1/ SO: Thoughts. I have a few.

This was a day. A glorious day.

I've been re-tweeting and sharing a lot of memes, and happiness, and joy videos today, because for the first time in four years, I see light on the horizon.

And yet...

2/ There remains in this country many huge, huge problems which we are going to have to deal with eventually. (How to pick, I know, but this one hits close to home for me.) And while it may seem a bit trivial compared to other issues, I think it's worthy of your attention.

3/ It involves the mainstream media, of which I was formerly a member, and now MORE THAN EVER MUST DO A BETTER JOB of setting up the issues that face us as a country.

For example:

Tonight, Biden gives us a great speech. There is dancing in the streets, literally.

4/ America is celebrating. We have chosen science over superstition. Justice over criminality. Service to one's country over unmatched venality.

5/ And the first question, the VERY first question Brian Williams asks to Symone Sanders from the Biden campaign, in her very first appearance after Biden has claimed the presidency, is "but what about the Trump supporters?"

"Will you reach out to them?"

6/ This clip should live in infamy. This bizarre and unending attempt to normalize the racism, xenophobia, and ugliness of 45's violent hate movement is disgusting.

So what should the answer be? Because this question is only going to come up about 10 trillion times.

7/ (For some reason, after four years of silence, everyone is NOW eager to see Biden embrace the Trump movement in a show of "good old fashioned bi-partisanship" which will reach its inevitable ridiculous conclusion with Treasury Secretary Meg Whitman.)

8/ So how to answer that question? How about something like this:

"I don't know, Brian. Are those Trump supporters going to leave behind their racism? Are they going to work to reunite the kids snatched away from their parents and put in cages?

9/ Are they going to take ANY meaningful steps to ensure that ALL Americans can vote, without waiting in 10-hour lines? Are they willing to face a reality that is SCIENCE-based, not faith based?

10/ (Faith has a place; it's not in science.) Are they willing to acknowledge that almost a QUARTER MILLION Americans are dead from COVID, and it didn't have to be this way?

11/ Are they willing to shun and mock ridiculous conspiracy theories, like birther-ism and the Q-Anon bullshit? Or do they really think a cabal of Democratic politicians are drinking babies' blood?

12/ Are they going to stop making and supporting transparently hypocritical and ridiculous "rules" which allow Republican presidents to do whatever the fuck they want, but won't even grant meetings to Democratic Supreme Court and cabinet nominees?

13/ I mention these things just so we all know who we're dealing with... That's the group you want us to reach out to? Well, I'm going to surprise you, Brian.

The answer is a joyous and firm YES.

14/ ANYONE who can hit those basic benchmarks of citizenship is WELCOME to not only to join our movement, but to play a key part in helping to rebuild America in to the type of country you're suggesting it once was.

15/ But make no mistake: You need to understand that world you pine for, that world you dream about NEVER REALLY EXISTED. That whole vision of a "rosy bipartisan past" is a fallacy, and a dangerous one, at that.

16/ Yearning for days when Senators of opposing parties ended congressional sessions with a jovial backslap and drinks at the club hides the terrible racist rot which for FAR too long has thrived deep in the heart of America.

17/ Your false vision of the past ignores and insults the lived reality of SO MANY PEOPLE who are SO SO tired of dealing with all this shit.

18/ Tired to the point of exhaustion - but they STILL stood in ten hour lines to cast their ballot, because they were THAT DESPERATE for us to hear their voices.

So if you don't mind? THOSE are the voices we will be listening to first.

19/ The voices of people who stood up for decency, the people who stood up for justice, and kindness, and the law, and democracy and America.

20/ After that, and ONLY after that, THEN the reformed racists, the now-repentant xenophobes, and, I'll fucking say it, the deplorables among us are WELCOME to help move America into the future.

Because we are not going back. A new day has come.

21/ And it's time, LONG PAST TIME, for America to move beyond STRIVING to become a more perfect union, and actually start DELIVERING on that long put-off promise.

Next question, Brian?"

#Election2020
#BidenHarris2020