“All words like Peace and Love,
All sane affirmative speech,
Had been soiled, profaned, debased
To a horrid, mechanical speech.”
— W.H. Auden, We Too Had Known Golden Hours
An Iowa poll Sunday that found Trump might be gaining voters in that one state triggered a massive Democratic panic across social media and many homes.
It was one respected poll, and every other one showed Biden gaining or holding his lead.
I saw nothing today that suggested Trump would win the election, although, in some states, the race is tightening, as almost everyone expected it to.
Still, fear is infectious, especially after 2016, and I wondered if I was missing something.
At the end of the day, FiveThirtyEight’s presidential forecast gave Joe Biden an 89 in 100 shot at winning the election, while President Trump has just an 11 in 100 chance.
That leaves Biden the favorite and leaves open a narrowing window to victory for Trump.
A friend messaged me in a fever and asked, “Jon, you’ve been writing for some time that Trump was losing this election and would lose it on Tuesday or soon after. What,” he added, “would you do if he wins?”
It is a good question, and I imagine a lot of people are asking it of themselves. I don’t venture much into the future; it is an unknowable patch of quicksand.
Still, I thought I should think about it, and Maria and I talked about it. It was a good time for that discussion.
We were driving home from the knitting mill in Brandon, where we had deposited the latest load of shorn Bedlam Farm sheep, soon to be transformed into yarn and roving.
Okay, what would I do if Trump wins?
I would be disappointed, of course.
Life would go on.
And I will remember that Trump has changed America, for good and bad.
If he wins, the women’s revolution will deepen and grow. The millions of young people voting will become a powerful force in American political life and fight for our earth. Black Americans will continue to demand that the country come to terms with its grim and racist past.
I am 73 years old, and I won’t see the end of this epic struggle for a kinder and gentler and more equal and humane America.
If President Trump wins, he may wish he hadn’t; the resistance will grow and grow and fight and fight. If the race is somehow stolen, a social revolution will be born.
I’ll be happy to be a part of that. I will continue to enrich my spiritual life and learn to live a righteous and meaningful life.
President Trump has already helped me to get started on that journey.
If Trump wins, my life would go on. I would still be me; I would still be a writer, I would still live on Bedlam Farm, I could continue to do my work, take my photos, help my heart, and love my wife, farm, dogs, and donkeys.
What I want most is to continue to learn to be a good man and a moral man. That is an important part of my life’s work, and it has little to do with who is President.
That work will continue, even be enhanced.
A caravan of Trump supporters with huge flags flapping from their truck beds honked and roared past the farmhouse today, rousing the dogs and scaring the donkeys.
Maria and I decided that we should fly an American Flag in front of the farmhouse. No one has a monopoly on our flag. We are patriots too.
We ordered the flag from Amazon; it’s coming tomorrow. The flag stands for us too. I hope it’s up for Election Day.
I believe the President has consciously or unconsciously committed evil and done great harm to innocent and vulnerable people, and lied to us again and again. He has also harmed our democracy, which depends on tradition and co-operation.
He is responsible for that.
For me, the weakness of the arguments supporting him has always been that he is described as the lesser evil, given a choice between him and a liberal President or progressive judges or a booming economy.
How far we have fallen, how low the bar is for moral behavior? Does our country mean anything more than the stock market?
People who choose the lesser evil forget very quickly that they choose evil.
One would assume that the harm done by this President would be evident, and arguments on his behalf would have collapsed once and for all, which is sadly not the case for much of the country.
I can’t look away from that, but I can live my life around it and through it and beyond it. What is most important is how I behave, not how others behave.
I am proud of what I believe and what I have written. More to come, no matter what.
I should repeat that I do not believe Donald Trump will win, but if he did, I would do pretty much what I do now.
I would write every day, take pictures, think and write about politics (which will continue to be quite volatile and interesting), love my wife and my life. The sun will still rise in the East; the earth will still revolve around the sun.
I do not believe my world will collapse or that the world will collapse, not yet.
I can live quite comfortably – and have – with a conservative President. Democracy is about compromise, not domination. The task is to talk and listen, not divide.
Donald Trump is something I can’t support, but I can live with him. I can’t endorse anyone who is that cruel to needy and vulnerable people.
I don’t believe Jesus Christ would hesitate for a second to make his own choice, and it would not be for Donald Trump.
I would continue my work with the refugees at Bishop Maginn and the elderly residents of the Mansion.
I suspect both will need my help and support and that of the Army Of Good more than ever if Trump should win re-election. To many more small acts of great kindness.
The Army Of Good has stood with me and behind me for four years of good deeds and small acts of great kindness.
They have never walked away from me, and I will never walk away from them.
As I’ve written, I don’t think Donald Trump did a good job as President, and I don’t believe he will do any better in the next round.
He lies too much for me, tweets too many vicious and false things, and refuses to acknowledge the seriousness of the pandemic we are facing and struggling with. We have never needed the truth more.
This has cost people’s lives. He has placed his own interests above those of the American people and is not fit to get another chance to do that for four more years. That’s my opinion.
I put my name on everything I write. I don’t write from the left or the right; I write from my heart.
I also respect democracy, a flawed system but the best in the world that I know of. Many millions of people support Donald Trump and approve of him and put their faith and trust in him.
They see things I don’t see.
It’s my job to continue to try to understand that in a deeper and better way. I will keep trying, and I will keep listening. I will also seek out ways to help unite the country rather than divide it.
I might not be able to blow off what Trump has said and done, but I can accept reality and move forward; I have a lot of work to do and a lot of good to do. Trump’s supporters are not my enemies. I don’t hate him, and I don’t hate them.
Those who would live like this for four more years will be responsible for what they do.
If I want people to respect my opinions, I need to respect theirs. That’s how democracy works; it doesn’t just work for me and what I want.
I live in the middle, not on the far ends.
I don’t find myself at ease with extremists, not on the left, not on the right.
There are many things about conservatism that I wholly embrace, and I believe strongly in our helping the poor and the needy, a traditional position of the left.
The challenge is to find common ground and expand it. Labels are the death of the mind.
If Trump wins, my cause will continue to be the refugees and the elderly.
My life will not end should Trump defy the odds and win re-election. Neither will our Republic.
I will stay away from the evocations of Armageddon and the Apocalypse. It isn’t healthy, it isn’t true, and it accomplishes nothing.
My life is in the middle; I believe in a third way, a new way. No matter who wins this week, this system is not working.
God gave us alone perspective and judgment, and I will turn to both this week. No matter what happens, there will be small acts of great kindness for me to commit and good people all over to help me.
This was a healthy exercise for me. I haven’t really considered what I would do if Trump won this election because I’ve never seen it as happening.
As always, writing about it helped me to see it clearly, and to realize my life will continue.
I will be prepared for anything in this way.
That leaves me a lucky man. Hang in there; I hope I answered the question.
Yes, Jon, life will go on for us.
But I stopped and thought about how I would feel. I remembered how I felt when our American government did good things. Like social legislation in the early 1960s.
And the Affordable Care Act in 2010. As a volunteer counselor on government programs for seniors, the disabled, and the disadvantaged, I knew the good it would bring because they had shared their needs with me. Currently many, perhaps even unaware, are receiving support from this wide-ranging legislation.
And the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in 2009, which helped us make it during the “Great Recession” when I lost my job.
And the many positive steps taken by those we empower to do our bidding.
Yes, I felt good. I haven’t had that feeling for some time. And I miss it. But as you said, life will go on.
And for those past, who didn’t help or made things worse, I don’t think about them at all.
Good words
I have a hard time respecting the Trump supporters . Because it tells me exactly what they value and what kind of morals they have . So it’s hard to put all that away and still be friends . I won’t be the enemy but friendship means so much ? Advice
”
Great lines:
” People who choose the lesser evil forget very quickly that they choose evil. ”
” I don’t believe Jesus Christ would hesitate for a second to make his own choice, and it would not be for Donald Trump.”
But don’t we have a duty to engage and try to determine what facts and reasons support their views ( in response to “If I want people to respect my opinions, I need to respect theirs. That’s how democracy works; it doesn’t just work for me and what I want.” And “They see things I don’t see.It’s my job to continue to try to understand that in a deeper and better way. I will keep trying, and I will keep listening. ” So that when they make an unsupported conclusion that I disagree with, we respond, for example, “what does socialism mean to you?” and so on)
Jon, Trump is nothing but a reality TV person, I’ve never watched reality TV nor will I. I have no interest in the supposed hype and created drama in the lives of those who make money off it, the Kardashians sell their bodies, Trump sells himself. He’s a narcissist, he’s not someone interested in the running of the United States of America, in bettering the lives of those within it. He’s a salesman and he’s selling himself. If people can’t see through that, then they will vote him in because it’s like watching a reality TV programme and if that’s the level of intelligence that accepts that sort of stupidity, no amount of reasoning will change their minds. That he’s an embarrassment as a human being, that he claims to have had the Corona virus, is to me, all a hoax, just another plot, a script he’s written in the drama of his life to satisfy his ego. Like you, four more years of Trump won’t change my life and all I care about is the stock market his behaviour affects. He claims to have made America great again, that’s nothing more than a load of horsesh*t, a sales pitch to get him onto the public payroll for another four years. Disengaging from his drama, his stupid and embarrassing tweets, ignoring him, endure the next four years if need be. How anyone can get sucked into a reality TV star and put him in the White House is to me beyond a level of intelligence other than those who are buying his nonsense. And it may happen.
Sandy Proudfoot
Mr. Jon Katz—I love what you write. In these trying times, what you write helps to ground me. Clears my foggy brain! I am the same age as you, so some of the things you said in this article really resonated with me. Thank You!
Thank you so much for your thoughts on this question. It helped me quell the rising panic I’ve been feeling the closer we get to tomorrow. My husband and I will continue to help where we live no matter who wins and will continue to support the efforts of The Army of Good. Thank you, Jon and Maria!
The “reality show” aspect of Trump is totally abusive, no-talent sensationalism.
Sandy hit the nail on the head.
Sandy did hit the nail on the head. I also refuse to watch realty shows. It is puzzling how people can buy into them. While getting my hair cut (before Covid) I listened to two hairdressers talking about some shit realty show. I seem to wear my thoughts on my face. My hairdresser cracked up laughing because we were thinking the same thing. These girls believed the fantasy they saw. I walked out of the shop thinking God help us!
Yes. I’m a bed-wetter. If Trump (and other Republicans have tried) to dissolve social security I’m afraid many, many seniors and the disabled will be in deep financial trouble. God help us!
Thank you….I have angst thinking about a Trump win. This has allowed me to calm the angst I feel…
You nailed it, Jon – “Democracy is about compromise, not domination. The task is to talk and listen, not divide.” and “The challenge is to find common ground and expand it. Labels are the death of the mind.”
I wish I were your neighbor – especially at times like this.