Surviving the Post Election Blues

What to do now? Tristan Byrne offers some advice on dealing with last week’s shocking result.

After staying up until the early hours of November the 9^th, I was surprised at how upset I felt after realising that Trump was going to win the election. The day before the election I expected that if he won, I would be revelling in the chaos and excitement of it all. But over the past few days I have only felt a sense of melancholy about it.

My housemates and I even held an election night party, with full expectations of blasting The Official Hilary 2016 Playlist on Spotify all night…

This was partly because in the weeks running up to the election, I had been obsessing over the result to such an extent that basically all media I consumed was election-based. And it was all telling me that a Clinton victory was pretty much a dead certainty. My housemates and I even held an election night party, with full expectations of blasting The Official Hilary 2016 Playlist on Spotify all night.

It also had some personal impact on me, because as a member of the LGBT+ community, I’m disgusted by how homophobic the new VP, Mike Pence is. I cannot imagine the fear that Muslim or Latino Americans must be experiencing.

There are checks and balances on the President’s power and he won’t be allowed to pass everything he said he would…

Generally, I’m feeling that all the progressive movements of the past few years will be for nought – from Black Lives Matter and Momentum, to the relative success of Bernie Sanders, and the Supreme Court ruling gay marriage legal nationwide.

I want to remind everyone who is feeling fear, to stay positive. There are checks and balances on the President’s power and he won’t be allowed to pass everything he said he would.

Turn off the TV news, log off social media, and surround yourself with positive, non-news related media…

Also, fundamentally Trump isn’t interested in passing the regressive policies he talks about. He is a brash jerk who ran for election purely to boost his ego. He was previously registered as a democrat, supported universal healthcare, and even advocated women’s right to abortions.

The best way I have found, to survive the next few days, is to turn off the TV news, log off social media, and surround yourself with positive, non-news related media. I have been listening to Lemonade, watching David Attenborough and actually reading novels!

I am also avoiding satire, which I think has lost its relevance in the last few months…

Take baths, go for a walk, talk to your family and give your friends hugs. People often feel a sense of duty keep up with the news, especially in trying times like these, however this was only taking me to a really dark place.

I am also avoiding satire, which I think has lost its relevance in the last few months. With politicians already acting like caricatures of themselves, programs like SNL only serve as a depressing reminder of how ridiculous politics has become.

I think everyone who is sharing posts about Trump, should be very careful that what they’re posting is something productive…

When I realised that Trump was going to be successful I immediately went to social media to post about how depressed everyone should be. Later I deleted this post. I think everyone who is sharing posts about Trump, should be very careful that what they’re posting is something productive, rather than simply contributing to the collective mourning.

This is not to say don’t protest; I fully support and encourage the protests against Trump. And I believe they will be an important part of curbing Trump’s populist policies in the next four years, especially for the minority Americans.

These are hard times for America, and the rest of the western world, but it is important to keep going…

However, I do think that the mourning that is going on in much of the media is bleak and futile. Most of the conversation seems to be about shaming the pollsters who got it wrong and talking about hypotheticals, like the possibility of defeating Trump, had Bernie been the Democratic candidate.

These are hard times for America, and the rest of the western world, but it is important to keep going. I hope this article has helped you. Stay positive – we can get through this.