Post-Election Day commentary is appearing everywhere throughout social media, but there are some pieces that stand out, and one of those is by Connie Schultz, a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist and professional in residence at Kent State University. She has authored two books, and one of them chronicles the winning race of her husband, Sherrod Brown, for the U.S. Senate. In her entry of November 9th on Creators.com, Schultz begins her protest regarding the presidential election of Donald Trump.
“Don't ask us to congratulate him. Not today. Not this week. Not ever, probably.”
The journalist says Trump stands for so much of what we had dared to hope was behind us as a country. He has spewed bigotry, misogyny, and xenophobia with “reckless abandon” and “now he is going to be our next president.”
“Of course, we are distancing ourselves,“ says Schultz. “We love our families, our communities and our country. Our commitment is not a charade. And we want to live with ourselves.” Schultz emphasizes this is not about good manners, and that sometimes there is “no deliverance in phony congratulations”— and this would be one of those times.
“We are exhausted but wide-awake aware. We have no choice, because we are his targets — a diverse group, which, in his view, qualifies us as the collective enemy. We are women. We are immigrants. We are black and Latino. We are Muslims and Jews. We are gay and lesbian, bisexual and transgender. We are the people on the margins, the ones invisible in plain sight. We have listened to him talk about us for months. We know him.”
Schultz says, “We know whom he threatened and whom he bullied,” and “We know whom he hates.” She reminds us that Trump is the guy who brags about grabbing women by the genitals and also the same guy that mocked a Gold Star family and a man with disabilities. The writer points out that we all know he endlessly lies—and that he continues to get away with it, but that Trump’s new title will not change the hateful underbelly of whom Trump really is. Schultz says there is a “list” of what Trump has promised to do and whom he promised to harm if he became our next president. And as we watch, she says, “We cannot yearn for unity with such a man.” Schultz adds, “It’s not about being sore losers. We just don't have the luxury of indifference. We don't benefit from pretending that all will be fine.”