Amid the shock, some post-election words of wisdom

Early thoughts on how to go forward and how to think about what's happened

How are you doing, dear subscribers to American Crisis?

If you’re anything like me, you’re disheartened, to put it mildly. Heartsick, maybe, gets closer to it. The stark facts of Election Day have the power to stun.

Consider the lead paragraph of the Associated Press’s just-the-facts news story: “Donald Trump was elected the 47th president of the United States on Wednesday, an extraordinary comeback for a former president who refused to accept defeat four years ago, sparked a violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, was convicted of felony charges and survived two assassination attempts.”

I don’t know about you but I thought we were better than this.

I believed that Americans could not possibly know who Trump is — and really, how could they not know? — and still prefer him over a competent, decent, sane, traditional candidate. Even if that candidate was — horrors! — a woman of color.

But they have said yes. Not just through our twisted Electoral College system, but in a clear and definitive popular vote.

As I begin to grapple with the reality of what this will mean to vulnerable people in America, to me and my loved ones, to the independent press here and abroad, and to the entire world order, I want to pass along some thoughtful words I’ve encountered at this early stage. They may be useful to you, too.

From the legal scholar Dahlia Lithwick: “This campaign was run on the explicit promise to inflict maximal suffering on a lot of disfavored and marginalized people. I trust them to keep that promise. Try to keep your heart soft because that will be the work. Take care of yourself because you will do that work again.”

From Ruth Ben-Ghiat from her book, “Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present,” in a chapter on resistance: “Individual actions designed to be seen by the public break through the screen of official media and offer models of resistance that can be transformative. They seed the terrain for the mass nonviolent protests that can grow in response to state repression … For millions, acts of resistance have been a path to the recovery of the self and the reaffirmation of dignity, empathy and solidarity — all qualities the strongman seeks to destroy in his people.”

From former Labor Secretary Robert Reich: “Countless Americans are endangered now on a scale and intensity almost unheard of in modern America. Our first responsibility is to protect these people and resist these forces.”

From author and radio host David Rothkopf, commenting on the “why Harris lost” punditry: “This is not a moment for instant analysis. The stakes are too high. The issues are too complex. Those doing the analysis have records that are too dubious and need to do some introspection. At least, I know I do. I was so wrong, so far off, my decades of experience were so useless to me that I need to spend some real alone time and talking to people smarter than me to realize where I went wrong.”

From Carlos Lozada in the New York Times: “The way to render Trump abnormal is not to insist that he is, or to find more excuses, or to indulge in the great and inevitable second-guessing of Democratic campaign strategy. It begins by recognizing that who we are is decided not only on Election Day — whether 2024 or 2016, or 2028 for that matter — but every day. Every day that we strive to become something other than what we’ve become.”

Late addition, from

Ian Bassin, founder of the nonprofit Protect Democracy. Words to live by:

Thank you all for reading, for your encouragement, and for helping to create a community here where we can try to make sense of this over the coming weeks and months. I’m not going away, and hope you aren’t either.

And to reprise my question: How are you doing?

I’m opening the comments to all here; not just paid subscribers as usual. We all deserve some free therapy today.