Dear Fellow Liberals,
We need to harden the fuck up.
We lost this election, in part, because we’re soft. Because we forgot that politics, like life, has always been a brass-knuckles affair, in which victory goes not to the most sensitive or even-handed or inclusive, but to whoever is tougher. Whoever is most willing to get their hands dirty, or even bloody. Whoever is able to see the world as it is, rather than as they would have it be.
While we were all busy policing each other’s pronouns and having long, mutually respectful debates about who is allowed to wear a sombrero and under what circumstances, we lost the White House to Donald Fucking Trump and his legion of cracker-ass shitheads.
There is correlation here, as I hope to demonstrate.
I understand these cracker-ass shitheads. I grew up with them in a dying Maine mill town in the 1980s. I still know some of them, and until recently considered them friends. I am a poor rural white person who happens to have a facility with words, which means I now run in (and largely sympathize with, politically speaking) the crowd of liberal coastal elites who those guys I grew up with loathe so much. I straddle both worlds, part cowboy and part Indian, and as such I am unusually, if not uniquely, qualified to speak to the stances and states of mind of both groups. So believe me when I tell you: those guys I grew up with? Right now, they’re laughing at us.
And not for the reason you think. They’re not laughing because their candidate won the election, though certainly they’re happy about that fact and consider it a resounding validation of their worldview. No, they’re laughing at us because they think we’re a bunch of hypersensitive babies ill-equipped for life in a harshly indifferent world. And guess what? About this, if nothing else, they’re right.
Case in point: a couple of days ago, someone had the idea that white people who align themselves with the struggles and interests of minorities could express that solidarity by wearing safety pins. A daffy notion, not to mention completely meaningless, but fine. Since then, a bunch of other people have complained that wearing safety pins does nothing to help those who are about to have the business end of a Trump presidency shoved up their asses, and further that these safety pins, far from symbolizing solidarity with oppressed groups, could only ever symbolize the wearer’s white privilege.
During that same time, Donald Trump has appointed to his transition team an Orwellian cast of creeps, bigots, and far-right conspiracy nuts, among whom the least frightening figure is Newt Gingrich. Make no mistake: these men plan to do things to us that will hurt a lot more than being called a mean name. And all the while, here we are squabbling about the symbolic value of safety pins.
It’s one thing to rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic; quite another to argue about how those chairs should be rearranged, while instead we should be breaking down the door to the bridge before the asshole at the wheel steers us all into an iceberg.
We’ve completely and utterly lost the plot, folks. The world’s on fire, and we’re still carrying on with our petty progressive business as though progressivism as we practice it hasn’t just received the sharpest and most damning rebuke imaginable. We’re still parsing every word until it ceases to have meaning, seeking offense and outrage under every rock, shouting down the people with whom we should be aligned because we’ve come to value the opioid rush of sanctimony over actually, you know, getting something done. We’ve contorted ourselves into a position of utter ineffectuality. That’s why those guys back in my hometown are laughing at us. And that’s why Trump is measuring (undoubtedly tacky) drapes in the West Wing.
Those whose knees are about to jerk, please try to understand: I share all of your values. I am an ally in the meaningful sense—not in in the flaccid, empty way we wield the term these days. I understand that words matter–probably better than you do, considering that words are how I make my living. I am a straight, cisgendered white man who has your best interests at heart. I have physically defended women from other straight, cisgendered white men who meant them harm. If I were walking down the street and someone called someone else a faggot within my earshot, things would get very real for the offending party with a speed and intensity that they almost certainly would not anticipate. And yet, here I am, with a deep understanding of the cracker-ass shitheads who have delivered us unto Trump, and I am imploring you to understand that words are not the hill upon which we want to die. That in fact our obsession with words, and our insistence that they are the fight that matters above all others is, in part, what’s gotten us into this mess.
There is almost nothing in contemporary life that can’t be better understood when viewed through the prism of history. In this instance, the lesson we all could make use of comes from the civil rights movement of the 1960s, and specifically the tenure of Lyndon Johnson in the immediate aftermath of the Kennedy assassination.
LBJ was not, by anyone’s standards, a nice guy. Were he president today, he would probably run afoul of the progressive language police a dozen times a week. He was brutish, crooked, and vengeful, not above using actual physical intimidation to coerce people into voting his way.
You know what else he was? The guy who shoved the Civil Rights Act down the throat of the Southern Bloc opposition in the Senate. Boom.
My point is this: toughness, even coarseness, in the service of that which is good, should not be discouraged or neutered. We need our attack dogs now more than ever. We need, I would submit, to BE attack dogs, each and every one of us. To see the world with clear eyes, endeavor fiercely to change it for the better, and above all refuse to retreat to “safe spaces.” Going to a safe space is no longer an option, if it ever were. Put your head in the sand and it leaves your ass in the air, where anyone can come by and take a whack at it if they want.
Last night I was thinking about all this as I sat at a bar in Manhattan where, according to legend, Ernest Hemingway broke a shillelagh over John O’Hara’s head. Of course in recent years, Papa has fallen out of favor with PC evangelists–too traditionally masculine, too rough, too violent. But it occurred to me, as an anti-Trump rally rumbled by outside, that there was never a time when we so desperately needed to harness a little bit of that Hemingway spirit as right now.
The question, ultimately, is this: what sort of victory do you value more? The kind where you paper over a problem with polite language (as if that’s tantamount to actually solving the problem) and end up with a large swath of the electorate that resents the shit out of you for telling them how to talk? Or the kind where you get to apply your values to law and public policy, thereby making real if incremental progress toward actually improving people’s lives?
Put another way: do you want to be sentimental, or strategic?
If the former is more important to us, then by all means, let’s keep condemning people for saying “tomboy” instead of “gender non-conforming female child,” and let’s then keep pretending, with each successive election cycle, that we don’t understand why we continue to lose even though we’re so clearly on the side of right.
If, however, the latter is more important to us, then let’s harden the fuck up, grab the shillelagh, and get to work.
With great sincerity and affection,
Ron Currie
Good post. I get the energy and intent behind using Mr. Hemingway as an image — and I take your point about LBJ — but would argue finding some other avatars for our Mojo. We need a Hemingwayesque energy with focus and discipline and courage — but offhand, I don’t know if there *is* any public figure who could personify principled aggressiveness in a way that would resonate with the need of the times.
One thing is clear — the focus can’t be just about demographics or identity politics any longer; and political correctness may have to take its rightful place in the parade rather than walk point. This is human politics, and (not in a Kumbayah way) it has to include the humanity of the people who voted for Trump. I grew up with those people, too.
Mongo … Ron is probably too polite to point out that you illustrated his case quite nicely in sentences two and three. :o)
Ah. Well, carry on then.
I can see your frustration; I wish that your post included actions you see as being the next important steps. What I’ve seen in my part of the literary community in the past weeks (and months, and year really) is that the people who work the hardest to create safe spaces — by which I mean, places where everyone’s humanity is acknowledged and validated — are the people who are the toughest, most likely to attack when they see a problem, and most likely to get beaten down by people who want everyone to be “nice.” So perhaps we agree that niceness is over-rated; I’d love to see less POC and LGBTQ activists get called out for being “mean” or “bullies” and more white people like myself doing the work that gets our vulnerable friends, relatives, and allies their basic human rights.
I applaud the writer for slamming the crybabies on college campuses who need their safe spaces and gender neutral bathrooms but while arguing for a sort of bare knuckle, tough minded approach to politics to match Trump’s rather crude style he fails to make any political argument at all as to the aims of such an effort. Does he mean that liberals must fight to retain illegals in our country at all cost? Does he really want gender neutral bathrooms? Does he mean that identity politics is something worth fighting for? He argues for a no-nonsense approach and at the same time describes himself as “cisgendered,” a wimpy “I’m so sorry, I’m really not like them” plea to the ideological enforcers of the left. He talks tough, but what does he want, really?
I am one of the “cracker-ass shitheads” that brought you Trump. AND, I agree with the jist of your post.
How are you dealing with all his lies [before and since the election]? Do you feel duped?
I don’t take Mr Trump literally. I do take him seriously and expect him to stimulate the economy and facilitate job creation for all of us. All I ask is that the doubters give him a chance.
Great comments Kudos being brave enough to admit who voted for wihout fear retribution from others. We are all on same page Dem or Rep we want someone who will fight for US the American citizens, and do what is in best interest for US not for few who are making decisions. Politicians DO SOMETHING ANYTHING do your job we pay you to do and stop finding excuses not to, blame others. The world now laughing at us and contemplating our demise while we foster, nurture, encourage and allow and enable (Afghanistan 100K NON Documented no fly list flown here courtesy of USA). Show respect for each other and president whether we like him/her or not. Don’t disrespect him front of world like the white shirts did at Trumps state of the union. This isn’t high school, grow up and behave like adults because you represent all of US.and world is watching. We all just want the same don’t need leaders/media creating chaos,hatred and division -WE need stay above that and united.
Great comments Kudos being brave enough to admit who voted for wihout fear retribution from others. We are all on same page Dem or Rep we want someone who will fight for US the American citizens, and do what is in best interest for US not for few who are making decisions. Politicians DO SOMETHING ANYTHING do your job we pay you to do and stop finding excuses not to, blame others. Most importantly have common respect for each other- your adults & this isn’t high school. The world now laughing at us and contemplating our demise while we foster, nurture, encourage, allow and enable.
We all just want the same don’t need leaders/media creating chaos,hatred and division -WE need stay above that and United.
Yep. I’ve been smelling this coming for awhile, but was shocked as anyone at how it manifested.
He’s a misogynistic, deceitful gross pig who lives in glass houses. He called other people fat pigs, namelya certain woman, and he is the most unattractive and overweight man on television. Disgusting! He has picked a cabinet of pirates, punks, mobsters and whatever else oddballs he can come up with for his dog and pony show.
We are turning into NAZI-AMERICA!!
GET RID OF MUSSOLINI’S TWIN!!!
TRUMP IS A DISGRACE & A EMBARRASSMENT!!! AND SO ARE OUR SO CALLED LEADER’S!!! WHAT A BUNCH OF COWARD’S!!! DO WHAT’S RIGHT FOR THE PEOPLE & THE EARTH!!!!!
I’M HURT TO KNOW THAT I MEAN NOTHING TO MY GOVERNMENT!! THIS IS WAR!!!
TIME FOR A REVOLUTION!!!!!!
It is very tempting to allow ourselves a lowered bar of language and behavior, to fight fire with fire. But ultimately that would vindicate Trump in the very act of rebuking him. That said, I am in complete agreement about the need for toughness and focus. Keeping our eye on the ball, to go sports-talk. I find the language police that have cropped up as so-called progressives to be not just irritating, not just ineffectual and distracting, but anti-progressive totalitarians. To the point that I wonder if those folks are false flag operatives working to undermine the progressive impulse.
A charismatic tough leader would be very helpful. But as was pointed out, progressives are becoming increasingly fragmented rather than unified. What would that person have as a unifying cause? Anti-Trump by itself is a disaster waiting to happen. Trump was elected precisely BECAUSE of the perception that there was no real alternative to the status quo. Simply anti-Trump would only put us back to the conditions that allowed Trump in the first place.
As a Unifying theme I want to strongly urge two things. Back to eye on the ball, the single thing that has kept ALL progressive identity groups and issues from success is corruption by the financial elite of the one institution that could possibly be a real progressive force, the democratic party. The financial elite own all the current politicians save one or two, and though those politicians have groovy liberal cred on a slew of issues, they ALL support the agenda of their big money donors. That support is distributed around the democratic party more subtly that the openly corporatist republican party. But there are always enough democrats to get the corporatist agenda done and never enough to effect the progressive agenda, which inherently involves eliminating corporate political power.
The media is over 90% owned by the financial elite. Including the left arm of the elite puppeteers. They subtly foment conflict among progressive interest groups by NEVER identifying the unifying issue they ALL have. That is a true democracy. The identity and single issue progressive groups have allowed themselves to be manipulated to effectively fighting each other for influence and power, rather than banding together to gain a real democracy. Here I will assert that in a real democracy Justice will prevail. Every identity group and every single issue progressive group want the same thing…Justice. If our government were not corrupt and actually represented the people, Everyone would have justice. Black lives would matter, women’s work and humanity would be honored as men’s is, Alternate sexuality would not be a threat, we would not have to ingest poison for the sake of profit, Health care would be universal, financial security would be universal, political engagement truly open to all. White privilege Transformed to everyone’s common privilege.
So every single progressive group, identity group or issue group must do two things to have any chance of success and actually to have a good chance of success. Explicitly support each other in word and deed if possible, by acknowledging the common drive for Justice. Explicitly make the connection between Your issue and corruption thwarting it along with every other justice issue.
Support JusticeDemocrats and groups like them whose First plank is integrity…to not be corrupt, which is to say, to represent your interests only. Progressives can’t beat money with money. We can only defeat money in politics by making accepting corporate donations unacceptable to voters. To make corporate campaign donations THE marker of corruption and to shame (and not elect) those pre-corrupted candidates.
I’m hopeful a new leader will emerge from those with actual integrity.
At least through the primaries, Trump didn’t take corporate money. Anyone else you could think of?
At least through the primaries, Trump didn’t take corporate money. Anyone else you could think of? That it has been said before doesn’t make uninteresting.
Those are yours alright! . We at least need to get these people stealing images to start blogging! They probably just did a image search and grabbed them. They look good though!