In 36 hours, our national nightmare will finally be over. The dark cloud will finally start to be lifted. And as the clock winds down to that sure certainty, it is time to pay homage to the real heroes of democracy. Democracy literally teetered on the brink, and one group charged forward to save the day.
 And so today, I bow my head in gratitude, and simply say, Thank you to the women of America. You literally pulled us back from the brink, and we owe you a debt of honor. You literally saved our democracy.
In the days following Trump’s upset victory over Hillary Clinton, the nation recoiled. We were almost paralyzed that this oafish buffoon was about to become the President of the United States. But it was the women of the United States that rose up in outrage against the installation of such a base sexist bigot to the highest office in the land.
And on January 21st, 2017, when not only tens of millions of women converged for the Women’s March On Washington, but across the nation, and even worldwide, creating the largest singe day mass demonstration in history, they laid a marker tha the status quo was not acceptable. To borrow the phrase from Paddy Chayefsky’s iconic film Network, We’re mad as hell! And we’re not going to take this anymore!
It was women who led the charge to the airports to oppose Trump’s insidious ban on Muslims from entering the country. And it was women who led the charge to protest migrant families from being separated at the border, and toddlers being thrown into cages. I was women every step of the way.
And it was women in 2018 too. It was an incredible grassroots uprising of women everywhere in the country that chose to leave their careers and families in the background, and run against firmly entrenched GOP incumbents. And it was Republican women who, outraged by the gaucherie of Trump, flooded to the polls to vote against GOP incumbents in 2018, in many cases dragging their spouses kicking and screaming behind them. It was women who flipped the House to the Democrats, and restored a balance of sanity to the government.
And they came though again in 2020. Democratic women, especially black Democratic women, turned out to support Biden in near record numbers. And true to recent form, while the Democrats lost House seats in swing districts in 2020, traditionally stronghold GOP suburban women voters either voted for Biden at the top of the ticket, and GOP candidates down ballot, or just left the tp of the ticket blank, and voted GOP down ballot . Either way, the result was the same. Trump was toast.
The epitaph of the Trump presidency will be written over the coming years. But when it is, the role of women in the downfall of Trump will be immediately apparent. And what could be more fitting? The man who spent his entire life disparaging women, finally brought down by those that he most disdained. A lesson to us all.
If you enjoyed this article, you might also like to check out President Evil, and the sequel, President Evil II, A Clodwork Orange . They comprise a pretty much daily report from the front of the 2016 GOP primaries, as well as the general election
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To all our mothers, sisters, aunts, daughters, nieces and grandmothers and great-grandmothers, thank you.
So true. I watched Jim Clyburn relate a story about his endorsement of Joe Biden in the South Carolina primary, which has propelled the world to tommorow. He was wavering after Biden had done so poorly in the other primaries, but wanted Biden. He went to a black country church. After the service, as he was leaving, an older black woman waved him over. Ms.Johnson, i think was her name. She asked him who he endorsed. He told her his concern, but said he’d vote for Joe. She told him she needed to hear that & so did everybody else. He decided at that moment to go public. The rest is history. Thank you Ms. Johnson! History, both private & public, often turns on an event the size of a mustard seed. Some people say.
I thank all women, but also a special thank you to those who,stepped up to serve in some way. Running for office is hard, long and contentious, and any woman who enters the arena knows she faces an uphill battle that will include a lot of hate and derision thrown her way.
Women like Ayanna Pressley or Katie Porter, who decide to step into the fight despite the costs, are my heroes. Thank you to them and all of the other women politicians, journalists, activists, etc who have brought us to this moment.
(Also, for Rep Pressley fans, she was just on the podcast The Axe Files. I highly recommend it, it was a moving and inspirational interview.)