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How 2016 Drove Women Away From Politics — and How to Bring Them Back
The trauma of the 2016 election has left women afraid to support female candidates
I think, at least once a day, about the 2016 election. It’s not something I want to do; I wish I could stop. But it’s a near-impossible topic to avoid. It’s there when I scroll through Facebook, in a comment left on a post by someone I’d long since cut ties with. It’s there when I’m at the gym, staring as I jog on the treadmill at a wall-mounted TV blaring 24-hour analysis of Donald Trump’s every action. It’s there whenever I walk past my neighbor’s pickup truck, which still proudly sports several “Hillary for Prison” bumper stickers.
Whenever it happens, I relive the worst moments, both personal and observational, from that election cycle. Screaming fights, “lock her up” chants, Twitter mobs, pussy-grabbing confessions, riots at caucuses, death threats to female reporters, the time Trump physically menaced Clinton onstage to a point that Clinton later said made her “skin crawl.” All of those moments are still locked within me, ready to erupt and overwhelm me if I make one wrong move. It’s not memory. It’s trauma.
“I’m terrified because I feel like it is all about to start over again.”
