All decent people, American or not, should be toasting the substantial cracks in Trump’s power! I hope this will be the beginning of the end.
It was fun going to vote. Many (most?) Americans vote by mail, but I like the ritual of going in person. New York City used to have these wonderful old voting machines that probably dated back at least to the 1940s. There were little booths, and you began by pulling sideways on a big lever that made an unmistakable "THUNK" and the little curtains snapped closed behind you, so that you were utterly alone with your conscience and your god. Then there was the list of items for voting on the wall of the booth, each with its own small metal flippy toggle switch. And when you were finished, and checked everything, and were ready to return to the outside world, you shoved the lever to make it THUNK again. I miss that. Now there are just open tables with a slight partition. No mystique.
I saw a few people at the polls whom I know from my local political group, so we exchanged happy greetings. Even the election volunteers were in a really good mood. (There were extra poll-watchers as a security precaution.) I teased the elderly lady who inserted my ballot, and she perked up and got very chatty, and kept trying to gift me with extra “I voted” stickers. I somehow felt more patriotic than I usually would.
I didn’t give it any further thought until I got home. There were posters in an online politics forum saying “Polls are going to start closing in an hour!” But I figured it would be several hours until any reliable returns came in. I was amazed when I turned on the television. It was already clear that it was an avalanche of Democrat wins, strong ones, impossible to contest. It was particularly fun, because I’ve personally spoken to about ten of the candidates. I had finally dared to be optimistic, but this was more than my wildest dreams. A ton of women won (sometimes two women candidates opposing each other). There’s the first black woman governor in a slave state. The first Muslim senator. The state of Texas pulled the rug out from under Elon Musk, who spent a ton of money to support Reps there. Interestingly, the main channel I watched was the public non-commercial channel, which tends to have older more experienced analysts, from both sides. But on all the channels, it seemed, Republicans were still holding out, trying not to acknowledge the breadth of the sweep, and spouting fantasies about Trump (like lyingly claiming that he always has worked with Democrats).
This morning, Trump had a press conference, and reportedly didn’t talk about the election – just about his vanity construction projects. It’s likely significant that not a single national broadcast channel carried it. He’s pretending the election is no reflection on him, but I hope someone writes up the story of what it was like last night with Trump presumably raging. Reps are likely shaking in their boots, as they know perfectly well how badly they treated Dems, and know they deserve the same.
Of course I’m delighted for America. But I hope that it’s also meaningful for other countries, seeing that although so many people felt hopeless and helpless, it’s possible – just as with Hungary – to have a democratic process work.