Allow me first this day to sincerely thank you for trusting us by visiting here. We take seriously the idea of being a safe space. Let us define what a safe space is and is not. A safe space is a place where all opinions are welcome. We won’t tell you what to think nor believe that we’re capable of telling you. We will not shame you, attempting to make you feel lesser for what you believe.
What a safe space is not is a place where we refrain from challenge. We believe there is nothing wrong with disagreement or taking exception to a perspective. In fact, we believe it to be just the opposite; challenge sharpens us. One of the misnomers of our culture is the notion that within challenge, it’s ok to berate. No. To berate is to bully. It also makes no one want to think like us.
So with respect as our perennial backdrop, allow us a few final observations on the week that was…
- There was a wide variety of reaction to the outcome, ranging from glee to despair. Some were fearful. Some didn’t care. All were valid, although none seemed a clear majority, even though some reactions were louder than others. As hard as this is to sometimes admit, strong as we may feel, there is no such thing as only one right way to vote. No doubt we oft wonder how a person could come to support the other candidate, but our lack of understanding doesn’t make me right and them wrong.
- As we’ve long shared, neither presidential candidate had favorable ratings. Gallup, etal. consistently had each polling less than 50%, which speaks to that lack of a majority.
- It makes sense now why the parties worked so hard to keep No Labels and their Unity Ticket off the ballot. The parties knew their candidate was unpopular; thus they didn’t want to allow us another choice. They didn’t want the democratic process to play out. That was difficult to witness, how the parties’ behind-the-scenes behavior contradicted their public talk about being so supportive of democracy.
- Speaking of the democratic process, I’m not sure if it was good or bad that Harris avoided the primaries. On the plus side, she was able to become the nominee, something unattainable 5 years ago. On the negative side, by avoiding the process, she also missed needed practice in answering the tougher questions posed during the campaign. That was a struggle for her.
- Still playing with how big of a factor Pres. Biden played in this race. He had reportedly signaled to aides at the beginning of his term that he would be an intentional one-term president, but somewhere along the line, he changed his mind. He changed his mind again after a public debate performance that revealed his decline. If he had gotten out sooner, I wonder if that would have helped Harris. Since he also had negative favorability ratings, I wonder, too, what difference it would have made had Harris been able to articulate her differences with the current administration. And lastly here, I wonder what difference it would have made if those around him would have been honest about his decline.
- For those who’ve shared with me how they voted, I haven’t gotten the impression that most are really “fans,” so to speak, actually for neither. Some are, but for most of the Trump voters who’ve provided us with specific feedback, it was more a choice between two less than desirable candidates, and they felt the country was stronger economically and safer globally under his previous tenure; the border was better, too. For Harris voters, the conversation was interestingly oft less about Harris and more about Trump, with a pervasive feeling that a large many voted for her primarily because she wasn’t him.
- In the days/months ahead, while there are many who have been pleased with Trump’s cabinet naming thus far, many others are concerned and even fearful as to what Trump will attempt to immediately implement. Was his campaign comment to FOX’s Sean Hannity about not being a dictator “other than day one” a vow or instead the manifestation of his longstanding grandiloquence? Time to see what’s true and what was triggering campaign rhetoric.
- If this analysis was a little more subjective, I’d offer the least commendation for the media, simply because it’s so clearly not news. Wrote Newsweek live news editor Carlo Versano: “The path of traditional media’s institutional collapse is really two intertwining stories: a breakdown of its business model exacerbated by a breakdown of influence, the extent of which became clear this campaign cycle. Behind it all lies a growing sense among Americans that the media cannot be trusted to tell them the news they believe is fair.” Amen to that. Too many are attempting to manipulate us. Too many of us don’t realize we’re being manipulated. Not only that, but we acted as if only the Trump voters or only the Harris voters were manipulated. And that’s part of why there was a wide variety of reaction, ranging from glee to despair.
- And lastly, I’ve seen many people suggest something along the lines of look at how “all _____ people” voted. They then treat that entire people group with mockery, scorn, revenge, spite, you name it — something bad. Friends, there is no such thing as “all _____ people.” No entire people group voted or should be expected to vote exactly the same way. And no member of a people group is any less a member because of how they voted or thought. It’s time we do a better job of honoring “all _____ people.”
I know this post isn’t easy. I know it’s harder for some than for others, and I want to be sensitive to that. This place will always be a safe space, even when it’s challenging.
Respectfully…
AR