Congratulations, Republicans! You got your guy. In spite of criminal convictions, the Jan. 6 attack, praise for Hitler and insulting American troops both alive and dead. In spite of promises to use the military against American citizens, censor the media, raise taxes on the working class to fund tax cuts for the rich, and destroy the lives and communities of millions through mass deportation. In spite of dehumanizing fellow Americans, using openly fascist rhetoric, praising dictators, and obvious mental decline.
Did I say “in spite”? I meant “because.” As Tom Nichols writes in The Atlantic, “They want Trump to be awful — precisely because the people they view as their political foes will be so appalled if he wins. ... (They) want Trump to be terrifying and stomach-turning so that reelecting him will be a fully realized act of social revenge.”
So congratulations! You did it! You’re going to hurt so many people so, so much! Aren’t you excited? Four full years of petty vindictiveness and no one to stop you. It’s everything you wanted!
Already Black people are receiving texts mocking them with threats of slavery, and the phrase “your body, my choice” has gone viral. Gay couples now get to spend every day wondering when their marriages might be dissolved and whether they’ll get to keep their children. Immigrants — even legal ones — will live in fear of deportation and having their children ripped from them in the process.
Women of child-bearing age will face being left to die if their pregnancy goes wrong, as is already happening in states with strict abortion bans. Moreover, a woman impregnated by a rapist — as tens of thousands have been since these bans went into effect — will be forced to carry their rapist’s child to term and then abandon all plans for the future to raise that child with no public assistance. Good job, party of family values!
Millions who rely on the Affordable Care Act may soon lose their health care. Trans people will have their existence legislated away. Anyone who cares about the planet is about to see the world’s biggest economy go all-in on fossil fuels, even as the worst predictions of climate scientists are coming true. Speaking of which, blue states will now have to wonder if they’ll get federal support for natural disasters. And journalists, academics, scientists and other truthtellers will be treated as enemies of the state if their facts contradict Trump’s alternate reality.
If Trump actually carries out mass deportations and extreme tariffs, we’ll see the kinds of price hikes that will make us long for Bidenomics. Yes, a lot of the people about to be hurt will be your friends, neighbors, family and yourselves, but it’s a small price to pay to “own the libs,” am I right? Again, so many congratulations.
And so what if none of these people ever did anything to hurt you? If you cared about justice or logic you wouldn’t have just elected the very people actually screwing you over. No, the cruelty has always been the point of Trumpism. So when you look around at all the division, suffering, poverty and violence — when Americans everywhere are living in fear, paranoia, and isolation — you can have the satisfaction of knowing that you finally made America great. Well done. Jesus would be proud.
Personally, I’d rather lose a hundred elections than become the kind of person who delights in the suffering of others. But to each their own. As George Conway wrote in The Atlantic following the election, “like many, I have the emotional and intellectual flaw, if that’s what it is, of assuming that people are wiser and more decent than they actually turn out to be. I feel chastened — distraught — about my apparently naive view of human nature.”
Now it’s put up or shut up time. You don’t get to skate by whining about woke liberals anymore. You hold all the cards, and nothing reveals character like power, so show us who you are. Whatever happens in the next four years is on you, so best of luck.
And, again, congratulations. Congratulations on proving that hatred can overcome love, ignorance can overcome wisdom, lies can overcome truth, ugliness can overcome beauty, fear can overcome hope, and vengefulness can overcome mercy. For a time. You’ve come to power at last, and all you had to do was sacrifice everything that makes this country worth living in. Enjoy ruling over the ashes of your self-respect and the ruins of our nation’s dignity.
Urie is a lifelong Idahoan and graduate of the University of Idaho. He lives in Moscow with his wife and two children. You can find his writing on Substack (hopeanyway.substack.com) or you can email him at ryanthomasurie@gmail.com.
