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Donald Trump will be our next president.
That conclusion of Tuesday’s election elicits vastly different reactions across America. Some have responded with triumphant glee and enthusiasm. Others are overwhelmed by fear and disappointment.
It is trite to say we are a divided country. While that is true, the complexity is much deeper than that. We, in broad terms, see a vastly different reality when looking at the same information and circumstances. Such a chasm can’t easily be bridged.
But, for now, as the reality of Tuesday’s election results becomes more clear, we need to support one another. Now, more than ever, it is important to stand with and speak out for those who are most vulnerable, those who have been demeaned and diminished during the presidential campaign.
We must be vigilant to protect the rights of LGBTQ+ Americans, especially transgender children who have been shockingly targeted for hate. We must safeguard the rights of women to access lifesaving health care. We must stand up for those who came to America seeking an escape from persecution and a better life. We must support, not demonize, one another. We must work to understand our differences, not weaponize them against each other.
There will be endless analysis of the 2024 presidential race, especially from Democrats in the wake of a decisive loss. Blame will be placed on President Joe Biden for staying in the race too long, and for too easily passing the baton to Vice President Kamala Harris. Perhaps Harris should have picked a different running mate. An appeal to moderate voters may have alienated more liberal Democrats. Maybe America somehow is still not ready to elect a woman as president. There are countless reasons for Tuesday’s results, which ended in the shocking outcome of America electing a twice impeached convicted felon full of hateful and divisive rhetoric as president.
But, one is pretty clear. Too many American still feel left behind or left out of an economy that increasingly lavishes wealth on a few while far too many struggle to make ends meet.
Insistence from many Democrats that the economy is doing well — and by many measures it is — fell flat with voters struggling to find affordable housing or who have watched their grocery bill rise. Next year, it will fall to Trump, and his Republican allies, to lead with real solutions to these problems. Fact-challenged talk of broad tariffs to bolster the economy and vague pledges to use federal land to reduce housing prices must now be followed by more reasonable action.
No matter the reason, Trump won a resounding victory, Republicans will control the U.S. Senate and, as of Wednesday morning, may win control of the U.S. House of Representatives. The U.S. Supreme Court, made more conservative during Trump’s first term in office, has shown great deference to him, with broad presidential immunity being a notable and alarming example.
This means that many of the guardrails that checked Trump’s worst impulses during his previous term in the White House are weakened or eliminated. It now falls to Republicans of conscience, to state lawmakers and the American people to guard against the dark and divisive pledges that Trump made on the campaign trail. It is up to all of us to ensure that our nation doesn’t become a haven for hate and revenge, that despite our deep differences we find ways to value one another and to safeguard the rights of those who are most vulnerable.
They were only a few words after months of vitriol and increasingly divisive speeches, but Trump ended an early morning victory speech with a pledge of working toward unity.
“It’s time to put the divisions of the past four years behind us,” Trump said early Wednesday morning in Florida. “It’s time to unite, and we’re gonna try. We’re gonna try. We have to try.”
He’s absolutely right that we have to try. But we must not unify around exclusion or revenge. Trump and his Republican allies are the ones who will play the primary role in setting the tone and direction for America come January. We aren’t so pollyannaish to believe that Trump’s pledges of retribution and defiance of government norms were merely political theater and that he’ll govern in a unifying manner. He has a choice now of either leaning into his pledges of revenge or to follow through on his promises to be a president for all Americans.
We, as individuals and as a nation, must try to find ways to discuss our differences without demeaning and devaluing one another. We have strongly held — and often vastly different — views of the state of America and how to fix it. We cannot let these differences divide us into enemy camps more intent on destroying one another than improving this country that we all hold dear.
