Well, so much for the "in-betweenness of being." Nothing in-between about this -- hate has won this round.
I know, I know, I too have friends and neighbors who voted for him. They are people whom I love and respect (respected?), and I am pretty sure that hate wasn't the driver in their minds. But hate is what's here.
What else can I call it? I cannot turn away from the heinous campaign rhetoric about immigrants, ethnic minorities, from the racism, homophobia and virulent violence against women this campaign traded in (I will not link to those horrific images here; we all witnessed them in real time). The image of the now President-Elect mocking a disabled reporter at one of his rallies haunts me; I have not seen such deplorable behavior from a serious contender for public office, let alone that of the President, in a long time. His election has legitimized violence and enshrined ignorance.
Stephen Bannon is now the President-Elect's chief strategist. In case you are not familiar with this man's history, here is a comprehensive article about him from Bloomberg. Briefly, he the alt-right's (read neo-nazis, white supremacists) propagandist-in-chief. It would be redundant for me to recount all of the evidence now, but here is a link to a recent HuffPo article that samples at least some of the hateful pernicious lies he purveys through his Breitbart news organization. Oh, and if you think this man is not a threat to our Democracy, think again: his organization is already preparing a law suit against free press. (And if we don't have free press, I am afraid we will, just like that song, be "back in the USSR." But that's a tale for another day. And I will tell it, since I experienced that brand of dictatorship first hand.) This tactic is a page out of Peter Thiel's playbook, the self-hating gay man in the fold of this bigotry machine. This strategy was used by him to exact a personal vendetta from Gawker, putting them out of business for outing him.
The KKK has endorsed the President-Elect, and they are jubilant about his victory. They are holding rallies to celebrate his victory. This is one of the most dangerous hate groups in the US, and THEY ARE CELEBRATING OUR NEW PRESIDENT! Let that sink in. And, please, don't lie to yourself: their endorsement is not a coincidence, no; it is the very essence of this campaign of hate. Think about it, if you were a group with a radical agenda, would you be ebullient about a candidate who did not advance it? Exactly. Here is an article that lays out this argument far more eloquently than I can.
I can believe the discontent felt by a large swath of the American voters that compelled them to vote for this man. But I cannot believe that they will now sit by and watch this spectacular assault on all of our values in silence, worse, cheer it on. Is this really who we are now?
I will leave you with the words attributed to Sinclair Lewis: "When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross." And guess what: it's here.