11-09-2016, 07:27 PM
Sent to me from People for the American Way:
Eric,
I hate having to send this email. This was an election of historic importance with so, so much at stake. Trump’s candidacy was like nothing we’ve ever seen, and we did not dodge a bullet. We took a direct hit.
Thanks to your incredible support, we did everything it would have taken to win a normal election. But this was no normal election.
Together, we helped turn out Latino voters in record numbers -- and it made the difference in the West, with Democratic victories in Colorado and Nevada, where Clinton won, we turned the state legislature blue, and we elected the first Latina to the US Senate. And even in Arizona, the notorious Sheriff Joe Arpaio was soundly defeated. But in the Midwest and the South, our efforts did not and could not offset:
The consolidation of Republican support behind Trump … despite his entire campaign being based on lies, scapegoating, and trashing one minority group after another, white Republicans -- including the college-educated suburbanites and women who pollsters told us were abandoning their party’s presidential candidate -- all came home to Trump in the end.
The sheer number of disaffected rural white voters who cast their vote with Trump and his empty promises to address their anxieties about the direction of the country.
In part, what happened yesterday was what’s been described as a “white-lash” against the changing demographics of our country -- the browning of America. But it wasn’t all racism, or sexism, or any other -ism.
Trump doesn’t have a real plan to replace all the manufacturing jobs that have left those swing states where he (barely) edged out Hillary Clinton. Nor does he have a plan to restore the dignity many of these working people have lost in the face of an increasingly unequal economy. But Democrats and progressives need to … because the pain felt by these Americans is real.
Despite statistical indicators that show strong job growth and a healing economy, growing inequality and the struggles facing Americans provide fertile ground for the rise of demagogues who are quick to make grand promises -- whether they can back them up or not.
Trump has challenged our First Amendment freedoms and showed contempt for our Constitution. Now he’ll assume the highest office in the land.
Today is a day for mourning because this is a national tragedy. But we get through tragedies. And we pick ourselves up and continue to fight, because it’s the only thing we can do, and because the American Way is now about to come under attack like never before.
Donald Trump and Mike Pence in the White House … far-right majorities in the House and Senate … executive branch appointments and Supreme Court nominees that will do real damage to the values we care about.
We can’t -- and we shouldn’t -- sugarcoat it: this is a catastrophe for America, the world, and possibly for our fundamental rights.
But we will survive it. We will learn from the loss. Donald Trump as a candidate broke every rule. He completely changed the game and the progressive movement will have to recalibrate in some areas to adapt.
But between now and the next election, we have so much more to do, because groups like PFAW and activists like you will be, in many ways, the last line of defense against an aggressive right-wing agenda that threatens the very fabric of who we are as a country.
One last point:
We woke up to election results that were on the wrong side of history this morning but WE are on the right side of history. And we will prevail.
In 1994 in California, Republican Governor Pete Wilson ran for reelection alongside an anti-immigrant ballot initiative -- the infamous Prop 187. On Election Day, both Wilson and 187 won, and they won big.
But Republicans’ demonizing immigrants in that campaign forced a sea change in California politics that still exists to this day. It took some time, and the Right Wing won in that 1994 election, but now California Republicans are all but an endangered species, with a state government controlled fully by progressive Democrats and California blazing the trail for many important progressive reforms.
We've been slowed but we have not been broken ... because this organization and this movement are simply not built to break.
So let us mourn today. Because, tomorrow, it’s once again time to fight.
We are so grateful to have you with us. We’re going to need each other in the dark days ahead.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Michael Keegan, President
Eric,
I hate having to send this email. This was an election of historic importance with so, so much at stake. Trump’s candidacy was like nothing we’ve ever seen, and we did not dodge a bullet. We took a direct hit.
Thanks to your incredible support, we did everything it would have taken to win a normal election. But this was no normal election.
Together, we helped turn out Latino voters in record numbers -- and it made the difference in the West, with Democratic victories in Colorado and Nevada, where Clinton won, we turned the state legislature blue, and we elected the first Latina to the US Senate. And even in Arizona, the notorious Sheriff Joe Arpaio was soundly defeated. But in the Midwest and the South, our efforts did not and could not offset:
The consolidation of Republican support behind Trump … despite his entire campaign being based on lies, scapegoating, and trashing one minority group after another, white Republicans -- including the college-educated suburbanites and women who pollsters told us were abandoning their party’s presidential candidate -- all came home to Trump in the end.
The sheer number of disaffected rural white voters who cast their vote with Trump and his empty promises to address their anxieties about the direction of the country.
In part, what happened yesterday was what’s been described as a “white-lash” against the changing demographics of our country -- the browning of America. But it wasn’t all racism, or sexism, or any other -ism.
Trump doesn’t have a real plan to replace all the manufacturing jobs that have left those swing states where he (barely) edged out Hillary Clinton. Nor does he have a plan to restore the dignity many of these working people have lost in the face of an increasingly unequal economy. But Democrats and progressives need to … because the pain felt by these Americans is real.
Despite statistical indicators that show strong job growth and a healing economy, growing inequality and the struggles facing Americans provide fertile ground for the rise of demagogues who are quick to make grand promises -- whether they can back them up or not.
Trump has challenged our First Amendment freedoms and showed contempt for our Constitution. Now he’ll assume the highest office in the land.
Today is a day for mourning because this is a national tragedy. But we get through tragedies. And we pick ourselves up and continue to fight, because it’s the only thing we can do, and because the American Way is now about to come under attack like never before.
Donald Trump and Mike Pence in the White House … far-right majorities in the House and Senate … executive branch appointments and Supreme Court nominees that will do real damage to the values we care about.
We can’t -- and we shouldn’t -- sugarcoat it: this is a catastrophe for America, the world, and possibly for our fundamental rights.
But we will survive it. We will learn from the loss. Donald Trump as a candidate broke every rule. He completely changed the game and the progressive movement will have to recalibrate in some areas to adapt.
But between now and the next election, we have so much more to do, because groups like PFAW and activists like you will be, in many ways, the last line of defense against an aggressive right-wing agenda that threatens the very fabric of who we are as a country.
One last point:
We woke up to election results that were on the wrong side of history this morning but WE are on the right side of history. And we will prevail.
In 1994 in California, Republican Governor Pete Wilson ran for reelection alongside an anti-immigrant ballot initiative -- the infamous Prop 187. On Election Day, both Wilson and 187 won, and they won big.
But Republicans’ demonizing immigrants in that campaign forced a sea change in California politics that still exists to this day. It took some time, and the Right Wing won in that 1994 election, but now California Republicans are all but an endangered species, with a state government controlled fully by progressive Democrats and California blazing the trail for many important progressive reforms.
We've been slowed but we have not been broken ... because this organization and this movement are simply not built to break.
So let us mourn today. Because, tomorrow, it’s once again time to fight.
We are so grateful to have you with us. We’re going to need each other in the dark days ahead.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Michael Keegan, President