{"id":7765,"date":"2026-11-06T23:35:35","date_gmt":"2026-11-06T23:35:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/?p=7765"},"modified":"2026-11-06T23:35:35","modified_gmt":"2026-11-06T23:35:35","slug":"hate-was-on-the-ballot-hate-lost","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/?p=7765","title":{"rendered":"Hate Was on the Ballot. Hate Lost."},"content":{"rendered":"

By<\/span>Peter Schurmann<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody hates. I\u2019m sick of the hate.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a short Instagram clip<\/a>. A Swedish journalist is in Springfield, Ohio reporting on a neo-Nazi rally there in late September. About 30 seconds in, the camera focuses on an older woman, white, her expression a mix of exasperation and fatigue as she walks past.<\/p>\n

Hate is exhausting, after all.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been thinking about that clip ever since it first crossed my feed a month or so back. The look on the woman\u2019s face, the tone in her voice seemed at that moment to sum up what many of us have been feeling over these past 18 months.<\/p>\n

Or, indeed, over the past decade, ever since Trump first descended his golden Manhattan escalator exhorting Americans to harness their hate.<\/p>\n

It is no secret there exists in American politics deeply rooted strains of racism, xenophobia, homophobia, sexism. If there\u2019s a prejudice out there, you name it, we got it.<\/p>\n

The history of this country, in many respects, has been one of countervailing efforts to either enshrine these principles \u2014 if that\u2019s what one can call them \u2014 or overcome them.<\/p>\n

But not since Donald Trump has there been a figure so adept, so keenly attuned to leveraging and weaponizing the basest of our instincts for political gain.<\/p>\n

A master showman, Trump managed to capture our attention almost from day one, no easy feat in this age of near constant noise and distraction. The Donald has lived rent free for years in our collective imagination, inspiring fear, joy, greed, anguish, hope or despair, often in equal measure.<\/p>\n

And yes, he inspires hate.<\/p>\n

For those opposed, Trump arouses an ire both personal and political that far surpasses anything prior. It even has a name: Trump Derangement Syndrome. And the president uses that to his gain, etching a line in the sand, as it were, pitting one side against another, like that proverbial devil on your shoulder, at turns whispering \u2014\u00a0or more likely screaming \u2014\u00a0that the hate you feel is justified.<\/p>\n

That immigrant neighbor nextdoor, the one who took your job. The trans athlete looking to sneak into the wrong bathroom. The pesky female reporter with the annoying questions. Libs, commies, the unwashed hordes clawing at the foundations of what made America great, again.<\/p>\n

Moreso, for Trump, that hate is a superpower, energizing and entertaining, and ultimately translating into political success, and cultural cachet. USA, USA, USA!<\/p>\n

Tuesday\u2019s midterm election results, thankfully, revealed the limits of that hate as a political strategy.<\/p>\n

\u201cJD, habibi\u2026\u201d smirks a smiling and victorious Dr. Abdul El-Sayed a day after handily winning his race for a U.S. Senate seat representing the state of Michigan.<\/p>\n

Using the Arabic term for \u201cmy dear\u201d or \u201cmy love,\u201d El-Sayed, whose campaign faced an endless torrent of Islamophobia, directs his remarks at the vice president, who at turns referred to the American-born El-Sayed as \u201cevil\u201d and \u201cbeing on the side of terrorists.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cue the dog whistles.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is this delicious irony in the fact that you [JD Vance] are constitutionally obligated to swear me in in January,\u201d El-Sayed continues, breaking into laughter.<\/p>\n

With his win, El-Sayed becomes the nation\u2019s first Muslim senator, just one of a slew of firsts on Tuesday night that include the country\u2019s first Black female governor<\/a>, the first Native American female governor<\/a>, the first Native female senator and the first openly gay male U.S. senator<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In deeply red South Carolina, Democrat Annie Andrews defeated her opponent, Darline Graham, despite the deeply transphobic namecalling hurled at Andrews by Trump and his allies. In Texas, Republicans took turns swiping at James Talarico\u2019s masculinity, to no avail.<\/p>\n

Yes, it\u2019s the economy.<\/p>\n

Americans, many of them at least, are struggling. Corporations may be making a \u201cfreaking ton of money,\u201d to quote Trump during one of his recent rallies. But for the average person, life is an increasing grind. Throw in rising gas prices, rising health care premiums, rising rents, billionaire tax cuts, and uncertainty over AI, and it\u2019s no wonder voters opted for candidates who spoke most directly to those concerns.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the same dynamic that got Trump elected first in 2016 and then again in 2024. In both instances, he gave voice to those who felt left behind, ignored, cheated by an out of touch political class.<\/p>\n

And, in doing so, he gave us a target, pointing the finger at the marginalized, the vulnerable, the weak. They are dragging us down, he intoned.<\/p>\n

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice\u2026 On Tuesday, that hate fell short, by a lot.<\/p>\n

Where Republicans go from here is anyone\u2019s guess. In 2012, after Obama\u2019s election win, the GOP embarked on what was then called an \u201cautopsy\u201d as it sought to address its long-standing disconnect with a demographically changed electorate. Then Trump came along.<\/p>\n

Perhaps its time Republicans dust off that report and put the hate behind them, for the sake of their party, the country, and that woman in Springfield. She, and we all, could use a break.<\/p>\n

Source: Published without changes from American Community Media<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ByPeter Schurmann \u201cEverybody hates. I\u2019m sick of the hate.\u201d It\u2019s a short Instagram clip. A Swedish journalist is<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7768,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[254,24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7765","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-america-fights-back","category-regular-column"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t