When I am asked how I feel after the election, I hardly know how to answer. I am in a state of disbelief, but “devastated” and “disgusted” will have to suffice for the moment. I aspire to being merely “depressed” and “disappointed,” perhaps in a couple of weeks. Today, I can’t even cry.

I believe that this entire election cycle is yet another entry in the long list of never-ending consequences of 9/11.

The unfunded and futile invasion/occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq, the reckless mortgage market, the offshoring of jobs and the out-of-control predatory banking and underregulated capitalist practices during eight years of George W. Bush combined to create the grotesque apocalypse of the 2008 financial collapse, followed closely by the tsunami of foreclosures, bank closings and unemployment.

Now add relentless political obstructionism, the societal factors of racism, xenophobia, homophobia and misogyny, willful ignorance/denial of science, a calculated assault on education and critical thinking and the neutering of journalistic standards and practices during the next eight years. It all combined to create the perfect stew in which Donald Trump could thrive and ultimately prevail.

I never believed that I lived in a country where my fellow citizens could – or would – elect a misogynistic, lying, clueless, racist bully to be the leader of our country. I don’t think I have done anything to deserve what’s coming straight at us during the next four years. I don’t think any of us have. Heaven help us all.

Marcia Whitney

Durham

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