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As Donald Trump prevailed on Tuesday night, Comedy Central’s Jon Stewart delivered a memorable message to an audience that was feeling deep disappointment. “We are all going to have to wake up tomorrow morning and work like hell to move the world to the place that we prefer it to be,” he said on “The Daily Show.”
The celebrated host and comedian added, “I promise you, this is not the end. And we have to regroup, and we have to continue to fight and continue to work, day in and day out, to create the better society for our children, for this world, for this country that we know is possible. It’s possible.”
The sentiment was not uncommon. Jen O’Malley Dillon, who helped lead Kamala Harris’ campaign, said in a statement to her colleagues, “I’ll leave you with this: losing is unfathomably painful. It is hard. This will take a long time to process. But the work of protecting America from the impacts of a Trump presidency starts now.” A few hours later, the Democratic vice president herself told supporters during a concession speech that the “fight that fueled this campaign” will endure.
The overlapping messages stressed the same point: Stay engaged. Stay active. Resist the urge to retreat. You can still make a difference.
Some, however, apparently aren’t convinced. The New York Times reported:
After Mr. Trump won the presidency in 2016, many Americans who had opposed him became dedicated activists. They used Facebook to organize marches, joined protests against his policies and formed new organizations to recruit liberal candidates for office. Now that Mr. Trump is president-elect once more, preparing to lead a still-divided country that voted more decisively in his favor this time, many of those same people are wondering if they can summon the strength to do it all — or even some of it — over again.
To be sure, much of this is anecdotal, and predictions about what people will feel and do in the near future — while the pain of defeat is still raw — are often unreliable.
But from my limited vantage point, I’ve heard from some exhausted and disgusted people who weren’t just disappointed by the election results, they were also wondering whether to simply disengage from politics altogether. If Americans are willing to voluntarily elect an erratic criminal, who already failed as president once, and who was condemned by members of his own team as a “fascist,” then what’s the point? Why, they asked, should people continue to operate in a system that appears badly broken?
I’m not going to write a pep talk. I’m not going to point to some of this week’s Democratic victories as part of a things-aren’t-that-bad pitch. I’m not going to reference Tim Snyder’s “On Tyranny” about the importance of not obeying in advance when confronted with an authoritarian.
I’m not even going to remind folks that Trump wants little more than to see those who’ve opposed him to simply exit the arena, leaving politics to those who share his vision and values.
I am, however, going to remind you of some recent history.
At this point eight years ago, it was a foregone conclusion that Republicans would repeal the Affordable Care Act, as part of an expansive and far-right legislative agenda. That didn't happen, because a whole lot of people stepped up to make sure it didn't happen.
Yes, Republicans passed ineffective tax breaks for billionaires, but the rest of his legislative agenda stalled — and then Democrats took back the House two years into Trump’s term.
The GOP failed for a variety of reasons in 2017 and 2018, but among them was the political pressure exerted by those who thought they were wrong.
MSNBC’s Chris Hayes had a good segment along these lines last week — before we knew the outcome of the election, obviously — noting Trump’s first-term failures in the face of progressive activism. While conceding that the Republican would be more dangerous in a second term, Chris explained that there will still be opportunities for regular Americans to again try to prevent Trump from succeeding in pursuit of cruel and dangerous goals.
“I have to stress that the other democratic mechanisms we have to protect ourselves and protect American democracy still exist,” Hayes added. “Civil society does not dissolve in an instant because someone wins an election — even a wannabe authoritarian.”