Tennessee WordSmith: A Liberal Dose, Oct. 31, 2024 "This Is Not Normal, and It Has to Stop"

A Liberal Dose

October 31, 2024

Troy D. Smith

“This is not normal and it has to stop”

As you read this column, it is Halloween… and five days before the election. Both of those things are spooky. By the time you read the next column one week from today, the election (hopefully) will be over. Half the country will be furious, half will be deliriously happy and relieved. No matter who wins, about half the country will believe that the future of the country and of democracy are in doubt. It should come as no surprise to you when I say that only one side would actually be right to think that way if they lost.

Four years ago, when Trump lost, I heaved a big sigh of relief because I thought, to quote Gerald Ford at his inauguration, “At last our long national nightmare is over.” But, as it turned out, it was not. I don’t think any of us who had voted for Joe Biden could have believed that the defeated sitting president would actually instigate a violent insurrection to prevent the certification of the vote, while simultaneously putting in place various illegal schemes to do the same thing in the courts. Or that four years later he would once again be the Republican nominee… and that the race would be a virtual tie this close to the election. Even with him being exposed for openly wishing he could have had generals like Hitler’s generals. With all his fascistic rhetoric, and total disregard for the Constitution (or even understanding of what it is), I am terrified of what will happen if he wins. Unfortunately, after what we saw last time, I’m also pretty darn scared of what will happen if he loses.

Trump has eroded all semblance of civility or decency in American public life. He has normalized violent speech, violent actions, and even calls for revenge and threats of using the military against his political opponents (which, we now know, he actually tried to do while in office but he was surrounded by people sensible and principled enough to prevent it, which will not be the case if he gets back in). Before you chime in that liberal rhetoric has led to two attempts on Trump’s life, let me remind you that BOTH those would-be assassins were, not liberal Democrats, but former Trump supporters… take a moment to think about what that means about who has created the atmosphere of violence.

I know many, many people in this and surrounding counties who are terrified to put out a Harris/Walz yard sign. Not because they’re afraid it will be stolen, but because they are afraid, almost all of them, that it would lead to Trump supporters vandalizing or even burning down their houses. And they are not overreacting. Many people who have prominently opposed Trump the past few years are laying plans to flee the country if he wins, for their own safety. Media outlets are refraining from criticizing Trump as much as they used to, or from supporting Harris, out of fear of reprisals against them if he wins. We know that Republican senators who thought Trump should have been convicted in his last impeachment refrained from voting to convict because they feared for their families’ safety, and even their lives, if they did so. Judges in Trump’s MANY court cases have been inundated with death threats. Volunteer poll workers around the country are scared for their safety, and we’ve already seen violence against them.

THIS IS NOT NORMAL.

At least, it didn’t used to be. At least, it SHOULDN’T be. But so many of us don’t even question it anymore, because it has come to FEEL normal just because it has been constant for nine years. Many of us are frogs in boiling water, with the temperature slowly rising.

I have a lot of conservative friends who say they support Trump only reluctantly, that they are disgusted by him on a personal level, but they just can’t support a liberal Democrat. If this describes you… you know that everything I have said about him is true. And we don’t have to let our country keep devolving this way. Once you are in that voting booth, it is you and your conscience. None of your friends, family, or neighbors will know how you vote unless you tell them. If you can’t vote for Harris, write in someone else or go on to the next line.

If you support Harris, and feel like your vote doesn’t count, go in to vote for Gloria Johnson for U.S. Senate. Because if Trump DOES win, we sure don’t need Marsha Blackburn in there helping enable him.

Here we go…

--Troy D. Smith, a White County native, is a novelist and a history professor at Tennessee Tech and serves on the executive committee of the Tennessee Democratic Party. His words do not necessarily represent TTU.

Buy the book A Liberal Dose: Communiques from the Holler by Troy D. Smith HERE