This Isn’t Trump’s America, It’s Ours

In the wake of Trump’s presidential victory Tuesday, the internet has been flooded with calls for liberals to rally and prepare to fight for the next four years. After an exhausting year of police brutality, mass shootings, and sexual assault, we have to accept the fact that we don’t have time to rest.

Buck up, kiddo. It’s time to get to work.

What these writers – all of them good-intentioned, all of them desperate to protect their country – don’t understand is that grand, sweeping action won’t win this fight. The election was lost because we as journalists failed in our role as watchdogs. The Clinton email “scandal” overshadowed every story that should have been published.

We didn’t broadcast Trump’s misogyny and racism when he first announced his candidacy.

We didn’t ask him to elaborate on his foreign policy or investigate his ties to Russia when he was chosen as the Republican nominee.

We didn’t fact check his blatant lies during the early debates because watching a man like Trump spar with a woman like Clinton was good for ratings. When we did push back it was too little, too late, and now we are facing a Republican president, Senate, and House of Representatives.

Every little action and inaction in this election led to this result, and there isn’t one defining thing we can do to save the situation. Trump won not only because the Ku Klux Klan found a candidate they believed in, but because millions of everyday Americans have felt left behind by urban liberals.

Racists and sexists came out in droves to vote against “PC culture,” but so did people who feel betrayed by politicians. Trump isn’t remotely qualified for the position he just won, but he promised to “drain the swamp” in Washington. For millions of Americans, that was enough.

If we want to prevent our government from sending us back to the 1950s, we need to understand just how fragmented our country has become. We need to work together in small ways to make a more inclusive and progressive future a reality. But we can’t do that if we’re exhausted and hopeless.

We have all earned a rest. Take time to heal, and reach out to others who need healing. Take time to breathe, and appreciate what we did win in this election (on the state level there’s a lot to be thankful for!) After you’ve done that you can start small, and start local. Donate $5 to Planned Parenthood. Email your city council about what oil and fracking in your area will look like under President Trump. Call your congressman and let them know what you think about repealing Obamacare.

Then gear up and start lobbying for the 2018 midterm elections.

Buck up, kiddo. It’s time to fight like hell.