Hillary Clinton lost yet another campaign that she seemed predestined to win. American democracy is on the ropes. The president-elect is already facing nationwide protests. But for Hillary, there’s no place like home.
Anyone Can Be President
In theory, its advocates have argued, democracy is the best system that anyone has ever come up with. But after results like this year, in which Donald Trump defeated Hillary Clinton â and both of them were extremely unpopular to begin with â it’s important to consider whether it’s really such a good thing to live in a country where anyone can hold tremendous political and military power.
What Do We Do Now?
Not for me: I always said Donald Trump had a strong chance to win the presidency in a country where tens of millions of people are economically insecure, racist and/or sexist. The far right impulse has always been strong in American politics. But Trump has shocked the media and political establishment by pulling a come-from-behind victory over the deeply flawed right-wing Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. Now we, and the world, must brace for the arrival of protofascism in the Oval Office, enabled by Republican rule over both houses of Congress.
America Decides 2016
If you think Americans are anxious about today’s election, imagine how people around the world feel. Prisoners in secret CIA prisons, torture victims at Guantánamo Bay, people in Pakistan and elsewhere who are getting blown up by drones, people who are terrified of being killed by rogue police officers. America literally decides what happened to the lives of millions of people all over the place. Yet both choices are terrible for them.
The Best System in the World
They tell us we live in a country that serves as a shining beacon on a hill, a model for democracies around the world. If that’s true, how the hell did we end up with two candidates who are the #1 and #2 most unpopular candidates in the history of polling, either one of which could lead to disaster?
Trump and Clinton Disagree About Muslims
Donald Trump wants to keep Muslims out of the United States. Between her votes to invade Afghanistan and Iraq, and her pushes to destabilize Syria and Libya, and her laughing about watching Gaddafi being disemboweled, and bragging about assassinating Osama bin Laden, it’s clear that Hillary Clinton would rather kill them.
Huma and Anthony: Really Finished
Earlier this summer, the FBI dropped its investigation of Hillary Clinton’s private email server and her alleged mishandling of classified information. But then, shortly before the election, the FBI discovered hundreds of thousands of emails, some of which might be pertinent to that investigation, on a laptop shared by top Clintion aide Huma Abedin and her now estranged husband Anthony Weiner, the latter of whom is accused of sexting a 15-year-old girl. It’s 2016. Even among married people, who shares a laptop with their spouse?
Trans-Privileged
Transgender people often report having felt trapped in a different body gender than their actual identity. There was a “trans racial” NAACP official who identified as African-American though she had no black ancestry. Can transclassism be next in the battle for self identity and the right to live as we feel inside?