Kamala Harris’ concession speech, in which she stresses the importance of conceding peacefully in this specific moment, while continuing to fight as a way of living. All the posts today about how to carry on? It’s those as a speech, delivered with a smile of greater strength than I sure have. Starts at 24:30 for some ungodly reason.
And America, we will never give up the fight for our democracy, for the rule of law, for equal justice, and for the sacred idea that every one of us, no matter who we are or where we start out, has certain fundamental rights and freedoms that must be respected and upheld. And we will continue to wage this fight in the voting booth, in the courts and in the public square. And we will also wage it in quieter ways, in how we live our lives, by treating one another with kindness and respect, by looking in the face of a stranger and seeing a neighbor, by always using our strength to lift people up, to fight for the dignity that all people deserve.
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Sometimes the fight takes a while. That doesn’t mean we won’t win. That doesn’t mean we won’t win. The important thing is don’t ever give up, don’t ever give up, don’t ever stop trying to make the world a better place. You have power. You have power and don’t you ever listen when anyone tells you something is impossible because it has never been done before. You have the capacity to do extraordinary good in the world.
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Do not despair. This is not a time to throw up our hands. This is a time to roll up our sleeves. This is a time to organize, to mobilize and to stay engaged for the sake of freedom and justice and the future that we all know we can build together.
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The adage is only when it is dark enough can you see the stars. I know many people feel like we are entering a dark time, but for the benefit of us all, I hope that is not the case. But here’s the thing, America, if it is, let us fill the sky with the light of a brilliant, brilliant billion of stars. The light, the light of optimism, of faith, of truth and service.
This speech didn’t heal me or fix anything, but it made me feel like I could get out of bed.
After the 2016 election I was frustrated and exhausted and deeply, deeply sad. I literally cried. The four years that followed were extremely stressful. But, notably, I didn’t hate the people who chose not to vote for Clinton. I’d been in their shoes in 2004, after all. And Trump was technically an unknown – we didn’t know for SURE how bad his presidency would be.
We know now.
Now, if you are a leftist who intentionally didn’t vote for Harris, I genuinely hate you. I hate you as a person who was willing to throw my safety under a fucking bus. I hate you for being sexist, homophobic, ableist, transphobic, xenophobic, racist, Islamophobic, antisemitic, etc.
You chose fascism. You knew what was at stake, and you intentionally let the fascist win.
I hate you more than I hate the people who voted for Trump. At least they’re honest. At least they admit to themselves they hate women, and Mexicans, and queer people. But you, the lazy leftist, you can’t admit you’re a bigot.
Any action or non-action that you took that resulted in Trump being elected means you consented to that outcome.
There are MULTIPLE news articles and political analysis talking about the fact that the Democratic Party will move right as a result of this loss. Of course they will. The people who bothered to vote chose Trump. He’s as far right as you can get. The people who didn’t vote obviously didn’t care about the outcome, and thus do not matter. The Democrats will not try to win back your vote – they will just move right. They will try to win the votes of right-wing “moderates”. Leftism is clearly not what this country wanted.
So fuck you. Fuck you. I hate you. You are worse than Trump and his voters. You’re a lazy, entitled bigot, and I hope the next four years destroy your fucking life. Maybe you’ll fucking listen four years from now – if we’re allowed to vote in a free election ever again in this country. To quote Trump, your hero:
gen z has to reckon with its radicalization problem. you are not a morally pure and superior generation of youth come to save the world, your men and boys are radicalized at an unprecedented level and you ignore it because it’s too hard to address but you have to. these boys are in your classes, they date your friends, you know them and you cannot continue to pretend this is an “old white guy” problem
girls are contributing, too. the coquette aesthetic, the “i don’t want to girlboss i want a man to pay my bills”, girlmath girljob girlmoney. it’s a joke, it’s clothes, it’s whatever, i get it but it is driving a mentality of traditional gender roles and you know you’re joking but your boyfriend doesn’t. your kid brother doesn’t. you have to stop this shit it is a contributing factor
Bout to start gnawing and biting motherfuckers on here, istg. Fuck you third party voters, fuck you “I didn’t vote because that would taint me”, fuck you holier-than-thou moral purity fuckers. Fuck anyone who voted for Trump.