Sad, Angry and Undaunted

We Must Turn Our Attention to the Work That Lies Ahead

In a democracy, you accept the will of the people. It’s a principle that not all of our fellow Americans acknowledge. But it is essential.

Sometimes doing so is hard, however. Hard when you believe the choice that voters have made will be bad for the country, will hurt many of our neighbors, will weaken us, will strengthen our enemies, and is, at its core, wrong.

But at this moment, with Donald Trump’s victory in the 2024 election clear, it is precisely because of those concerns about the future of the United States, that we must work to accept the new reality because it will be our duty within our system to continue to fight for what we believe, to ensure that those who have been empowered by the people do not abuse that power or forget for one moment that in our society all power derives from those people.

At the moment, of course, my feelings about many of those with whom we share this country are complex. There is deep sadness that what is best about America was defeated by what is worst about this country, that we have once again seemingly run into deep prejudice and misogyny as barriers to electing the clearly superior candidate. There is anger that so many among us would be so cavalier with the future of the country in which our children and grandchildren will live. There is disgust that once again we have returned one of the most vile members of our society to the ultimate position of responsibility—especially since we now know so much better precisely what dangers that entails.

There will be plenty of time for analysis as to why so many of us were so wrong about the outcome of the election. Speaking for myself, I make no excuses. What I saw in the weeks leading up to the election led me to believe that the Harris campaign had real traction, was generating great enthusiasm and that at the same time Trump’s campaign seemed to be engaged in a self-destructive spiral of demented hate. It seemed absolutely clear to me that this combination would lead to a solid victory for Harris and the Democrats and would finally mean the end of the career of Trump.

It is not the first time in my life that I have been wrong. But as bitter pills go, in these first hours it is among the toughest I’ve ever had to swallow. Indeed, I have this sense of disorientation, that somehow this can not all be real. It is not just that I disagree with Trump’s politics or disapprove of his conduct as president or in public life. It is that it is nearly impossible for me to understand how anyone could support a man whose record is so bad, whose values are so corrupt, whose contempt for our system of government is so great. How do you elect a rapist or a felon or a man who steals national secrets or one who bends the knee before our enemies, a coup-plotter, a racist, a misogynist, a bully and a fraud to the highest office in the land? How do you do it twice?

Perhaps just as importantly, as someone who studies and writes about politics and policy, I am forced to wonder how I misread the American people so completely. Oh, I understood that there was a substantial minority that supported Trump and overlooked or even shared his flaws and weaknesses. But it seemed clear to me that in the end common sense would prevail and that a majority of Democrats, Republicans and Independents who valued the Constitution and mutual respect and common decency would somehow rebuff the threat posed by Trump and his MAGA supporters.

The choice was so stark. Good and evil. A gifted and committed public servant versus a self-serving con-artist and convicted felon. A supporter of our Constitution versus someone who threatened to suspend it, a committed partner of our allies versus a man who often seemed more loyal to the Kremlin than he did the people and institutions of our nation.

Someone I know, a Trump supporter, wrote me when the results became clear and asked if I would now acknowledge that I was wrong. He meant wrong about the positions I held and my criticism of Trump. But I do not feel I was wrong about those things. I do not feel any differently about Trump or the threat he represents than I did before. I certainly do not feel inclined to compromise my principles simply because a majority of the American people did not, in this moment, seem to share them. Quite the contrary, I believe that there is a special responsibility within a democracy to actively advocate for that in which you believe when you feel the majority is leading the country in the wrong direction.

No, I was wrong about the electorate. But I believe to the marrow of my bones that they were the ones who were wrong about this election. Kamala Harris was the better candidate. Her policies were the better policies. Donald Trump should not have been reelected. Returning him to the Oval Office—especially given the immunity the Supreme Court has bestowed upon him—is not just an error, it is likely to be a disastrous one.

Even as I write these words, given Trump and what he has said about how he will preside over the country, for the first time in my life I wonder if my government will come after me and punish me for expressing my beliefs. I wonder whether the platforms on which I am accustomed to sharing my views will survive Trump’s second term in office intact. I wonder, of course, as we all should, what will be left of our democracy by the time he leaves office.

But because I believe in our system of government and still cleave to the values on which it is based, I also recognize that my feelings in this moment and my natural introspection about where I went wrong, must be subordinated to the work that lies ahead. I had hoped that after nearly a decade of working hard to call out and stand up to Trump’s abuses and defects, a Harris victory would provide a break from all that, an end to that struggle.

Now it is clear that struggle is entering a new chapter. It is likely to be far more challenging than anything we have faced before. And so our responsibility as citizens is to move past the feelings engendered by this moment as quickly as possible and to prepare for the work that lies ahead.

That work will be better and more successful if we continue to pursue it together as we worked together to try and achieve an outcome that has eluded us in this election cycle. But we should make no mistake about it. It will not be easy. And it begins right now.

Today victory eluded us. I am confident that in some not-too-distant tomorrow our time will come and our vision of a better America for all of its citizens, the vision articulated by Kamala Harris, Joe Biden, and all those who campaigned for the Democrats this year, will be fulfilled.