We had gathered in the Voice office on Tuesday night to watch the election results come in, and as we left we found the above words scrawled across a brick wall in Red Square. They should guide the actions of young liberals as we continue to grapple with the reality of the coming presidency of Donald Trump.
Many have spent the past few days alternating between numbness and confusion. It’s understandable, and some will need more time to recover, but soon we must wake from the post-election despondence. When the President-elect becomes president, we must be ready.
As liberals, we believe that we now must seek to pursue two wider, significant ends: to limit the damage of a Trump administration, and to create a more effective, appealing form of liberalism.
Photo: Sam Lee/The Georgetown Voice
Trump, and the ideas he has empowered, represent a danger to many among us. It is not worth listing, yet again, all of the sins of his movement. It is enough for now to say that bigotry played a large role, and this cannot be ignored. As easy as it would be to remain frozen in existential dread, those of us who have not been directly targeted by Trump’s rhetoric must support those who have. We need to take care of each other.
Then, when a Trump administration puts forward any of the numerous policies which we feel would cut viciously into the social fabric of this country, we must protest. We march, and make noise. We must call the D.C. and state offices for our representatives and leave no doubt as to what we will think and how we will vote, should they not stand in opposition to whatever bit of brutality comes out of the Oval Office. We will be peaceful, and we will be heard.
And, it must be said, if the President-elect veers any further in the direction of fascism, we must do all that we can to stand in his way. There are policies, some of which he has already floated, that cannot be tolerated. Among numerous such examples, the idea of a registry for Muslims or immigrants from Muslim-majority countries has seen renewed discussion in recent days. We can hope that a President Trump will make a turn in the direction of unity and that what came before was simply “campaign talk,” but we must be prepared for far worse outcomes.
As students, and especially students in D.C., we face a difficult set of questions as the new administration transitions into power. Our location gives our decisions greater visibility—if we protest, we may very well do so at the gates of the White House. Beyond this, Georgetown has long served as a pipeline into government service. We cannot presume to know the specific factors that will inform the decisions of each member of our community as they move through their careers.
If some feel that they can work within a Trump administration and guide it in a less dangerous direction from the inside, then we cannot condemn such a decision. The same goes for those who cannot imagine working within a bureaucracy that takes orders from Trump’s White House.
In either case, we ask that Hoyas keep always in mind the consequences of their career choices on those who could be marginalized by a Trump presidency. For those who decide that they can do good from the inside, we believe that they must be ready for the prospect of resigning in the face of an intolerable order. Above all, at this time, careerism alone cannot inform our job choices.
Republicans now have control of the presidency, both houses of Congress, and a majority of governorships and state legislatures. Liberals find themselves almost universally in the opposition. And yet, as discouraging as this may be, it also presents an opportunity. This country is experiencing a profound degree of anger toward its powerful institutions, and this can now be directed back against the voices who have for so long stirred it. It is not an opportunity we would have asked for, but it is one that we must take.
We must begin by retooling the message of the Democratic Party.
“Globalism,” which we take to mean the increasingly-free movement of goods and people, has become a bogeyman of the Trump campaign. As we’ve written before, segments of this country have seen negative consequences from the rise of globalism. The first step for liberalism is to acknowledge that, while globalism has produced numerous successes, it has also left many in our country behind. A new, compassionate globalism must take shape within liberalism, one that can both seize the benefits of our increasingly-connected world and provide for those who see their livelihoods threatened by this prospect, all while fighting on behalf of immigrants and refugees.
This type of globalism does not stand in opposition to our cosmopolitan values.
It is too early to determine the balance of factors fueling Trump’s support. Some were cultural, others economic. Others cannot be described as anything other than bigotry. Regardless of what the calculations eventually produce, it seems safe to say that intolerance will find a diminished audience should more communities feel that their livelihoods are being considered when powerful institutions plan for the future. Liberalism must protect those marginalized by Trump’s government, and in the long term this includes addressing the sources that fed his success.
There is a great deal of work ahead of liberal young people in this country. In the wake of the election, the reaction on the left has varied from a wallowing self-critique to a lashing out at the electorate which chose Trump. Neither extreme will solve the problem of the looming Trump administration. For now, we must be ready to fix what we can and to fight what we must.
Organize. Agitate. Unite.
