We're Not Wrong to Be Angry

Still working through those feelings y'all.

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Photo by Jack B on Unsplash

I have to keep reminding myself that it’s barely been two weeks. Partly because the Trump administration immediately leapt into announcing the most insane, horrifying, and corrupt cabinet picks possible. The idea that Marco Rubio for Secretary of State could be the most reasonable of the bunch is deeply disturbing. Matt Gaetz, Pete Hegseth, Tulsi Gabbard, the very worst of the MAGA right wing are coming out to play, confirming so many of our worst fears, making all the other worst fears seem so much more realistic. 

But the other reason that it’s hard to remember that it’s only been two weeks is because of how immediately we threw ourselves into a circular firing squad of what happened and how did it happen and when did it happen and who did it and why. Everyone has a theory, and everyone’s theories confirm their priors, and everyone has a subgroup of people to blame. I’m not going to go into every single one of them, especially because the conversation essentially boils down to the same thing it’s always boiled down to - was it the economy, or was it a genuine appetite in the American populace for bigotry, hatred, and revenge? 

The economic case is that this has been happening all over the world. Post-pandemic inflation has led to the ousting of incumbents in almost every major election we’ve had around the world.

Dan Pfeiffer

also makes the case here that polling shows that a number of people who don’t like Trump voted for him anyway specifically because they thought he would improve the economy for them. The other argument suggests that it’s quite clear that Trump is only out for himself, that Biden’s economic policies were extremely progressive and geared to the working class, and that the racism that has always been endemic to the United States won out, as is always a possibility. 

I think probably both arguments are true, and many more besides. The economy has improved, but just because inflation has cooled off doesn’t mean prices get better, it just means they stopped rising. And low unemployment doesn’t mean much when you have to work two of the available jobs, and the housing crisis is only getting worse. As I said last week, there will always be some number of people in this country for whom the racism and the misogyny and the queerphobia are not deal breakers. And some number of people for whom they are a benefit. 

There are also huge swaths of this country that aren’t paying attention, who don’t see 99% of the campaigns, who are voting based on vibes and political identity and volatility. And we can’t forget about the monied interests. Jill Stein who pops her head up every four years to take the left’s money, and Elon Musk who couldn’t give two shits about democracy or government inefficiency and instead just wants to use the levers of power to make everyone pretend to like him and buy his stuff, and all the other uber wealthy who care more about their billions of dollars than the planet burning down around them. There are accelerationists who want to speed up collapse so they can build something new in the wreckage, though what they haven’t told us; the Democratic elites who defend the status quo at the expense of their constituents; and the millions of people who didn’t bother to vote at all. 

I’m not here to make a case for which of these reasons Trump won the presidency is most correct, nor am I here to make the case for whichever we need to address most so that we can win elections next time. We have to address all of them to build the country and the world we want to see. Priorities will emerge as we see what heinous policies the Trump administration imposes, how people react to them, and who shows up to organize the resistance. 

Instead, I’m here to say: we’re not wrong to be mad about it. 

So much of the discourse has revolved around what Democrats did wrong, what the left did wrong, what we’ve been doing wrong for 4 or 20 or 50 years. But we’re not wrong to be mad that people aren’t paying attention, that they keep burrowing further and further away from the news and we have to keep chasing after them like hectoring nannies demanding they pay attention to their lessons. We’re not wrong to be mad that there are voters who refuse to see Trump’s bigotry and corruption as a problem, or that revel in the misogyny and posturing. We’re not wrong to be mad that the commentary has tried to blunt our anger, to turn it inward, to turn it on ourselves. 

Self-reflection is important, and this wide, sweeping and bitter rage I feel is not exactly a strong tactical position. In a recent interview on Pod Save America, Andy Kim pointed out that politics is supposed to be uncomfortable, full of difficult conversations. Democracy relies on listening to each other, on reaching out to people who don’t think like we do or have the same priorities we do.¹ I can be mad at all the people who couldn’t take ten minutes out of their day to do some research about who is going to lead the country they live in while realizing that anger won’t serve me in making the case for doing that research. I can be mad at all the people in the aftermath suggesting that we spent too much time defending trans kids who want to play sports while realizing that the best thing for those trans kids might be me having consistent and compassionate conversations with people about how great it is for all of us that trans kids play sports.²

It has barely been two weeks since the election, and it’s harder this time. The fear is stronger, and the uncertainty greater. We’re all grappling with our emotions and reactions in ways that make it hard to connect with each other, even knowing that connection is what will give us strength and support in the years to come. We get to give those emotions space a little longer though. We get to feel that anger and that fear and that sadness. We need to pick ourselves up, dust off our shoulders, and get to work. But turning our anger inward, trying to force it down or letting it corrode into bitter apathy is not going to help. We’re not wrong to be angry at people who didn’t take the threat seriously, and we’re not wrong to be scared. 

What matters, always, is what we do when we get back up. 

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Resources

If you’re ready to get involved, but not sure where to start, I made you a little two-page guide which you can find here. Feel free to share if you find it useful! 

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What Gives Me Hope/Strength This Week 

This piece in the Intelligencer about how the resistance feels different this time, hardened and more mature, and ready to go. 

This post from Vote Save America about how much volunteer work and organizing made a difference down ballot. 

The thousands of people who have already signed up to run for office with Run for Something (the number has doubled since this was published), and the reminder of how much good we can do on a city and state level.

1. With the proviso always that it is not safe for everyone to do so, and we should never be asking people to reach out to those who want them dead, and the more privilege we have the more important it is for us to do the reaching out.

2. Kids sports are a great place to meet all kinds of people, to learn from all kinds of people, and to test skills against all kinds of players, and we’re a better society when we strengthen ourselves with diversity of all kinds,