This election was more than just politics

The most annoying thing I've heard since the election ended

Locking Trump Voters out of our lives. Photo by Chauncey Sims on Unsplash

“What kind of country do we want to be?” Former Democratic Presidential candidate and incumbent Vice President Kamala Harris would ask at various campaign rallies nationwide during the campaign. A centerpiece of her stump speech, it was a rhetorical question as much as it was a legitimate one: what kind of country do we want to be?

Well, we got our answer on November 5th.

We are a country with divergent views on life, the universe, and everything based on our political persuasion and the quality of information we consume. The lower the quality of information, the bigger the lies and misconceptions; and the bigger the lies and misconceptions, the more amplified the conversation—ultimately resulting in a colossal snowball of bullshit with shitty results.

We are a country where we are so thirsty for change, that we would vote to put back in power the most selfish man to ever be President of the United States; and we are willing to do so even after he bungled a pandemic response, undermined the legitimacy of the election process, stoked a riot that nearly overthrew a duly elected government, illegally withheld documents, got convicted of fraud 34 times over, blurred the lines between government access and personal profiteering, told lies every single time he opened his mouth, attempted to make his opponent’s ethnic background a campaign issue in an attempt to paint her as unqualified, ran as an autocrat, and spearheaded the most openly racist, sexist, xenophobic, and dishonest campaign in the history of American politics.

We are a country where half of the participating electorate went to the ballot box with a moral compass that could be seen as broken; or, at the very least, armed with a sense of self-serving pragmatism. As a country, we should know better; yet half of us actively refuse to know better. A slew of voters decisively reassessed the Trump presidency as good, which is quite frankly no different than a partner remembering the good times with their ex, reconciling, and then remembering why they left their ex in the first place. Regardless, they swung the election in his favor in the last week of the campaign.

Over the past two weeks, many in the political world, from those who got elected to the professional politicos, and on down to the sociopolitical influencers, have opined about why Harris lost. It was the economy (partially). It was racism (partially). It was misogyny (partially). It was a desire for change (partially). It was a desire for Trump (partially). It was a rejection of Harris (partially). Researchers, Democrats, and even Republicans will spend the next few months doing autopsies over the election result; all the while the country will undoubtedly delve once again into a right-wing circus because the party that now has the primary responsibility of governing proves to be incapable of doing the job of governing. If voters wanted to go back to the 2017 to 2019 years, that’s one way to get it.

For those of us who identify as being part of the left side of the American political spectrum, this election was far different than anything before it. This election was a test of character, a test of values, a test of ethics, and a test of morals. Trump ran a campaign that was bankrupt on decency, truth, and reason; he used racism, sexism, bigotry, and xenophobia as an actual part of his campaign pitch; he leaned into the culture war, proposed divisive policy ideas, dishonestly distanced himself from a certain “mandate”, and through his lies secured a benefit of the doubt that he should have never, ever gotten.

Since November 5, I have not been able to look at any Trump voter the same again. Knowing what they voted for, knowing what was not a deal breaker to them, and knowing what they would live with in exchange for a payoff, any modicum of trust, comfort, or acceptance has evaporated. In 2016, I had a feeling that the disgust and dismay would wear off and I could live with having uneasy personal and professional relationships with Trump voters; now in 2024, the feelings of resentment are unquestionably permanent.

And I imagine this is a common feeling among a lot of us who voted for Harris. Many of us have friends, family members, and co-workers who are ardent supporters of the President-elect and thus enthusiastically voted for him; they cast their ballot in his favor despite the fact he operates in self-serving bad faith. Whatever the reason may be, they concluded that he earned their vote. As a result, we have reached a conclusion about them: that there is a substantial and incorrigible difference in our morals and values.

For many of us Harris voters, it has led us to decide that their presence in our personal lives is now untenable. And as this movement by Harris supporters to cut Trump voters out of our lives spreads—and it is way more substantial than I thought and certainly more than what I saw in 2016—I want to address the most common retort that I have seen: that it is insane to cut friends and family off over “politics”.

This election was not about “politics”.

Politics is a debate of ideas and policy. This election was not about ideas and policy. At all. This was about character and values.

And there was perhaps as wide of a gulf between the character of two candidates running for the highest office of the land as there ever has been in American politics. The better person, the better public servant, the better leader, and the better candidate narrowly lost; the worse person, the worse public servant, the worse leader, and the worse candidate narrowly won. A pitch that valued selflessness over selfishness and decency over cruelty narrowly lost; a pitch that championed hurting others and destroying lives with the backing of government narrowly won. A candidate who possessed a decent worldview narrowly lost; a candidate who championed a zero-sum worldview narrowly won. A candidate that ran on being a decent person who listens and, despite not having perfect policies, would at least govern collaboratively narrowly lost; a candidate that ran on being a selfish, vengeful piece of shit who would rule the nation in his own image and take Americans along for a ride, narrowly won.

As Democrats and supporters of Harris, we have to stop trying to appeal to a voter’s moral compass. It has been a consistent waste of time. Voters cast their ballot for what appeals to them and what makes sense to them—nothing more, nothing less. And it turned out roughly 2.5 million people found that Trump’s vision, slightly, partially, or wholly, was more appealing than Harris’. Just short of 77 million people decided to support him and that is their right.

However, we also reserve the right to not have people in our lives because they made that very decision. As much as Trump voters will disagree, they are not going to escape what we are seeing with our own eyes. This election, more than any other in the modern history of the United States, was indeed a reflection of the individual voter’s character, morals, and values. Trump ran a campaign that rejected basic human decency; and those who voted for Trump either liked that he did or, even worse, found that it was not necessarily a deal breaker for various reasons. Once again, that is their right.

So no, this election was not just politics. It was a litmus test. As a result, we learned a lot about each other—much of it unpleasant. And for a significant number of us who stood against and will continue to stand against Trump and right-wing politics, we have decided that Trump’s voters, regardless of how much they claim to support him and his rhetoric, should not have unfettered access to our personal lives. Boundaries need to be established and, if necessary, complete and total severance.

No apologies.

No regrets.

No unity.