Madeleine May Kunin is a former Democratic governor of Vermont. She is the author of “Coming of Age, My Journey to the Eighties.”
When I get depressed about the state of the world, I take a nap.
Too often, I place my head on my pillow to blot out what’s happening. I dwell on the expected confirmation of Justice Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, the prediction of a new Covid-19 surge this winter, the threat of Russian interference in the election and the protests for racial justice.
I must not forget to mention the dangerous conspiracy theory group QAnon, which Trump likes because it likes him. Worst of all, I worry that President Donald Trump will not accept defeat no matter how many people vote for Biden. Trump may call out his law-enforcement troops, like he did during protests. What will happen next? Will there be violence? Will the election be decided, 6-3, by the Supreme Court?
“Wake up,” I say to myself. “Look at the bright side.”
After a hasty search of the news, I find glimmers of hope.
The election of 2020 will be noted for its record turnout. I’ve seen people on TV standing in line to vote early for as much as eight hours in parts of Georgia and Texas, bringing their folding chairs with them and sharing slices of pizza.
Young people are volunteering to serve as poll workers, to relieve old-timers. That never happened before. Young people are planning to vote in large numbers.
Third-party candidates don’t look like spoilers in 2020, like they did in 2016,
We once believed that Joe Biden was the wrong man at the wrong time: too old, too hesitant, too stuck in his basement. It turns out that voters like his calm presidential demeanor and straightforward honesty. A glaring contrast to Trump, evidenced by the first debate.
Pollsters tell us that Biden’s likability went up 10% since the start of the campaign. Such gains have rarely been seen at this point in a campaign.
Biden is the anti-Trump. What a relief, for many voters. A growing majority — especially women — has become tired of Trump’s out-of-control rants, heavily infiltrated by lies.
Many voters are scared of the future. Can they pay the rent or the mortgage? For some, fear is fundamental; it comes down to being afraid that they cannot feed their families.
Covid is surging, spiking to new heights in many states for the first time. Meanwhile, Trump is calling Dr. Anthony Fauci, the most trusted scientist we have, “a disaster.”
There is more news to make me feel better. In 2020, in contrast to 2016, Trump does not command the stage alone. There is an active opposition on the airwave, mostly from his own party. The Lincoln Project, founded by disenchanted Republican operatives, is posting eye-catching ads, clever, hard-hitting, and even funny. I caught a glimpse of a takeoff of an Obama poster that instead of “Hope” for Obama, reprinted with Trump’s picture, above the word “Nope.”
Democrats and independents are fired up. Donations are pouring in for Biden and Democratic Senate candidates at an unheard-of pace. Many are determined to vote because they believe that the process of replacing Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg with an ultraconservative woman — just about one week before the election — is blatantly unfair.
Anger has morphed into activism that will remain with us for some time. The pendulum is swinging so far to the right in the Trump administration that it will, I believe, swing back to the center. History tells us that the country does not stay in the far right or the far left for long, before moderation makes a comeback.
The polls tell us that there is a good chance that the Senate will flip from a Republican majority to a Democratic one. This will open the door to undoing much of the damage caused by the Trump agenda.
Finally, there is Trump fatigue. Voters are tired of Trump’s relentless mean-spirited attacks. Voters want the country to heal. More and more people yearn for a president who will do his best to bring us together, hard as this will be. We want a president who feels and understands our pain and will do something about it.
I won’t take a nap just now. There is too much to do.
