X-posted from GD. "Trump's victory feels like a nightmare, but I'm staying put" / SteveLopez

"Trump's victory feels like a nightmare, but I'm staying put" / SteveLopez

Trump’s victory feels like a nightmare, but I’m staying put
My initial urge? Leave the country. But I realized I live in a blue state.
Steve Lopez, columnist for Los Angeles Times, pg B1/11-9-2024

I live in California.
If you do, too, you might be hung over right about now. Or you’re wondering if this is all a nightmare.
It’s not. Well, it kind of is.
Vice President Kamala Harris, a California native, lost to former President Trump, and it wasn’t even close. A convicted male felon ran against a female former prosecutor and won decisively, running the table even in so-called battleground states, and Republicans also reclaimed the Senate and could well keep the House.

Putin is partying. Ukraine is weeping. And you’re Googling real estate listings in Portugal, or Canada, or maybe you’re looking into those homes in Italy that sell for $1.
No need.
You live in California, which stands apart (along with 18 other states).
Not entirely, of course. Roughly 40% of the state’s votes will be logged for Trump when the counting is complete, with red streaks running down the center of the state.

“The state of California is a mess,” Trump said in September, using us as a foil, but also as a springboard, casting a global economic powerhouse as a failure, a sanctuary cesspool and a symbol of wretchedly woke excess.
Insult, or badge of honor?
California said no to the candidate who has waged an assault on women’s reproductive rights and called his female opponent dumb as a rock.
No to the candidate who called climate change a hoax.
No to the candidate who calls immigrants savages and animals.
No to the candidate who has embraced Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who wants to pull vaccines off shelves, get fluoride out of drinking water, and who knows — maybe send the nation’s science teachers off to a gulag somewhere.
No to the candidate whose allies put together a second-term playbook called Project 2025, which would seek to wage war nationally on the very idea of California’s progressive policies on abortion, inclusion, gun control, immigration, LGBTQ+ rights and the environment.
No to the candidate who appeals to the worst in us.
In California, we did not vote for that candidate.
We understand that immigration reform is badly needed but know that Trump’s promised deportation of millions of people would cost a fortune, destroy major industries, raise the prices of goods and services, rip families apart and cripple the economy.

In California, defeat does not signal the end of the fight (the state could well end up in court, forced to defend and preserve its progressive policies against Trump attacks). And don’t forget that while we stand apart, we do not stand alone.
The other states that went for Harris are Hawaii, Washington, Oregon, Colorado, New Mexico, Minnesota, Illinois, Virginia, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland.
So I suppose you could consider moving to one of those places in these ever- more-divided United States.
But I was born in California and plan to stay put for now, here in the home of the resistance.
steve.lopez@latimes.com

💕 I THINK LOPEZ’ SENTIMENT IS AN IMPORTANT ONE TO SHARE TODAY.
THANK YOU
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100219700151