Thoughts on the election

Thoughts on the election Macbeth: Understanding Trump’s vision. 

I have been unable to do much of anything this week other than read about the election online. The Internet, that sprawling web of intersubjetivity, knitting our individual nerves into a lattice of anxiety too interconnected to be stable, whose lurching bowels birthed this monster, is also my solace. I surrender my emotions to the public performance, hoping desperately for catharsis. 

I cried with Hillary in her concession speech, sat stunned with my classmates, thoughts reeling around what it might mean to be a social scientist under Trump. Barack and Michelle’s valedictory reflections at HIllary’s last rally–that moment of domestic decency—feels like it is from another age. I cannot summon the energy to laugh or cry at the idea of Ben Carson as Secretary of Education, Sarah Palin as Secretary of the Interior. On Tuesday, I had incapicatating heartburn for the first time in my life. On Wednesday my body was covered in itchy hives. And yet I know that my pain is so much less than that felt by my brothers and sisters of marginalized identities. I can choose to pass. I resonate with Thomas Friedman’s sense off feeling alienated, homeless in my own country. It is a privileged grief, one my brothers and sisters have lived with their whole lives. If there is a silver lining, it is that complacent white liberals like myself have been forced to confront a stark and uncomfortable truth: Progress is dead. The arc of history will not bend toward justice on its own. We will live under a regime explicitly committed to patriarchal white supremacy, and we will all have to choose between an explicitly antiracist, antipatriarchal stance, or supporting the status quo. 

Autocracy: Rules for Survival Masha Gessen

Ebell at the EPA

There is one question the media has not been able to answer: Who is Donald Trump? What makes him tick? Why do we care? 

The fundamentally insecure man who will say or do anything for power, cursed with vision 

To accommodate those with a short attention span, we shall skip to Act III. 

Instead of adulation, he sees everywhere self-sickened sycophancy, fearful and unwholesome demonstrations of support. 

— NY dinner: Where are my friends? — Victory speech: where is everybody?

Macbeth: 

Macbeth’s deepest mystery may be the 

How is it that we come to 

From the Al Smith dinner:

Thank you Al. Wow. That was good. Mm. This is a helluva dinner. Well I want to thank Your Eminence. This is really great to be with you again. Beloved Governor Cuomo, our great senators. Hi Chuck. He used to love me when I was a Democrat you know. (LAUGHTER) Mayor de Blasio. Wherever you are. Where’s Mayor de Blasio? (inaudible) See in the old days I would have know him very well but I haven’t doing so much of the real estate any (ph). And I want to thank Al and Ann (ph) Smith, just a fantastic job you do with the dinner. Congratulations on a record – over $6 million, right? He’s got a record. (APPLAUSE) And a special hello to all of you in this room who have known and loved me for many, many years. It’s true. The politicians. They’ve had me to their homes, they’ve introduced me to their children, I’ve become their best friends in many instances. They’ve asked for my endorsement and they always wanted my money. And even called me really a dear, dear friend. But then suddenly, decided when I ran for president as a Republican, that I’ve always been a no-good, rotten, disgusting scoundrel. And they totally forgot about me.

From victory speech

I also want to thank my sisters, Maryanne and Elizabeth, who are here with us tonight. And, where are they? They’re here someplace. They’re very shy, actually. And my brother Robert — my great friend. Where is Robert? Where is Robert?

I want to give a very special thanks to our former mayor, Rudy Giuliani.Unbelievable. Unbelievable. He traveled with us and he went through meetings. That Rudy never changes. Where’s Rudy? Where is he? Rudy.

Who is that? Is that the mayor that showed up? Is that Rudy? Oh, Rudy got up here.

Where is Ben? Where is Ben?

 And by the way, Mike Huckabee is here someplace, and he is fantastic.

General Mike Flynn. Where is Mike?

Reince, come up here. Where is Reince? Get over here, Reince. Boy oh boy oh boy. It’s about time you did this, Reince. My God. Say a few words. No, come on, say something.