Dear Wedge Issues,
I live in a small city that’s something of a borderland between a very liberal section of my pale-blue state and a more conservative part of it. It seems to be slowly getting more liberal as houses are more affordable here than in the more progressive towns nearby (that’s how my husband and I ended up here) but is largely conservative. Think big Trump signs, giant pickups with Punisher stickers, and lots of blue-line flags. I’ve never had any specific negative political interactions in the six years we’ve lived here, but, that being said, I’ve always been hesitant to put political signs on our lawn.
My main anxiety is Trump winning the election and everything that entails. My second-tier anxiety is that something bad will happen when he loses. Nothing happened right after the election last time, and it hadn’t occurred to me to worry about that. But with Jan. 6 and all the violent, vengeful rhetoric since then, I’ve been anxious that something terrible will happen, either nationally or locally, if he loses. I’m nervous to show public support or to volunteer. I find myself wondering if I should prepare to lie low a few days after the election, regardless of its outcome, in case there is unrest (or I fall into a Trump-based pit of despair).
I know I’m getting ahead of myself since the election hasn’t even happened, but how do I shake this feeling of waiting for the other shoe to drop? How can I be calm, never mind hopeful, when even my desired outcome comes with a sense of dread? How do I assure myself that it will be OK? Will it?!
—Aftermath Anxiety
Dear Aftermath Anxiety,
Your broad concern—that the postelection period is going to be a pain in the ass either way—is shared by many, if not all, Democrats. If Trump wins, then he’s going to be president for four years; if Harris wins, then Trump and those most devoted to him will not go down quietly. Here’s the thing about this view of the possibilities: Yes.
Your more targeted concern, though, seems to be less about the stress-inducing nature of watching all of this play out on the news than a fear of unrest where you personally live. I appreciate the guessing game embedded in the first paragraph. I’ll go with proximity bias to me here in D.C. and say … Front Royal, Virginia? Or somewhere in Maine. Or New Hampshire. Or—really so many places in America. Wherever you are, you don’t want to show your true blue colors in these tense times for fear of finding yourself, personally, in some uncomfortable or dangerous situation.
Here, I’d point to a couple of things you wrote in your own submission.
First, you noted that while you’re in a conservative area, you’re not wholly alone from those who share your politics. You, yourself, moved to this area for more affordable housing six years ago, and you described how others who share your politics similarly made the jump. Maybe you feel like you’re on an island, and that a fleet of Punishers is going to chase you down in a truck if you so much as put up a yard sign. But let’s say you’re in a solidly conservative area and hypothetically define that as two-thirds Trumpsters. Well, that still means that 1 out of every 3 people is not a Trumpster. (In the 2020 election, even North Dakota—to pick a very solidly red state out of a hat—saw about a third of people vote for Biden.) Your ilk, in other words, abound, and aren’t such an exotic species that people will stop to harass you at your house for erecting a strange and fascinating yard sign.
My other piece of advice would be to have a little faith in your neighbors, they with their large vehicles and surface-level support for unreformed policing. As you said, you’ve “never had any specific negative political interactions in the six years we’ve lived here.” Since you live in a “pale-blue” state, your more conservative neighbors are not unfamiliar with the concept of liberals, or likely to leap into civil unrest if a Democrat wins the 2024 election. I think you’ll ultimately find that among the very conservative denizens of your city, there are some here or there who can be insufferable, but are ultimately harmless in day-to-day interactions even when politics come up. Even if things will be getting a little nervier than usual around Election Day, it’s not like the previous six years have been a grand era of harmonious relations, and you’ve survived it without any apparent hand-to-hand combat or arson attempts. Most people, of any political stripe, will hold your place in the grocery line if you need to run back and grab something.
Now, let’s take the central question here—“How can I be calm, never mind hopeful, when even my desired outcome comes with a sense of dread?”—away from your personal geographic circumstances.
You should allow yourself to enjoy the prospect of your desired outcome without concerning yourself over the turbulence. Consider that in 2020, Trump tried to twist any arm he could to overturn the election results. That effort culminated in an incident I remember well, on Jan. 6, 2021, which I spent much of locked in a room in the Capitol labeled “PRESS” for several hours, looking at fire extinguishers and other stray objects to use should the door get kicked in.
Yes, of course, I’d prefer not to have to be evacuated from the Capitol by the National Guard to escape the president’s mob again. And some people present that day fared far, far worse. But Trump’s monthslong efforts to bully and intimidate local, state, and federal officials into finding him the votes didn’t come particularly close to working. And since then, there have been reforms put in place by the Electoral Count Reform Act, and the country as a whole won’t be caught as off-guard should the same stunts be pulled again. Trump won’t be the incumbent president, either, and won’t have nearly as powerful a perch from which to twist arms.
Sure, some of the few remaining Proud Boys who aren’t in jail may still take to the streets of D.C. or Philadelphia or Milwaukee to headbutt streetlamps in anger. They can knock themselves out. I don’t entirely want to dismiss the possibility of things going much further awry. But the system is more in place than a steady diet of doomscrolling might suggest.
As far as Trump winning and “everything that entails,” I don’t have a good solution for you, Aftermath Anxiety. What I can tell you is that even if you are the only person in your immediate vicinity who is freaking out (I’d doubt it), you are not alone. The submissions to this new political advice column that I chose from were filled with people not knowing how to get through the next couple of months and beyond. If Trump wins, your personal life very well may be negatively impacted by the policies he puts in place. If that’s the case, prepare to make your voice heard. If he pursues some of the campaign pledges that most concern you, you will not have trouble finding protests to join—even in your small city.
