I've been largely avoiding this thread lately because the arguments have gotten so scattershot and varied that I think getting bogged down on any of them would just serve to derail this thread further. I have strong feelings about all of this, and I think that there have been a ton of really specious arguments from all sides, but I don't really want to drill down on any of that. Just want to put my thoughts here.
With any candidate, you obviously have to take the good with the bad. There is no such thing as a perfect candidate, and there never will be. If you spend all your time waiting for the candidate that perfectly meets your ideals, you will be waiting a long, long time.
But the flipside of that coin is that you bear responsibility for those that you vote for. Saying "no candidate is perfect" doesn't absolve you of all responsibility when the imperfect candidate that you voted for does something that you don't agree with.
Listen, I had a lot of problems with Hillary Clinton. While there were several things I liked about her, there were others that bothered me. She was definitely a hawk, and I fully expected that if she had become president, some things I have really major issues with would have come to pass. I believe that the use of the drone program and the extra-judicial killings that result from it would probably have increased under her tenure. I believe that she probably would have escalated military conflict in Syria. On the economic and social support side of things she fared better, but I still fundamentally disagree with her approach to health care, which I believe is a band-aid on the issue but will never fully address the basic problems with our current healthcare system (rising costs of healthcare services due to a wide market of "buyers" that compete rather than coordinate, continuing to tie healthcare to employment, etc. - don't get me wrong, I think that the Affordable Care Act is an improvement over our previous system, and my family has personally benefited from it in really direct ways, but I still believe that it failed to address the core problems with the current system, and thus would always be bloated and incomplete).
When I voted for Hillary Clinton, I took ownership of those problems as much as I took ownership of the things about her that I supported. Voting is a civic responsibility, and like any responsibility, how you fulfill it has consequences. I knew full well going into the voting booth who I was voting for, and even though I believe I made the right decision in placing my vote, it doesn't change the fact that my vote would have elected someone who supported some things that I am pretty fundamentally opposed to. I still cast that vote, because in the end, I decided that even these flaws were acceptable costs compared to the alternative. Voting for an unrealistic candidate that more perfectly aligned with my views would accomplish nothing beyond making me feel better about myself, and when compared to the alternative major candidate, I found those issues an acceptable cost.
Donald Trump is a man who has made no bones about who he is. He is a man with a history of open racism, bigotry, homophobia and misogyny. He ran a campaign full of racist dogwhistles, actively championed prejudiced and unconstitutional policies, and has been the most openly racist major presidential candidate this country has seen since George Wallace. This isn't some hidden secret. This is a pretty basic part of Donald Trump.
Even if you yourself disagree with this aspect of Donald Trump, it's there, and if you voted for him, you voted for this too. Perhaps you did so in the same spirit that I voted for Hillary Clinton, believing that it was an acceptable cost when compared with the alternative. Maybe you did this because you believe that Hillary's flaws were of even greater concern, or because you live in a position of privilege where the active and ugly bigotry does not directly impact your life, or because you believe that the policies of his that you support will have such a beneficial impact on the country that you believe it is all worthwhile. I don't know. Only you do. But if you voted for Donald Trump, you got the good with the bad, and you bear some responsibility for that.
So this is what I ask of anyone who has voted for Donald Trump knowing that he is a flawed candidate: hold him responsible. When I cast my vote for Hillary Clinton, I did so expecting to challenge her on every issue I found problematic. I fully planned to fight against unnecessary military intervention, to oppose the use of the drone program, to push for a new direction as far as healthcare. I intended to hold Hillary Clinton accountable for those areas where I believe she had room to improve. There are a lot of ways you can do this, from making phone calls and writing letters to your legislators (who hold the President in check), to directly organizing with others that believe the same as you do. I did this under Barack Obama. I planned to do all of this under Hillary Clinton as well, if she was elected President.
I am asking anyone here who voted for Donald Trump to do the same. If you don't support racist or homophobic or misogynistic policies, fight him on it, even if you voted for it. Don't just shrug and say, "Welp, that's unfortunate, but I still think he was the better candidate." I'll still fight for what I believe in too, but frankly, Donald Trump probably cares a lot more about you than he does about me. If you voted for Donald Trump, you bear some responsibility for the decisions he makes - so if he makes a decision you disagree with, you bear that same responsibility to challenge it.
Thanks, y'all. No matter what happens, I expect it will be an interesting several years.