What a year last week was, huh?
I can’t believe I get to type the words that Joe Biden is going to be the next president of the United States. How amazing is that?! Kamala Harris will be the first woman, the first Black person, and the first South Asian-American to be vice president.
I want to pinch myself. I am so grateful and relieved. I feel like a weight has been lifted. We don’t have to endure another four years of Trump. THANK THE GOOD SWEET LORD.
We can make progress on climate change policies and health care policies and criminal justice reform. We can finally have a stable presence in the White House and hopefully get back in the good graces of our allies. We can actually have a plan of action for Covid and get this pandemic under control.
I know things won’t be easy. There is still a Republican majority in the Senate (at least for now—praying the runoffs in Georgia go in the Dems favor!) and an extremely conservative Supreme Court. Democrats lost four seats in the House. And, as a nation, we need to deal with the fact that 70 million people voted for Trump—and more white women voted for him this year than in 2016. There is a problem in our country that this many people were willing to overlook his white supremacist leanings, his lies, his incompetency, and all of the awful policies enacted by his administration (politicizing the pandemic, caging children at the border, trying to get rid of health care for millions of Americans, etc.).
It makes no sense to me, especially knowing so many Republicans who happily voted for Biden because Trump is not who they want as the leader of their party. He does not hold the values they believe in. And it’s because of Trump and the way Republican politicians rallied around them that these same Republicans I know are not even sure if this is the party they want to support any more. The GOP has become something unrecognizable, all because of Trump.
But let’s not forget that Trump is not the problem. He is a symptom of a larger systemic problem in our politics and society as a whole. We have a race problem in America, where Black people worry every single day for their lives. We have a science problem in America, where conservatives don’t believe climate change is real (despite all the evidence to the contrary) and don’t trust the scientists when it comes to our pandemic response. We have an equality problem in America, where the system isn’t designed to help our poor brothers and sisters but rather the rich ones.
I don’t know how to address those problems. But we must if we are to have a United States that works for everyone, not just the white men and not just the rich.
But enough of that. I don’t want to worry about that right now. Right now, I want to celebrate. Because this is a major win for our country. We chose hope over hate, experience over incompetence. I feel such a lightness in my soul right now. I’ve been crying happy tears all weekend as I see memes about Kamala Harris being our first woman VP. I cried during their speeches on Saturday night because, man alive, it is refreshing to hear leaders of our country speak about unity and love and hope and change.
I’m so excited about the next four years. I am thrilled that Biden finally reached the presidency, after spending so many years fighting to get here, and even more excited for what Harris will bring to our country as Madam Vice President. I am relieved for immigrants and people of color and the LGBT+ community. I can’t wait to see how this new (!) administration will handle the pandemic and put forth policies to help us get it under control.
What a ride. Let’s take some time to celebrate this win… and then it’s time to get back to work.
I felt such a sense of relief when the race was called on Saturday. The excitement hasn’t quite set in for me because it was such a drug out process (understandably so) and I was extremely disapppointed that so many people still voted for Trump despite all his failing and his horrible, horrible rhetoric. I am one of those people who used to identify as a Republican but I am done with that party until they return to the ruling of people like John Kasich. I don’t have much hope since very few Republicans have congratulated Biden. They are still following the lead of Trump, even though they don’t have much to gain by doing that… But oh well. Hopefully in a year or 2, we’ll be back to working together for a common goal.
Isn’t it nice to hear good news for a change! Here in the U.K. we were thrilled for you on Saturday. The news of a potential vaccine today is also exciting. Let’s hope this is a start of a good news period, goodness knows we could all do with that!
YYYYYYAAAAAASSSSSS! It’s like Christmas, Halloween, and my birthday all happened at once! I cried and cried and cried tears of relief.
Yes. Yes, we freakin’ did. My euphoria on Saturday was unmatched. I’d worn blue all week hoping for this outcome! I can’t wait to see the Pres-elect and VP-elect take the helm and steer us out of the daily insanity.
Now if the (expletive deleted)s in the republican party could stop subverting democracy and our institutions, that would be fantastic. I’m so over this. He lost. Get over it. Move on. Concede, and let the country heal. And for the love of all that is holy, do not run again in 2024. That is the LAST thing we need. Good. Grief.
I am so, so relieved. Jon and I had been seriously contemplating leaving the country, if Trump had been re-elected. I mean, it’s always a “backup plan in my head”, but knowing that we get Biden and Harris in the White House has made that backup plan much less urgent.