The Purge

Take a moment to reflect on what just happened. Elections don’t deal in hypotheticals like polls—they’re the stark, unvarnished measure of American sentiment. Speculation swirls before the vote; debate rages after. But for now, let’s sit with the result. Not to celebrate or resign ourselves, but simply to accept it: a majority of Americans preferred Trump to Harris. Stomping one’s feet and declaring it unacceptable changes nothing.

Many are fleeing from this reality, some literally. I’m already being asked, “How do I become an expat?” Others are branding the outcome as proof that America’s evil—sexist, racist, homophobic, the whole litany. But that’s not an explanation; it’s a dismissal. It’s “copium,” an attempt to avoid confronting deeper truths.

The reaction is chaos. Some rush to the barricades, others to the exits. A recent newsletter from Mark Morford (a former San Francisco Chronicle columnist) captured the hysteria with its apocalyptic title: Buy a Gun. Among his calls to action: arm yourself, stock up on Plan B and banned books, hoard “old smut,” read How to Be an Anti-Racist, avoid pregnancy, consider sterilization, get divorced, abstain from dating and sex, install Signal, renew your passport, flee the country, and don’t be a Black man in America.

Some of these tips are practical, even prudent. But panic-driven decisions rarely turn out well. A gun, for instance, solves a very small set of problems. Hollywood fantasies aside, you can’t shoot a trade policy, deportation, government surveillance, or censorship. These demand political, not ballistic, solutions.

Let’s take a breath. If we’re serious about the future, we must slow down. Accept the results as they are: a stinging indictment of what Democrats have been selling. However bad you think Trump is, a majority found the Democrats worse. That’s the brutal truth.

The issue isn’t just Trump’s victory. It’s that for eight years, Democrats have floundered, unable to craft a meaningful opposition. Their argument has boiled down to “You need us to save you from Trump,” yet they’ve now lost by wider margins than in 2016. They’ve lost the Senate and the House. All three branches of government will soon be in the hands of a party that has devolved into an authoritarian cult of personality.

Whatever the Trump victory may bring, let’s keep in mind that it was the Dem’s failure that guaranteed it. Every excess and outrage for the next four years should be seen as an indictment of the party whose hubris and incompetence made it inevitable.

To mobilize resistance under the same leadership that waltzed us into this mess would be lunacy. Before anything else, the Democratic Party needs a reckoning—a purge of failed strategies and a fresh generation of leaders ready to rebuild. Let's get on with it.