You are not alone

A group of people holding American flags. President-elect Donald Trump’s agenda could have significant effects on Alabama’s health care and education. (Leo Patrizi/Getty Images)

Sixty-five percent.

That’s the percentage of votes Donald Trump got in Alabama on Tuesday.

And that’s how democracy works. The person with the most ballots wins. Even if a single voter shows up.

But as we move into this man’s second term and steel ourselves for what’s ahead, remember this number: 63%.

That’s the share of Alabama’s nearly 4 million adults — 2.5 million people, to be precise — who did not opt for this. Either because they voted for Kamala Harris or a third party candidate, or because they didn’t vote.

Of course, only voters determine an election. There’s no doubt about this outcome. There was never any doubt Alabama would continue a 44-year streak of choosing Republican nominees.

But the results of an election affect everyone, even those who don’t fill in a ballot. If this administration enacts the policies endorsed by its candidate and embraced by his advisers, it’s going to be a very bad time — a pointlessly bad time — for many Alabamians.

The men and women around Trump are gunning for steep cuts to Medicaid. Medicaid is the foundation of Alabama’s health care system. It pays for more than half the births in our state. It keeps pediatricians’ offices open and maintains the weak pulse of Alabama’s rural hospitals. Even if you don’t qualify for Medicaid — most Alabamians don’t — cuts to the program will make it harder to get the care you and your loved ones need.

How about education? The incoming administration is pulling out the Alabama Legislature’s “everything I don’t like is DEI” playbook and threatening to cut federal funding for schools that share “inappropriate racial, sexual or political content” with children. As in Alabama, the vague language aims to intimidate educators. It discourages instruction that says American history is anything other than the reflected glory of a white man.

Another thing: Federal school funding in Alabama does not pay for Marxist cadres or whatever trending topic is in right-wing media at the moment. Money from Washington feeds poor children and helps them learn. Which makes the ideological test even more diabolical. Teach what I want, or the kids get it.

Then there’s the heinous plan to throw out tens of millions of people living in the United States who lack proof of legal status. You should object to this violent and immoral plan because it’s violent and immoral. Or because state-sanctioned violence never stops at its stated targets. Or because these kinds of programs breed hideous corruption.

But if that’s not enough, then here’s a reminder that throwing millions of workers out of the country will wreck the economy, the alleged reason Trump won. It will drive up food prices. Even the attempt will disrupt many industries and cause economic pain that, as of now, we are free of.

I could go on — Trump’s proposed tariffs on imported goods will suck a lot more money from your wallet — but you get the point. A lot of suffering is coming, and a lot of it is coming here.

Remember, though: 6 in 10 Alabamians did not agree to this. Some registered their disapproval. More withheld their opinion. I’m not naïve enough to think they all oppose Trump’s agenda. But they didn’t embrace it in the place where their opinion matters the most.

That’s important. The rest of the nation needs to know that. In the coming years, people who share our disgust with the cruelty and chaos will alight on a story of an Alabamian struggling. They’ll let out deep, knowing sighs and say “That’s what they wanted.”

That’s what 37% of the state wanted.

And we need to remember that when the relentless campaign to force us to accept all of this starts.

I know what the drift will be.

Real Americans know the answer is violence.

Only sickos teach children about this country’s failings.

Well, you can complain about your doctor’s office closing, or you can drive your sick kid hundreds of miles to the nearest one. Like a patriot.

This will be a daily challenge. We will navigate a torrent of propaganda and misinformation desperate to normalize a stream of smug and pitiless sadism. Desperate to make you feel small and unable to hold back the tide.

To make you feel alone.

But you are not alone.

Millions of people around the country share your feelings. Hundreds of thousands of Alabamians have already refused to be a part of it. Those numbers are likely to grow.

Don’t feel you have to do the hard work of defending democracy yourself. Even in our allegedly backward state, there are football stadiums of people ready to link hands and brave the flood to protect basic rights and simple decency.

In moments of grief, hold tight to that fact.

The future will be painful. There’s no guarantee we’ll come through it whole. What emerges after will be different, and not necessarily better.

But this is where the road back begins: knowing that none of us face it by ourselves. None of us will be alone in demanding better.

Not even in Alabama.