What’s next and how he won.
I’m writing this on Wednesday morning. What we know so far is that Donald Trump will be the 47th president, Republicans will take the Senate, and the House is still up for grabs. What does this mean? How do we move forward? Many of us are wondering, how do we keep hope alive?
The first thing I want to say is that you need to take care of yourself. Only you know what that looks like. Maybe that means avoiding the news, avoiding social media, getting outside, taking a bath, or calling a friend and crying. Do what you need to do.
And then, once you’ve taken care of yourself, you can decide what you personally want to do next. I am going to take a lilac-scented bath and then give away copies of Democracy in Retrograde to 10 of my followers because we need a blueprint for moving forward and saving democracy now more than ever.
I’m also taking time to meditate on what happened in this election and share my insight with those grasping for answers. Here are my top 10 takeaways as I reflect on last night:
- Trump made gains over his performance in 2020 in counties across the country. This was not a precision victory in key swing districts but rather a country-wide embrace of MAGA and Trump. He will likely win the popular vote as well as the electoral college. In his speech on Tuesday night, Trump said these margins give him a mandate. This is a direct quote: “America has given us an unprecedented and powerful mandate.” This is a powerful statement coming from a man who loves power. He truly believes that this election has handed him the ability to do whatever he wants.
- Misogyny is alive and well in America. When faced with the choice between an overqualified woman and a convicted felon, America chose the felon. Young men turned out in droves for Donald Trump. White women voted against their own best interests. There is a long road ahead of us to break that last glass ceiling in this country, and we will need to fight like hell for it.
- This wasn’t just about rural America. Yes, Trump made gains in rural America, but he made gains almost everywhere. From The New York Times: “Mr. Trump won Florida by roughly 13 percentage points — 10 more than in 2020. Texas also moved 10 points in his favor. He won Ohio by about 11 points, three more than in 2020. Blue states shifted, too. New York moved 13 points toward him, and Virginia shifted six points in his direction.”
- There are some bright spots. Maryland’s Angela Alsobrooks and Delaware’s Lisa Blunt Rochester won their Senate races, marking the first time two Black women will serve in the Senate. This is a historic moment, and we should celebrate it.
- The federal criminal trials against Donald Trump were not the solution liberals hoped for. The majority of these cases will move forward too late. Trump still has a sentencing hearing in Manhattan for his felony convictions, but it’s unclear how that may change now that he won the election. All other cases will inevitably cease.
- Trump’s presidency will usher in serious changes to the American political landscape. In his first administration, Trump was hampered by a combination of ineptitude and what he referred to as a “disloyal” staff who restrained his worst instincts. Now, with his team of loyalists, Trump will likely usher in a massive restructuring of American life. This will include education, public health, austerity, mass deportations, and religious tyranny. Our foreign policy will be flipped on its head, embracing despots and supporting extreme military actions, all while promoting isolationism.
- People love candy. They voted in favor of bold promises (many of them lies) to make their individual lives better, over improvements for the country and the most vulnerable. People’s suffering is real — housing costs are high, salaries are not rising with inflation, and the cost of living continues to increase — but the solutions the voters chose will not ameliorate those woes.
- Conservative dominance of the modern information ecosystem is strong. Conservatives did an incredible job using social media to reach voters where they were at. Elon Musk’s purchase and ruination of Twitter has proved an excellent investment in his dream to become an oligarch. The many huge personalities who built platforms based on conspiracy and controversy pooled their social media power to a single electoral goal backed by monetary interests.
- Cancel culture is largely over. You would have thought that a Trump ally referring to Puerto Rico as a floating island of garbage would have done more to sway voters in the other direction, but it didn’t. We have entered an age where there are few repercussions for saying abhorrent things. The days of purity politics are over.
- Abortion regulations do matter, but not as much as we thought. Many of us thought that the threats to women’s reproductive freedoms were going to carry this election for Harris and the down-ballot Democrats. That clearly did not happen. But seven states will pass abortion ballot measures. According to CNN, “In New York, Colorado and Maryland, where abortion is legal at least up to the point of viability, the measures will maintain current abortion access. In Missouri, the amendment will remarkably expand access to abortion, which is currently banned with no exceptions for rape or incest. Similarly in Arizona, the amendment is expected to overturn the state’s ban on abortions 15 weeks into pregnancy.”
There are dark days ahead. We don’t need to mobilize today or tomorrow, but if we want to ensure the kind of future we hoped a Kamala-win would usher in, we can’t wallow for too long. I’m going to channel my rage and disappointment into action. I hope you’ll join me.
Emily Amick is a lawyer, journalist, and political analyst who served as counsel to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. She is the author of the NYT bestselling book Democracy in Retrograde and creator of @EmilyInYourPhone.
