Trying to dance under the cloud of election anxiety

Trying to dance under the cloud of election anxiety
Partying at a music fest felt like freedom, but the threatening MAGA reality kept seeping into view

By Amanda Marcotte
Senior Writer
Published October 16, 2024 5:45AM (EDT)


(Salon) My partner and I were still buzzing with adrenaline from seeing pop star Dua Lipa close out Saturday night at the Austin City Limits music festival when we were subject to a drunk woman's 10-minute rant about how she hates her Democratic friend. Lipa's tour and album were both titled "Radical Optimism," and we were emersed in her curated world for over an hour, dancing and singing with an eclectic crowd of all races and sexual identities. We enjoyed our freedom as if nearly half the country isn't poised to snatch it all away. We were soon hit with a reality check. As we walked away from the show, we kept pace with a fellow concertgoer as she loudly denounced a friend for voting for Vice President Kamala Harris.

"All she talks about is abortion," the woman, who looked in her late 20s or early 30s, slurred at her two friends. "But she won't listen about the economy. She said she doesn't care about the economy!"

I was skeptical that this woman felt much financial distress in President Joe Biden's economy, considering she got so loaded at a show where beer was $15 a pop. (I suspect she had been watching the other festival headliner, country star Chris Stapleton, even though he does not share her politics.) My suspicions about her true levels of economic anxiety were confirmed when she turned off the road into her home, in a neighborhood where houses frequently sell for over a million dollars. As I joked to my partner, whatever actual words came out of this woman's mouth, all I could hear was, "I think complicity will save me." But as more Republican women find out all the time, it really won't.

....(snip)....

Inside the bubble, freedom felt inevitable. Still, the ugly reality kept seeping in. Amid joy, there were reminders that millions of MAGA Americans are gearing up to vote for a man who, with Project 2025, is planning to take all that freedom away. I danced to girl groups, only to look down at my phone to see a flurry of texts from friends freaking out about the polls. I'd have dinner with old friends from Texas and they would ask about the political climate of my current home, in the swing state of Pennsylvania. A friend proudly told me about her daughter coming out while in junior high school, and then fretted for the future of all her kids.

I hadn't attended the Austin City Limits festival in over 15 years, which made it a useful benchmark for how much cultural progress has occurred since the early years of Barack Obama's presidency. Even by liberal Austin standards, the vibe was far gayer and more female than it was back then, with far more — exponentially more — representation for women, people of color and LGBTQ people than when I was younger. (I think I saw only one band with a straight white male lead, out of over a dozen sets.) By and large, these dramatic cultural shifts aren't welcomed by the millions of people voting for Trump in November. It was such a joy to be in this space of freedom for three days. But I could never truly forget that a fascist candidate is tied in the polls with Harris because millions of Americans want to steal that freedom away. ............................(more)

https://www.salon.com/2024/10/16/trying-to-dance-under-the-cloud-of-anxiety/