Now President-elect Donald Trump in orange safety vest waves to the crowd at the Resch Center in Ashwaubenon, Wis., on Oct. 30, 2025. During his campaign speech, Trump said: ‘Well, I’m going to do it whether the women like it or not. I’m going to protect them. I’m going to protect them from migrants coming in. I’m going to protect them from foreign countries that want to hit us with missiles and lots of other things.’ (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
I have just come in from taking the little dog out into an unnaturally warm, but beautifully breezy morning and a sky full of stars. I am awed by the persistent natural beauty of the world. And I am worried about my country.
The unexpected and definitive election of a problematic presidential candidate, and one about whom we have been warned by many sober and prominent Americans, is unsettling.
On the television screen and at the coffee shop there have been expressions of alarm — “this is the end of democracy” — and platitudes about everything being fine. This includes the factual suggestion that the United States has been at moments of division, crisis and threat before, and that other countries have elected disruptive leaders and survived their tenure. As historical counterpoints, I would offer that the American Civil War was actually horrific for everyone, and while Vladimir Putin was democratically elected in Russia, it was the last actual choice Russians were allowed.
Just about all of us have some degree of post-traumatic stress disorder from the pandemic and how it was handled. Every irritation of normal life has become exaggerated. I suspect unexamined trauma, and the rage and amnesia that it triggers, may have played a role in the pervasive discontent among so many Americans that led to Donald Trump’s election.
There are certainly other factors. But one thing that sits hard with me is that about half of the voters in our country — including 53% of white women voters — are comfortable with the suggestion that women should not have full personal agency in modern America. This includes the ability to choose parenthood, or not, as men do. To make choices about who has access to our bodies. To get lifesaving health care. To earn and hold any job available, including the presidency.
I am not comforted by the exit polls suggesting that the issue of women’s rights was not the thing that concerned most voters. It should have been, considering that there was more than abortion at stake. Both Republican candidates have expressed a number of atavistic attitudes about women and their role in society. Statements by Vice President-elect J.D. Vance about women’s purpose and their roles are in abundance on the internet. And who can forget Trump growling that he would protect women “whether the women like it or not.”
I came of age on the heels of second-wave feminists, a group of now aging women who worked hard for women’s rights. While the feminist movements achieved a great deal, they also allowed consequential divisions to develop between white women and those of color. White feminists of the past declined to join with those struggling for Black suffrage, and later, civil rights. This week, white women voted in large numbers against the woman of color running for president. Kamala Harris was an unexpectedly inspiring candidate, deft, qualified, and of high character. And yet, somehow, so many of us preferred the white male ticket that demeaned women and threatened the very rights that were fought for and won.
The truth of the moment is that we do not know what will happen next. Trump’s demonstrated chaotic approach to governance, his unusual alliances, and his campaign rhetoric make much unclear.
In the face of this, I found myself thinking, “the only thing I can care about right now is my own family.” But, of course, I think this is not my best recommendation to myself, and it reflects the historical error that white suffragettes made 150 years ago. Caring only about those close to you, most like you, does not lead to enduring social change.
We need to do the opposite. We need to engage across all the boundaries, advocate for democratic ideals and the human rights of each of us, and publicly resist threats to these very American values.
What this means in practice may also be unclear.
Whatever comes, this is a very good time to remember, and hold clearly, what you believe. Because, as the vice president has suggested, “when you know what you stand for, you know what to fight for.”
This commentary was originally published by Rhode Island Current. Like Maine Morning Star, Rhode Island Current is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Rhode Island Current maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Janine L. Weisman for questions: info@rhodeislandcurrent.com. Follow Rhode Island Current on Facebook and X.
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