by the store that I wanted to buy everything in it. But I picked one t-shirt and wear it proudly.
I don’t like Donald Trump - at all - because he doesn’t even make a pretense of being a good person. In fact, his entire persona centers on actually not being a good person.
I don’t care if he would drop my taxes to zero and make bacon and eggs free; he is a loathsome human being. I want Presidents that can be role models to our children. Recognizing that not all Presidents have lived up to that, I’d say at least many of them tried to. Joe Biden would likely be the first to admit that he is not perfect, but he is kind, considerate and empathetic. He will be missed.
While she was campaigning for the Republican nomination, Nikki Haley said that the nation could not survive four more years of the chaos that Donald Trump would bring in a second term. While I fear she is 100% right, I am hopeful that enough Americans will prefer Kamala Harris, a candidate offering to actually help those who need it, instead of preferring a candidate whose basic platform revolves around hating other people.
Thank you for this. I'll confess it would have been helpful for Haley to stand behind her words there rather than back off the second it was in her short-term (but probably not long-term) interests.
Great essay, Will. The whole election has our family terrified of the outcome. Our daughter moved to Montreal for grad school, and if Kamala loses, she may not come back...
I have this thing where I become obsessed with things (a few years ago it was Stalin) and the last couple of years has been early Christianity. And how ppl who call themselves Christian’s gets more and more infuriating the more you know about the early John The Baptist/Jesus movement
Basically the apocalyptic Judaism of the era Jesus lived in, that Christianity was born from had as its driving force the desperation to answer a question, why were bad people (and when describing ‘bad’ they were basically describing Trump) not being punished by God while pious people got no reward. Why were people who sold out to the Romans, like Herod, who coveted gold and broke the commandments benefiting in this world while the poor who fully observed the Torah led miserable lives.
It was these questions that basically led to the invention of the idea of heaven (or the import of the Hellenic idea of heaven into Judaism) the entire reason the sect that became Christianity was born was that people who worshipped the Abrahamic God needed to find a way to explain how both God and people like Trump living wealthy lives both exist.
It’s truly obscene that 2000 years later the people who have taken up the religion that was born from people wrestling with this question are all in on supporting a man that the entire religion was born from its founders trying to explain away, we all know the ‘camel though the eye of a needle’ line, but it is so so much deeper than that
I am curious about what you think Trump will do this time if he loses. The shit he tried to pull happened when he was the current president, but you seem to to think he will do worse things. Worse than the fake electors and juicing up a riot at the Capitol?
He was pretty organised last time, they started questioning the legitimacy of mail in ballots before the election because in GOP governed states they had planned to count them last and they were going to demand the counting stopped, what ruined there plan was Fox calling Arizona (hence Fox getting rid of that analyst, despite them being the gold standard) and Biden winning Georgia
Well what this mindset ignores is the great hatred from your side of the equation- people vote for Trump because the people that hate him also hate them and they know it
I certainly believe that it benefits Trump to encourage people to think that. I would also certainly hope that this piece displays no hate for anyone, least of all neighbors and friends with different views than mine.
I know some Trump voters. They recognize his divisive, chaotic personality and his many, many lies, but they like the appointment of Gorsuch, Cavenaugh and Barrett and like minded district and circuit judges, or they like tax cuts for higher earning folks and cutting regulations on businesses. To them a mentally deteriorating Commander in Chief who has been reckless with military secrets and the immunity to grind whatever axe he wishes to grind on those he considers "enemies of the people" is a price worth paying for judges and regulation cuts. (What is incredible to me is that any garden variety republican would have given them the tax and regulation costs and judges without the risks to the republic that Trump presents.)
They are not stupid, hicks or racists. The sad thing, to me, though, is that those folks join forces with those they know that are stupid, hicks or racists in order for the trains to run on time.
Bravo. Great essay. I am a 70 year old white Georgian who was a preteen during the Jim Crow era and remembers Klan rallies in Atlanta. I was into current events during the Civil Rights Era and the Vietnam War. I have observed that the American mood become worse than anytime in my life beginning when Trump came down the escalator in 2015. Trump gave license to people to HATE other regular people and 46% of the country took him up on it. Trump has given elected officials license to make up lies to their constituents that endanger their constituents. For example, Jake Tapper played Trump actually naming Adam Schiff as an enemy of the people in the sentence referencing the need for the National Guard or military for Virginia Governor Youngkin and Youngkin actually denied Trump had mentioned any elected official!
Trump's destruction of our national soul is the worst of his many offenses. The nation can survive 4 years with a marginal tax rate that is too low or to high. It cannot survive the psychological affect on the American people
Well said.
Everything about Trump and that he actually has a chance of becoming president again completely breaks my brain in ways almost nothing has in my entire life. It mostly makes me incredibly sad.
Last year on a trip to Denver, my fiancé and I stumbled into a store that is literally called “Be A Good Person.” The entire store had hats, shirts, mugs, belts and other merch with that slogan on it. Their “auxiliary” slogan is “The Most Basic Concept.”
As one who aspires to be a good person, and as an admirer of good people, I was so taken by the store that I wanted to buy everything in it. But I picked one t-shirt and wear it proudly.
I don’t like Donald Trump - at all - because he doesn’t even make a pretense of being a good person. In fact, his entire persona centers on actually not being a good person.
I don’t care if he would drop my taxes to zero and make bacon and eggs free; he is a loathsome human being. I want Presidents that can be role models to our children. Recognizing that not all Presidents have lived up to that, I’d say at least many of them tried to. Joe Biden would likely be the first to admit that he is not perfect, but he is kind, considerate and empathetic. He will be missed.
While she was campaigning for the Republican nomination, Nikki Haley said that the nation could not survive four more years of the chaos that Donald Trump would bring in a second term. While I fear she is 100% right, I am hopeful that enough Americans will prefer Kamala Harris, a candidate offering to actually help those who need it, instead of preferring a candidate whose basic platform revolves around hating other people.
Thank you for this. I'll confess it would have been helpful for Haley to stand behind her words there rather than back off the second it was in her short-term (but probably not long-term) interests.
Thanks for this powerful essay. I’m just as confounded and frustrated and obsessed with what a Trump win would mean for my three young boys.
It's my top worry. There are many worries. Everybody has their own top one. But that one's mine.
Great essay, Will. The whole election has our family terrified of the outcome. Our daughter moved to Montreal for grad school, and if Kamala loses, she may not come back...
But on a better note, how about those Illini??!?!
I have this thing where I become obsessed with things (a few years ago it was Stalin) and the last couple of years has been early Christianity. And how ppl who call themselves Christian’s gets more and more infuriating the more you know about the early John The Baptist/Jesus movement
Basically the apocalyptic Judaism of the era Jesus lived in, that Christianity was born from had as its driving force the desperation to answer a question, why were bad people (and when describing ‘bad’ they were basically describing Trump) not being punished by God while pious people got no reward. Why were people who sold out to the Romans, like Herod, who coveted gold and broke the commandments benefiting in this world while the poor who fully observed the Torah led miserable lives.
It was these questions that basically led to the invention of the idea of heaven (or the import of the Hellenic idea of heaven into Judaism) the entire reason the sect that became Christianity was born was that people who worshipped the Abrahamic God needed to find a way to explain how both God and people like Trump living wealthy lives both exist.
It’s truly obscene that 2000 years later the people who have taken up the religion that was born from people wrestling with this question are all in on supporting a man that the entire religion was born from its founders trying to explain away, we all know the ‘camel though the eye of a needle’ line, but it is so so much deeper than that
I am curious about what you think Trump will do this time if he loses. The shit he tried to pull happened when he was the current president, but you seem to to think he will do worse things. Worse than the fake electors and juicing up a riot at the Capitol?
I think he is a lot more organized about it this time, with fewer people who will stand up to him. Here's a good Politico piece about it: https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2024/10/20/trump-overturn-2024-election-plan-00184103
He was pretty organised last time, they started questioning the legitimacy of mail in ballots before the election because in GOP governed states they had planned to count them last and they were going to demand the counting stopped, what ruined there plan was Fox calling Arizona (hence Fox getting rid of that analyst, despite them being the gold standard) and Biden winning Georgia
Well what this mindset ignores is the great hatred from your side of the equation- people vote for Trump because the people that hate him also hate them and they know it
I certainly believe that it benefits Trump to encourage people to think that. I would also certainly hope that this piece displays no hate for anyone, least of all neighbors and friends with different views than mine.
Trump voters are frequently referred to stupid, hicks, racist,
Appreciate your civility
I know some Trump voters. They recognize his divisive, chaotic personality and his many, many lies, but they like the appointment of Gorsuch, Cavenaugh and Barrett and like minded district and circuit judges, or they like tax cuts for higher earning folks and cutting regulations on businesses. To them a mentally deteriorating Commander in Chief who has been reckless with military secrets and the immunity to grind whatever axe he wishes to grind on those he considers "enemies of the people" is a price worth paying for judges and regulation cuts. (What is incredible to me is that any garden variety republican would have given them the tax and regulation costs and judges without the risks to the republic that Trump presents.)
They are not stupid, hicks or racists. The sad thing, to me, though, is that those folks join forces with those they know that are stupid, hicks or racists in order for the trains to run on time.