While visiting David in London in February, 2016, we took a train out to see Bletchley Park where Alan Turing and the “code breakers” developed the system to decipher the German codes during World War II, as depicted in “The Imitation Game”. Turing is considered one of the founders of modern computer science and we found the whole museum (with a reproduction of the original “bombe”; the huge machine used to decipher the codes) very interesting.
David & Dan in front of the “bombe”
We spoke politics on the train back to London, evidently loudly. This was February and the primary season was in full swing. The Republican field was large and crazy. Women, seated across from us, overheard our conversation and politely interrupted. “We can hear that you are Americans. Can you tell us what is going on over there? What is with this Trump character?” We tried to allay their fears, assuring the women that he was a mere distraction and wouldn’t survive the primary season.
Alas, we were wrong. Shows what we knew. Silly us, we believed that Americans believed that their elected officials should show a modicum of decorum, not be bullies, business failures (if they are going to make their chief selling point one’s business acumen), serial harassers or liars. But name calling and bullying became the currency of the election season. No dirt was too low to sling, no stunt too revolting, even, as we now know, getting help from Russia.
Say what you will about Hillary Clinton, she was uniquely qualified to be the first female president of the United States of America. She is almost always the smartest person in the room, which undoubtedly made a lot of men uncomfortable. I’m told by people who know that one-on-one, she really listens, is warm and empathetic. She has been in the public eye too long and been labeled “unlikeable”, like so many strong women.
We still live in a chauvinist society. A society whose educational systems have been falling behind for years, leaving students to flail. Many no longer teach civics and are probably short on American history. Where individual communities dictate what is taught according to the norms of that community; where the hard separation between church and state, as defined in our Constitution, is softening.
There are vast undercurrents of resentment and Fox “News” feeds into the propaganda of white privilege, blurring the line between news and opinion. Every squawker’s opinion is stated as fact and the under classes are drawn to the hype. The Internet has become the engine to dessiminate misinformation and conspiracies. Any story Trump didn’t like became “Fake News!” Twitter became the way to communicate, avoiding what had been routine channels of communication. The old campaign methods were dying. Lines between fact and fiction were now blurred. Truth becomes hostage to rumors in this environment; conspiracies and “everyone says it”. Foreign bad actors and trolls seeded the divisions across Internet platforms with truly fake news.
In the midst of all this, James Comey, as self-righteous a person as ever lived, defied all FBI norms, and announced during election season, that Hillary had improperly used a non-government email server for emails, which had to be investigated. Investigate, if you must, but to go before Congress and announce this to the public sows doubt in people’s minds about the honesty of a candidate. Of course, nothing classified was found, but doubt was planted and to this day, Trump falsely wants to “lock her up” and look for the emails.
We all gave money, worked for her, couldn’t imagine in our wildest dreams that the reality show scam artist could win. Then, Comey found more emails, in an investigation of Anthony Weiner. It was now 11 days away from the election. And he just HAD to tell Congress that he had opened up the investigation again. I came out of a lecture on the Brandeis campus and saw the alert on my phone. I was stunned and cursed out Comey, like every other person supporting Hillary. This opened a Pandora’s box for her. And of course, nothing amiss was found, but for any undecided voter, it cast doubt on her credibility. The exoneration came in small print.
The polls tightened, but she was still in the lead. Eight years earlier on election night, we had gone to a party, then rushed home so we could be on the phone with our children as the polls closed in California and savor and celebrate that joyous occasion together, as we elected Obama, our first Black president, a man of dignity, empathy and grace.
Eight years earlier, David had gone to my brother’s in Ohio, a swing state, a few days before the election, to help get out the vote. Though we were still at the party, he called us as the polls closed and Ohio went for Obama. He sat at a noisy bar where the mayor of Cincinnati happened to also be. We congratulated him for his effort.
This night, November 8, 2016, Dan and I sat in silence in front of our TV, watching in dismay as the big states turned red. Still no pundits would call the election.
We heard from Vicki in California. She sat with a suicidal friend and tweeted out numbers for suicide hotlines.
At 11pm, Dan decided to go to bed. He’d had enough, couldn’t watch any more. I got washed up, but would stay up later to watch as the polls closed on the West Coast. At that moment, David texted from London (where it was 4am the next morning): “I love you! I don’t call often enough, but will call tomorrow.” His message felt like the end of the world was at hand. We didn’t realize it at the time, but in a manner of speaking, it was.
Betsy PfauRetired from software sales long ago, two grown children. Theater major in college. Singer still, arts lover, involved in art museums locally (Greater Boston area). Originally from Detroit area.
You well capture what so many of us went through four years ago. And yes, it started with none of us thinking that Trump could or would be taken seriously. Of course, he is still a joke, just a much more dangerous one than we could have ever imagined. As you note at the end of your story, he has, in a manner of speaking, brought us to the end of the world, or at least the civilized, rule of law world we all thought we lived in.
As I also commented on Suzy’s story, may we be able look back at this prompt at some later date and, remembering our angst at the time we wrote these stories, take a collective sigh of relief?
Certainly feeling the angst, John. I hope later this week we can all breathe a sigh of relief!
This is exactly how I felt as my husband and I watched Trump’s electoral college victory in disbelief. In my opinion, he still lost the election by a lot based on popular vote but slimed his way into office. It will take a lot of time to restore all of the things he has ruined. I’m so anxious that he will find a way to cheat his way to “victory” again.
I agree on all fronts, Laurie.
Betsy, you do a great job of capturing exactly what 2016 was like for me, and probably all of us on this site. I couldn’t bear to spend that much time remembering and writing it all, it is still too painful. But I’m glad that you did. Let’s hope that after this unbelievably horrible four years the Dems will get the chance to start repairing the damage he has done.
Let’s hope so, Suzy! We all fervently wish, hope, pray, agitate, vote for it.
A personal and nearly universal story, Betsy. I’m glad you wrote it, because as others have said, 2016 is still too agonizing for me to write about. The anxiety now is overwhelming, to say the least. I’m trying to limit news to keep my sanity and hope this will all be over!
Yes, free-floating anxiety, Marian. We are all hoping this four-year nightmare is almost over.
Yes Betsy, and none of us imagined how more apocalyptic it would become with each passing news cycle.
Holding my breath for three more days, wish I was a praying woman.
Yes, let”s hope the end is near.
Yes, Betsy, you do capture it al quite crisply. And, dare I say from my partisan perch, accurately. I don’t detect much in the way of empathy for the experience of those who history had left by the wayside – tRUMP’s people – but can I even bring myself to say they deserve it?
Thank you, Bob. Those of us on the left have been dealing with the consequences of this election for four years now. I just read an op-ed by the joke writer who wrote the joke for Seth Meyers for the White House Correspondent’s Dinner that humiliated tRump so completely that many think it is the reason he ran for President. The poor guy says he’s been in therapy ever since.
On the other hand, I do have an acquaintance from the Vineyard (very wealthy) who posted photos on FB of a big celebration with a “Trump, 2016” cake on that night four years ago. I thought I would never speak to her again (we are not close friends, mostly gym buddies). But she is quite nice and I am still pleasant to her. I don’t know how she feels this year. I presume she likes the tax cuts, but how she reconciles that with the flagrant inhumanity and disregard for women…well, I didn’t see her this summer and we’ve never spoken politics.
This is from a guy I’ve known since five years of age. You might know him. Gordon Moss, MD.
Yes. The American Dream was lost for the vast middle class as the corporate leaders of both political parties sent our manufacturing base to Mexico and China to improve their bottom lines. Trump exposed their treachery and reversed Nafta while taking on China. He gave “working people” their highest level of employment and wage growth in many decades. Half the population of this country would walk through fire and hell for him. For this he is reviled by the “establishment “
I guess we all live in our bubbles, Bob (I don’t know your friend Gordon). Some of what he says is true, tho many of those jobs were lost to automation. And yes, low wages in foreign countries certainly played a part. He renamed NAFTA, while little changed, and the tariff war with China hurt more than standing up to China. He doesn’t have a coherent policy on anything. He thinks he can win people over with his own strong personality, as opposed to using seasoned diplomats. That isn’t diplomacy. That is a losing proposition, but not according to those who watch his press outlets (Fox, Sinclair, Breitbart, his twitter account, etc).
He inherited a strong economy. It did not grow at such high levels under his years as in prior years, despite his rhetoric, and of course, now is in shambles, with the huge deficit (another atypical Republican move), caused in part by his tax breaks and record low interest rates. According to economists at Goldman Sacks, hardly a liberal bastion, the economy will do better under Biden. I know your friend won’t believe that. He doesn’t want to.
Wonderful story, Betsy…you eloquently captured the nuances of how so many of us are feeling. I have to ask, what is your featured image? I keep looking for clues in your story but it must have some significance I haven’t found. Or is just a random photo of him blowing particularly hard?
It was the least flattering photo a friend sent me a few years ago to use in a different story. No particular meaning, just impressing how awful he is.
I just watched all the talk shows; Meet the Press, Face the Nation. Pit in my stomach. Hope everyone shows up on Tuesday!
You do recreate the moment–and the whole span of a year leading up to it–very powerfully, and from a particular point of view. There were millions of us who voted for Hillary from a somewhat different point of view, without ever embracing the belief that she was “uniquely qualified” or “the smartest person in the room.” There is no point in re-litigating those beliefs now, but I make note for the record that we (on the Hillary side) spanned a noisy cacophony of beliefs, not a unified chorus singing from the same hymnal.
As food for future thought, I want to also comment on the critique that we are “a society whose educational systems have been falling behind for years, leaving students to flail. Many no longer teach civics and are probably short on American history.” I would note that if only people under 50 had voted, Trump would have had no chance! Presumably it is the younger generations who have been exposed to what you label as failing education, right? But it was the senior citizens (specifically the white senior citizens) who blew Clinton out of the water. That demographic did receive lessons, in civics, and attended better funded schools too,; and not nearly as many were living in poverty. As I said: food for a future reflection.
Thank you for your comments, Dale. I understand that many of the younger set sat on the sideline and (as is being noted in this go-around) many of the seniors went for Trump, particularly those less educated (and those without college degrees make up a large part of his base today as well). Your points are well-taken. Hopefully, those who support Bernie understand this time that they can’t sit on the side-line, or vote for a third party. Or worse, think there is no difference between the candidates (I’ve heard that one too).
I was thinking of the Texas school system when I wrote the comment about school systems, which now has tight control over textbooks and not in a good way.
Betsy, I seem to have wiped out my entire three-paragraph comment on your terrific essay. In an effort to reconstruct, congrats on your unspooling of a painful period of our experience and history. I want to add that, in the end, Hillary won by over three million votes, regardless of what people “liked” or “I dunno, just didn’t like” about her. I think the “I dunno” folks mostly weren’t ready for a woman president. A tall, handsome, eloquent black man, yes, but a woman? And this response found a home across the demographic and socio-political spectrum.
Seneca Falls came about in 1848 because two women, Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who met at the 1840 World Anti-Slavery Convention in London, were not allowed to participate in the renunciation of slavery by the righteous gentlemen who assembled there. When, eight years later, Mott, Stanton, and other suffragist advocates joined with their abolitionist sisters gathered at Seneca Falls, the first day was given over to women’s place in the abolitionist movement. On the second day, Stanton and Mott generously opened the forum to men. It took Frederick Douglass to shut the men up. He suggested they “take the back bench and wrap themselves in silence.” Douglass continued…
“When a great truth once gets abroad in the world, no power on earth can imprison it, or prescribe its limits, or suppress it. It is bound to go on till it becomes the thought of the world. Such a truth is woman’s right to equal liberty with man. She was born with it. It was hers before she comprehended it. It is inscribed upon all the powers and faculties of her soul, and no custom, law or usage can ever destroy it. Now that it has got fairly fixed in the minds of the few, it is bound to become fixed in the minds of the many, and be supported at last by a great cloud of witnesses, which no man can number and no power can withstand.”
Today, we see once again that no one can stop an idea whose time has come; that nobody is free until everyone is. We shouted it to the stars 50 years ago, and now, over 150 years after Seneca Falls, I believe the horrific 2016 election and the abduction of America may be “rounding the turn” as the inarticulate moron in the White House claims. On our road, the old white men will die or be voted out and we can all breathe a sigh of relief and take a great leap forward. I hope I’ve got the right road map.
I hope so too Charles. Thank you for the history lesson along the way.
On that note, let me mention the Pulitzer Prize winning biography of Frederick Douglass by David Blight. Now, there’s a history lesson