Post-Election Anger

​         One of the things Hillary Clinton did not do, possibly because she remained a “well-brought-up” woman, was to confront her critics head-on and aggressively, “you’re full of shit.” I just noticed that, in suppressing my own anger, I am doing the same. Some of my anger is directed at Trump, his supporters, the Republican Party, etc. That’s easily expressed in the echo chambers in which I live AND it’s pretty pointless anger. They owe me nothing, they operate on the basis of different values and worldviews from mine. More than anger, I see dialogue, strategy, and political action as relevant to engagement with Trump, his supporters, and Republicans.
         The anger that I am suppressing most, that is most difficult for me to utter, is directed at those on the center-to-progressive-left spectrum who comfort themselves that it’s Clinton’s fault and the Democratic Party’s fault. Yes, there are things her campaign could’ve done better and DEFINITELY the Democratic party needs some major overhauling, but once she was elected candidate (by a large number of voters, not by some sneaky number gamed by the DNC), SHE was the alternative to Donald Trump.
         Those who identify as left-of-center, as Democrats, or as appalled-by-Trump, if you did not support Clinton, you chose Trump. If you held your nose and groaned and moaned about Clinton, you chose Trump because you chose to let innuendo and relatively unimportant Clinton mistakes remain hugely amplified, while ignoring the fact that for the most part she was always left of center, was shifted further left by Bernie Sanders and his campaign, was genuinely open to input on issues of equity, civil rights, the environment, was likely to be open (and with greater authority and responsibility than as Secretary of State) to new ways of engaging with deeply challenging and complex foreign policy issues, and in general pretty intelligent, competent, consistent, and honest on policy/governance issues. Yes, I understand that you disagreed with her spouse’s centrism and its legacies, you disliked her connection to big money, you were suspicious of her hawkish foreign policy positions (not all of her positions were hawkish), you were underwhelmed by her (apparent lack of) charm, you found her white-woman feminism too old-fashioned and classist, many of you were upset that your candidate lost, and once the DNC emails were published you very understandably were angry about the DNC’s favoring Clinton (not nice, but not surprising given her history with the Democratic Party and his history as an independent). But you had a choice. Nurse your grievances (or, like Susan Sarandon, stoke The Real Revolution), OR defeat Trump.
         Trump did not get more votes than Republican candidates in the past. Clinton got fewer votes than Democratic candidates in the past. I’ve seen posts that simplistically blame Clinton—well, it’s her fault she wasn’t popular enough. My anger is because it isn’t only her fault. Bernie Sanders did his part, Elizabeth Warren did her part, Michael Moore did his part, Barack and Michelle Obama did their part, but if you didn’t support Clinton openly and fully, you helped Trump get elected.