America Shit In Its Milk, But The Rest Of Us Don't Have to Drink It

A small majority of Americans decided to destroy this country by re-electing a racist criminal. However, that doesn't mean the rest of us have to bend the knee or reach out and be conciliatory.

My late grandmother had a great analogy for describing the harmful impulses of one of our family members. I assume all of you have someone in your circle who, despite our best efforts to help them, remains committed to the worst possible decisions that inevitably cause the rest of us distress but hurt them the most.

“Imagine you’re thirsty and God gives you a fresh bowl of milk. You accept the bowl…and then you shit in your milk” was how my grandmother described this family member’s commitment to self-destructive impulses.

I’ve been reflecting on this analogy a lot since the election. 

A small majority of Americans voluntarily chose to re-elect a twice-impeached, criminal vulgarian who incited a violent insurrection and has still refused to accept the 2020 election results he lost. He only offered “concepts of a plan,” which included a heavy dose of racist, conspiratorial lies, grievances, punching down on marginalized communities, cruelty, and a return to a romanticized past that never existed. The plans that he promised, such as tariffs and deporting millions of undocumented workers this country relies upon for labor, will cause nothing but pain and suffering for the U.S. economy. If indeed the post-COVID economy and inflationary price of eggs were the number one issue, then these voters are about to experience sticker shock on their groceries thanks to Trump’s dumbass tariffs which are paid by us, the consumers, and not the foreign country.

Trump voters are now learning about “tariffs” and “Project 2025,” which have experienced massive surges as Google search terms. Meanwhile, out-of-touch, ignorant, and ill-informed establishment voices who deserve to be further marginalized for being consistently wrong are gaslighting us that “identity politics” and “liberal policies” are the main reasons why Democrats lost. In their flawed analysis, they never talk about Trump and MAGA’s “identity politics” which is the central feature of his nearly 10-year political career. That would require them to confront white supremacy, racism, and misogyny which is one of the major reasons why Kamala Harris lost.

As we receive more data, it becomes clear Trump didn’t have a “resounding” victory. There was no domination. He only beat her by about 1.5 points which will probably decrease as all the voters are counted. Across the three Rust Belt states, he won by nearly 150,000 votes only, and again those might be reduced as well. The major factor that led to Harris’s loss is perhaps best explained by the global phenomenon in which nearly every incumbent party lost. Read that again.  Despite running an uphill battle from the start, Harris - despite the flaws of the Democratic Party which I’ll tackle in future posts- ran a pretty successful campaign. Biden’s internal polls reveal that he would have been obliterated.

Also, more data reveals that when Trump voters were blindly given Harris’s policies, they embraced them. For people who had correct facts about inflation, the economy, immigration, and crime, they mostly voted for Harris. For those who didn’t, they voted for the serial liar Donald Trump. In addition to the unique phenomenon of the post-COVID world, America’s inherent misogyny and racism, the third major factor is the domination of right-wing media disinformation and the failure of corporate media that traded journalistic integrity for the sake of “both sides” false equivalence and horse race framing.

But, let’s put that all aside for a moment. Donald Trump was running for President. This isn’t 2016. This is 2024. We knew exactly what we were getting. And despite everything he’s done, millions of Americans would rather have a cruel, aging vulgarian than a competent Black woman become President. This is more a revelation of their lack of character than anything else. They chose to vote for him. No one forced them to do it. This includes a majority of white men and white women. Without that bloc, Trump never comes close to being President. This bloc also includes margins of Latino, Black and Asian men. The two groups that understood the assignment were 90% of Black and Jewish women who voted for Harris. A majority of Black men also came through. The two religious groups that voted for Harris were Jews and Muslims, although many defected from Muslim and Arab communities due to the Gaza war.

For those who say every middle-class worker voted for Trump due to the economy, they fail to include Black workers who remain some of the most marginalized but stepped up to save us from a wannabe authoritarian. They also pay a lot for eggs and bread right now, but they understand the stakes and the threat. Please spare the rest of us, especially people of color, that racism and misogyny had nothing to do with this result.

Regardless, Trump is on his way to becoming the next President. I for one did my part and saw a large part of my country fail us and itself. Unlike 2016, I have no desire to “reach out” and understand these people. For some reason, it’s always the rest of us who have to be civil while MAGA and Trump voters are allowed to be cruel. They get to mock and ridicule us while we have to bend over backward to understand their “economic anxiety.”

Nah. I’m done. And so are most Black people, a majority of people of color, and 48% of white women who voted to protect women’s rights. 

Since I’m not a sociopath, I don’t wish suffering on anyone. I don’t need anyone to suffer to “feel” great again. That’s MAGA, and it’s a major difference between us and those who vote for Trump. That being said, when the pain comes for Trump voters -  and, sadly, it will come in waves for the next decade - I certainly won’t celebrate, but I won’t care either.

Like Batman told Ra's al Ghul: “I won’t kill you, but I don’t have to save you.”

You shit in your milk. You enjoy drinking it.

I’m going to spend my time, talent and energy taking care of myself, my family, and building my community, one that has my back and realizes a healthy relationship requires reciprocity. I refuse to tap out and be apathetic because I have three children and they deserve that I fight for a better future. As such, I’ll keep writing, I’ll keep fighting, and I’ll do it to the best of my abilities without allowing it to compromise my joy, peace of mind, and health.

If you’re willing to join me, please consider coming along for the ride and subscribing to The Left Hook. We ain’t fancy, and we don’t have money, but our content is fresh and clean and for everybody and anybody who has the decency, self-respect, and character to at the very least not shit in their milk.