WHAT THE FUCK JUST HAPPENED?

AND WHAT THE HELL DO WE DO NOW? [FYE ST TT aT TOR

 

 

 

 

 

 

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WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED ON ELECTION DAY

Several news outlets have explained, post-
election, what happened to the polls: They were
never “right” to begin with. Many of these were
telephone polls, and some of the people belonging
to the demographics most likely to vote for Trump
(specifically, Rust Belt evangelicals) were also not
ery likely to participate in such polls. As well, a
large portion of the alt-right movement that voted
for Trump was cultivated in young men who speak
to one another online. These are men who genuinely
believe that people of colour, women, and those of
the LGBTQ+ community are all inferior to the straight
hite male. Out of fear of “persecution” by the
“hysterical liberals” surrounding them, these voters
ere told to keep their Trump vote secret, only to
show their hand on election day, which they did.

Since November 8, many have been looking for
someone to blame. This has been called a failure of

| was on the SkyTrain when the results first started
pouring in from the election. My sister texted me to
tell me that Trump was in the lead.

democracy, which can be argued when examining the
difference between the popular vote and the vote of
the electoral college. Third party voters have been
blamed, people of colour supposedly not showing
up to vote have been blamed [ignoring the very real
existence of voter suppression laws and access
problems for people in many communities), but | find
that these arguments ignore the larger problem.

 
    
 

   
  

      
   
  
 

    
    
     
   
 

   

It was beyond surreal, staring at the numbers on my
phone. | knew it could happen, of course. In fact, |
knew it was far more likely to happen than we’d given
it credit for. But actually sitting in that moment, living
in this new world that was taking shape around me,
all | could think to text back was, ‘What if he actually

 
  

 
     
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 

 
   
 

     
 

This was not a failure of democracy. This was, quite
tragically, an accurate reflection of the mindset of
much of the United States. A rhetoric of fear, anti-
intellectualism, and distrust has been cultivated in
large swaths of American communities. America has
seen some hard times over the past few decades, and
a failure of government—perceived or otherwise—
has been blamed. Americans wanted change, and
for those falling on the right side of the political
spectrum, change looked like Donald Trump. It
looked like a reclamation of the American Dream
that was meant for them, not for immigrants. Not
for people of colour. Not for the LGBTQ+ community.
People from these marginalized groups would be

 

         
   

     
 
 

 

Many hours later my family sat grouped around the
TV in my sister's apartment, wine close at hand, as
the news finally broke that Hillary Clinton had just

  
 

   
       
   
    
      

   
  

    
 
 

        

(As was the case for many people that night, there
were tears. There was anger. | had messages coming
in from friends of mine who live in the States, friends
who voted against this result, all asking me the same
question: What do we do now? How do we explain

 
     

 
  

 
    

      
       
    

 

 

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