I planned to write something longer for today, but this has been a hell of a week. So I’ll keep this brief and just say: thank you.
Thank you, because two years ago — Election Day 2024 — I really wondered how much longer I could keep doing this. Four more years of Trumpism coupled with a Republican trifecta for at least two of them seemed like an almost impossible thing to endure. How could I keep publishing this newsletter without endlessly bumming people out? What good was it to try to talk sense to voters who for one reason or another weren’t hearing it? What sort of future could my kids have in a country that was so off the rails. And wasn’t there something else less frustrating I could do with my life?
But you, my lovely readers, helped me pick myself up and move on. We kept doing our best to work toward a saner country day in and day out, and our audience continued to grow and grow as people become disaffected with an increasingly corrupted mainstream press. There was still a strong appetite for independent political commentary and analysis rooted in basic values of kindness and tolerance.
We would get through this.
And look at us now.
After 10 years, Trumpism has finally been decisively rejected by voters. Whatever comes next for the Republican Party might be just as bad, but that will be determined in part by a primary campaign that will take place against the backdrop of a historically unpopular president. We’re turning the page from one of the ugliest chapters in the history of our politics.
Democrats have strong majorities in both chambers and almost certainly will control the Senate for at least the next six years. The Supreme Court is no longer a lost cause. The party boasts a range of young and inspiring potential presidential candidates. Better things are not only possible, they might even be likely.
Don’t get me wrong — I’ve been doing this long enough to understand that the next two years could get really ugly. Trump is increasingly uninhibited and irrational, and it’s possible he tries to use his power over the military and security forces to lash out much like he did earlier this year at those of us who live here in Minneapolis.
But if he goes that route, he’ll be doing so from a position of weakness. MAGA is a dead end, a political loser. We the people showed that on Tuesday.
So I hope you take this weekend to savor it. I know I will. Hope is back. The next two years (not to mention two months) will be fascinating, and while nothing is certain, I’m a lot more confident now than I was a a week ago that we’ll make it through.
We’ll be back to regularly scheduled programming on Monday.
Cheers,
Aaron
Thank you for sticking with it!!! Your reporting has been absolutely essential to understanding what is happening here for me. We are in this together!! I really can’t say any of this enough. You posted a buy me a coffee link. Please repost so I can give you more money to keep this going.
Kamala's loss was devastating, and it took weeks, maybe months, to semi-recover. As a 68-year-old white man, it was intense. I often wondered if I could invest the time and emotion into another 'hope'. Then came Tuesday. This is the country I remembered, wanted, and have been serving for the last 46 years. The Ds, the women, the Black successes, Native Americans, and the Latinos in TX, AZ, and NM. I had tears in my eyes.