One of the things that is giving me hope to cling on to today is the number of people who have come out and said "I voted for Trump in 2016 and (or) 2020 and I am voting for Harris this time."
It's really hard to admit that you've made a mistake. Especially publically.
And especially for those that identified as MAGA.
In the 2020 election someone I know who works for Amazon kept saying that they were sure Trump was going to win again because he hadn't seen a bit of Biden merch go out but he'd packed a ton of Trump stuff. Maybe even more than in 2016. More hats, more flags, more yard signs, more shirts, more car magnets. You remember all of that stuff.
I say remember because you haven't seen nearly as much of it this time around.
That also gives me some hope to cling on to.
In 2020 I wasn't convinced by the argument that more Trump stuff meant more votes. Because I was voting Biden, a lot of my friends were voting Biden, and not a single one of us had any Biden merch. We were voting Biden, that's it. The identification with the candidate, like they are an avatar of who we are wasn't there.
I'm excited that I got to vote for Harris. Back in 2020 my original hope for the ticket was a Warren/Harris ticket. I was thrilled I at least got half of it. So voting for Harris was easy and I'm thrilled. I feel from my friends a lot of the joy of voting for her that they had voting for Obama. Again, another thing that gives me hope. She's an inspiring candidate.
But again, she's not an avatar for me. I know (already) there are things I don't agree with her on. But I also believe she's the closest to my beliefs by a landslide.
But for those former MAGAs admitting that they made a mistake? That's a lot harder. They've identified with Trump. They made him a leader of their party, and also some sort of avatar for themselves. And to break away from that, to say, okay, he wasn't actually standing up for me, he was and is a grifter who is only out for his own good. That's hard.
When you make a mistake it's hard to own up to it. Those people that are voting for Harris after voting for Trump, or after voting Republican their entire lives, that's amazing.
I know.
I voted for Jill Stein.
Breathe...take a deep breath. Not this time. Not last time. Not even the time before that. I voted for Jill Stein during Obama's second term.
I knew it didn't matter. I live in deep blue Oregon. It was even deeper blue back then. My vote for president literally did not matter. But I was unhappy with the Obama administration. I felt like he had squandered a majority in both houses and not gotten done what he should. I wanted to somehow voice that opinion. So I (safely) voted third party.
It was a mistake.
The night of the election when results started coming in and that thing where it looks like the Republicans are winning before the Democrats catch up thing was happening and I started to think...oh shit.
Now Oregon was still never in play. If it had been I wouldn't have voted the way I did. But...even so...what if? What if a lot of us were like, LOOK we're mad! What if? What if I had helped usher Romney into the White House?
I knew better. I knew that Nader was one of the factors that cost Gore the election against Bush.
But I still did it.
And I will give myself slight credit (aside from the safely Blue part) and say she wasn't a Russian asset at that point in time. She really was just a Green Party candidate. But the problem is that so many of us voted for her in 2012 that Russia noticed. She didn't receive much, less than a percent of the vote nationwide (but a little over 1% in Oregon) but it was significantly more than the Green Party had ever received before. So when she ran in 2016...
Well her vote margin in three swing states would have been enough to tip the election to Clinton.
I did not vote for her in 2016. I actively warned people against voting for her because it was too close. And with her stating that Clinton was a bigger threat than Trump it seemed she had lost the plot.
But I still have to own that I voted for her in 2012. I gave her candidacy some validity. Not just me, I'm not that vain, but me and the rest of us who voted for her. And the Russian machine promoted the hell out of her in 2016 and 2020 and now again in 2024. Though it's gone from Russia is promoting her to pictures of her having dinner with Putin so maybe not a real mystery there.
Her running mate this time is also anti trans, so she's got that not going for her as well.
The thing I learned as I watched those results coming in in 2012 is that I wouldn't ever do a protest vote again. That feeling in my stomach when it seemed there was a shot of Obama not winning his second term...well it wasn't as bad as the feeling when Trump won his first, but it was more personal. It was a "you did this!" feeling.
Since then I've read Biden's book and Obama's book and I understand what was happening that first term. Why things didn't get done. And I understand what he doing. He was trying to build coalitions. To make sure things that were passed were bipartisan. He was no drama Obama afterall. It was a miscalculation as to how united the Republicans were in making him fail. Super frustrating to read those books and see how they were trying to do the right thing, knowing that there was no way they could. It brought back the frustration of that first term when I just wanted him to use the power he had and get shit done.
The other thing that changed was how I approach political discourse. Obama's first term and second I didn't really talk about politics publically very often. If you knew me, you might know where I stood. I wasn't ashamed and I was very informed. I would have a discussion with anyone who asked. But I didn't go out on my own to start those conversation for the most part. On Facebook I'd even apologize before a post if it was even remotely political.
Can you imagine?
But that stopped. After I realized that I almost threw (not really, it was never close, it just felt that way for a few moments) the results of an election to someone I didn't want to win because I was pouting over not getting my way? Oh holy shit...that stopped.
Protest votes aren't effective. Unless you want the person you are protesting against to lose. If that's your end game then fine. But otherwise you are much better off getting the people who are closest to your alignment elected and then petitioning them for change. Call your congresspeople. Post on the White House petition forms. Campaign for change.
Write status updates and blogs and postcards.
But don't throw your vote away in protest.
It's okay to make mistakes. It's okay to be wrong. But once you realize it was a mistake, correct it. And then don't do it again.
Fingers crossed enough people are rectifying their mistakes today and it will be a Harris victory with no room for doubt.