Day 1: Taking care of one another.
November 7, 2024
VIDEO below: Robert Hubbell and Jess Piper live streaming on Substack
Thousands of readers reached out today to share their feelings and observations about the election. The next few newsletters will be light on news and heavy on how readers feel and how we blaze a path forward. I will remain in touch daily--if only to give you something to hold onto as we process our reactions to the election.
I don’t have definitive answers at this point. I don’t think anyone does. Indeed, I believe that the effort to slice and dice the electoral returns is becoming counterproductive.
If you need a break, take one! You deserve it. But please come back to this community. We will welcome you with open arms.
In addition to the audio recording of this newsletter, I have included the video (above) of a “livestreaming” session on Substack earlier today with Jess Piper, The View from Rural Missouri by Jess Piper | Substack. Jess and I discussed the need to continue pushing back even if we do not control the levers of government. Many readers who watched the live feed said they found it helpful. I hope you will, too.
[After having reviewed the video, I believe it is a helpful guide for making it through the coming weeks. I urge you to find time to watch it through the end.]
Take care of yourself and others
Before turning to the election itself, it is important to acknowledge that many people are feeling bewildered, angry, frightened, and disappointed by the election results. They may be suffering in silence. Please reach out to them!
I emailed several friends, readers, and colleagues whom I believed would be suffering. All were grateful. One wrote back and said, “I've reached out to many people today but I don't think I realized how much I needed someone to reach out to me until I received your email.”
Make a special effort to reach out to the women in your life—mothers, sisters, wives, daughters, coworkers, friends, and more. I heard from many women today who expressed their anger, disappointment, sadness, and frustration that their equality and agency were dismissed in the election. Let them know that you are their allies in the effort to regain their status as full citizens under the Constitution with the right to control their bodies and healthcare decisions.
Reach out to the LGBTQ people in your life who are the targets of hate and bigotry by the far right and Christian nationalists. Many are worried about their rights, including the recognition of their marriages by the federal government and other states. Let them know we will be on the front line with them in their fight to protect their hard-won recognition and equality under the law.
Reach out to Black and Hispanic people who have once again been the subject of voter suppression that denies them full participation in our democratic processes.
Reach out to immigrants and their family members who fear that they may be the subject of extrajudicial arrests and deportation.
And if you are a member of a grassroots organization, take care of your leaders! Even though they are rallying the troops and comforting others, they need support and attention, too! They feel responsible for the morale and well-being of dozens, hundreds, or thousands of volunteers. That is an awesome responsibility that takes a toll. Support your leaders during this challenging time.
Don’t allow pundits and pollsters to divide us
The urge to comprehend what happened in the election is understandable. But avoid the temptation to seek answers in analysis of the pundits who normalized Trump before the election. Those same pundits are attempting to mislead us by cramming the 2024 election into their standard models of “issues” identified by voters during exit polls.
By attempting to slice and dice the data among various groups and geographies, pundits and pollsters are effectively trying to assign “blame” for the loss to various groups. Do not let them sow discord among Democrats! We must remain unified if we are to successfully resist the worst that Trump plans to implement during his second term.
There is no group or demographic that should be “blamed” for Kamala’s loss. She lost because one-third of eligible voters did not vote. We need to understand why that happened. The election was decided by voters who did not show up.
Do not allow pundits to divide us. Any data set can be manipulated in a way to make it appear that any subset of voters was “responsible” for the loss. Do not fall for fabricated narratives designed to make the pundit appear to be smart at the cost of our unity.
Do not allow pundits to “normalize” the election result.
Just as the media normalized Trump before the election, there is a wholesale effort to “normalize” the election results. Pundits are claiming the election was decided by voters’ concerns over inflation, immigration, or crime. Those issues are post-facto rationalizations offered by voters to conceal their real reasons for voting for a convicted felon and adjudicated sexual abuser over an eminently qualified candidate.
Kamala Harris lost because Trump's supporters were motivated by racism, misogyny, and white supremacy. They voted for a felon and against prosecutor/senator/vice president because she is a woman of Black and South Asian ancestry. All of the remaining explanations are camouflage to conceal the real motivations of those who voted against Kamala Harris.
We will learn nothing if we accept pollsters’ dog-and-pony show to explain the election with exit polls and crosstabs in spreadsheets that have nothing to do with the real motivations of voters. Do not conflate data with information. Do not mistake information for knowledge. Do not confuse knowledge and understanding. Do not accept percentages and cohorts in response to the simple but profound question, “Why?”
Racism. Misogyny. White supremacy. Occam’s Razor.
Do not grant Trump and MAGA superpowers they do not have
Trump said many things on the campaign trail that are easy to promise but hard to deliver. The US economy—and the federal government—are the largest in the world. They have heft and momentum that are difficult to slash and reverse.
It is likely that Trump will succeed in inflicting some damage on some federal programs, policies, and international alliances. Things may get worse before they get better. But they will get better if we stay the course and provide a unified resistance to Trump’s efforts to override the rule of law and ignore the Constitution. He has no superpowers—unless we surrender in advance.
A few snippets from the news
In Kamala Harris’s gracious concession speech, she said the following:
On the campaign, I would often say when we fight, we win. But here's the thing, sometimes the fight takes a while. That doesn't mean we won't win. The important thing is don't ever give up. Don't ever give up.
And Liz Cheney posted the following:
We now have a special responsibility, as citizens of the greatest nation on earth, to do everything we can to support and defend our Constitution, preserve the rule of law, and ensure that our institutions hold over these coming four years. Citizens across this country, our courts, members of the press and those serving in our federal, state and local governments must now be the guardrails of democracy.
Rebecca Solnit wrote this:
They want you to feel powerless and to surrender and to let them trample everything and you are not going to let them. You are not giving up, and neither am I. The fact that we cannot save everything does not mean we cannot save anything and everything we can save is worth saving.
You may need to grieve or scream or take time off, but you have a role no matter what, and right now good friends and good principles are worth gathering in. Remember what you love. Remember what loves you. Remember in this tide of hate what love is. The pain you feel is because of what you love.
Concluding Thoughts
I know this is a difficult time, and many may not want to hear optimism about the future. If so, I understand. Stop here and take your time in returning to the fight.
I feel bullish about our position despite our loss. In 2016, we were shocked, numbed, and adrift. Today, we are shocked and numbed, but we have a grassroots infrastructure that is millions strong and battle-tested. That grassroots infrastructure was successful in 2018, 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023.
The fact that we lost the presidency in 2024 is not the end. It is the beginning in the next chapter of our resistance. And this time, we are better prepared because we are organized and ready. In a week or two, we will need to start focusing on 2026.
For now, rest and reflect. Recognize that your tremendous work in 2024 has prepared the ground for future victories.
We are going to outlast them. In every act of hate and malice, they sow the seeds of their demise. And in every act of hope and goodwill, we ensure our ultimate victory.
Stay strong! Talk to you tomorrow!
Daily Dose of Perspective
Jill and I returned to Los Angeles to find the LA Basin filled with smoke from multiple wildfires. The sky is hazy with smoke so I could not set out my telescope tonight. I am re-publishing one of my favorite images, the Orion Nebula.
The Orion Nebula is 1,344 light-years from Earth and 24 light-years across.
I am currently living in Europe. Most of my family is in the US and I am worried for them as much as for the world. We are told we are at a point of no return in the climate crisis. I presume Trump, Musk and Kennedy feel that they will not suffer from the climate crisis because they have the means to shield themselves. This is probably true. However, will e-cars remain popular with leadership that turns from green initiatives? It won't matter to Musk because Space-X is and will be the space exploration company of the US government.
Many of my friends are able to leave the US because they are from other countries, and affluent professionals. I have read that a lot of people are renewing passports and looking into going to Canada. At least there were apparently a lot of Google searches for living in Canada. Since Americans can vote from abroad some may be choosing to effect the next election in 2 years from afar.
A friend here in Germany who has a lot of family in the US, was telling me she heard an American woman interviewed who said she did not believe women can lead. I am glad I am not around any women like that. Kamala Harris is a hero to me. She took on running against a fascist which takes amazing strength. She has shown more than anything why the US does not have affirmative action if left to its own devices, and for every male that told me males are suffering, I would say, males are imposing a lot of suffering on women in their suffering.
I wonder what the fall of the Roman Empire looked like to the Romans. I know what the fall of Germany looked like. It looked like endless devastating war.
Thanks Robert and Jill. Your calming words remind me of rescuers trying to bring in a lost, run away dog. A musician named Will Stenberg posted a similar comforting post on Facebook. He wrote "But I nonetheless urge everyone not to invite him into your soul" ("he" meaning the felon). Don't let him steal your joy.