A national exorcism
by Tom Sullivan
With apologies to Kenny Rogers, I woke up this morning with the sunrise shining in. For the first time in memory, the New York Times doesn’t have a Donald Trump story prominently on its landing page. Springtime for Donald is over.
The Washington Post’s “The Fix” (no irony there) declared Monday that “Donald Trump’s chances of winning are approaching zero.” Nevada moved from “toss up” to “lean Democratic.” Cillizza and Blake write, “We’re also moving Utah — yes, Utah! — from ‘lean Republican’ to “toss-up.” In their calculus, even Texas is now merely a “lean Republican” state.
Even Florida. Even private polls by Republican-leaning groups show Hillary Clinton’s “raw vote lead over Trump could end up being 275,000 to 460,000 votes.” Politico cites a conservative business leader from Florida this morning:
“This is in all reality a landslide in our great state,” Tyson wrote, echoing the concerns of numerous Florida Republican insiders and experts. “Based on his consistent failure to improve his standing with non-white voters, voters under 50 and females, it seems fairly obvious to us that Mr. Trump’s only hope left in Florida is a low turnout.”
Mr. Trump's only hope in Florida is closing off voting to everyone except early bird diners. https://t.co/I3Bm7wvR1z— LOLGOP (@LOLGOP) October 25, 2016
November 8 is beginning to look less like an election and more like an exorcism. Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren campaigned in New Hampshire yesterday beside Hillary Clinton and Senate candidate Maggie Hassan. Warren sounded as if she was ready to battle a demon:
“Nasty women have really had it with guys like you,” Warren said to Trump. “Get this Donald: Nasty women are tough, nasty women are smart. And nasty women vote!”
“And on November 8, we nasty women are going to march our nasty feet to cast our nasty votes to get you out of our lives forever!”
WHAP! Come OUT and be GONE!!
Frankly, a national exorcism is what’s needed on November 8. The rise of the alt-right has felt more like a descent, beginning with Trump descending that escalator in June 2015. Like Mussorgsky’s Chernobog calling forth wraiths and demons unto himself, Trump has unleashed the darkest impulses in the American psyche and proposes giving them rule of the night.
Given recent polling, many progressives unhappy with their presidential choices will be inclined even more, if they reside in safe, blue states, to cast some form of protest vote, believing their choice will send some inchoate message to the establishment and have no harmful effect on the Electoral College outcome. But the message their votes can and must send is that racism, religious intolerance, misogyny and bigotry are unacceptable in this country. It is not enough for Trump to lose and Clinton to win in the Electoral College. Decent Americans across all 50 states must deliver a crushing popular-vote defeat for Trumpism. It will not disappear overnight, of course. But with our votes November 8 we can send the wraiths and demons back underground to the darkness. Send a message as clear as a church bell.
(Early voting is already underway in Arizona, Georgia, Iowa, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Massachusetts, Texas, Wisconsin and some parts of Florida.)