Column
Optimism Is Dead Again
Who can be chipper with a president trying to steal an election?
Well, we had one day, at least.
One day to celebrate, to feel relief, to believe that things were finally turning a corner. When Joe Biden was announced as the president-elect on Saturday, it was sunny and warm, and everything felt possible. It was nice while it lasted!
Mere minutes after the election was called, people rushed out of their homes and businesses onto the sidewalks of my Brooklyn neighborhood to scream, clap, and dance. A woman banged pots and pans; cars honked as they drove down the street. I brought my 10-year-old out to join in, to give her a reminder that things could be good — that the near-constant state of anxiety she’s felt in the adults around her might be finally dissipating.
But that knot in my stomach is back, thanks to a Republican Party that, at best, is intent on humoring a grown man who doesn’t want to believe he’s lost. In our worst-case scenario, the GOP is enabling a coup — watching as the president spreads disinformation about nonexistent voter fraud and quickly replaces Pentagon leaders with Trump loyalists.
This comes at the same time as Covid-19 cases soar across the country, with my home state of New York implementing new…
