{"id":4943,"date":"2026-11-11T05:35:55","date_gmt":"2026-11-11T13:35:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/?p=4943"},"modified":"2026-11-10T17:36:11","modified_gmt":"2026-11-11T01:36:11","slug":"now-what","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/2026\/11\/11\/now-what\/","title":{"rendered":"Now What?"},"content":{"rendered":"

I was working the polls on Election Day (if you’re feeling anxious about an election, I cannot recommend this too heartily: you’re too busy ensuring a free and fair election and adhering to the bajillion rules surrounding the process to obsess over how the vote is actually going). Because I was busy (and because we are NOT allowed to discuss races, issues, or candidates while in the polling place) this meant I really had no idea about the results. But starting about 5pm California time, my phone began pinging at me. Like, insistently and constantly. And I began to get the feeling that something was happening. It wasn’t until I was on my way home at 10pm that I read all the messages telling me that election results were coming in blue, then bluer, then “Omigod this is better than I even dreamt of” BLUE<\/strong><\/span>.<\/p>\n

It’s been a little bit more than a week. \u00a0And things are beginning to happen. Some of them are weird and sinister (Stephen Miller<\/em> as Chief of Staff?) and some are delightful (“J.D., habibi…” makes me smile every time I encounter it). And some people are calling for heads on pikes, and some are calling for gentlemanly restraint.<\/p>\n

The thing is, we have another election coming up in a mere 24 months. For my money, we (the Democrats, the progressives, whoever We includes) need to produce<\/em>. Make long-term plans for Big Stuff, sure. And undo as much of the damage that has been done over the last two years. But we need to show that we’re looking at the lives of working class voters, make pocketbook items more affordable as fast as possible: food, healthcare, transportation, housing, education, childcare. Because if we don’t, two years from now, those voters who went Blue this time because they were unhappy with how things are, could decide that we’re the problem.<\/p>\n

What do I want? I’ve got a shopping list, like everyone else I talk to. I want the New Senate and the New Congress to undo as much of the Big Awful Bill as they can, ASAP. So many of the nastiest provisions of the Bill are going to start kicking in now <\/em>and it’s got to be stopped. I would like to see action taken to punish the Bad Actors who have been lining their pockets and advancing their self-centered agendas since January 2025. But not at the expense of Getting Things Done to Help*. It’s going to be difficult, even with Congressional majorities, to get anything past the Presidential veto… unless we can persuade some Republicans to vote in favor of those things in numbers sufficient to override that veto. So–as much as some people I’ve heard want to see blood in the streets and retribution–we’re going to have to learn to work together. Again. Not be slavish or courtly or expect miracles, but give Republicans hard-headed reasons why doing the right thing is the smart thing.<\/p>\n

Don’t like the idea of working with Republicans? I’ve seen it suggested that the way to avoid a veto is to plaster the current president’s name on any bill they send for his signature: The Donald J. Trump Universal Healthcare Bill, etc. The very idea makes me ill–not least because it would give aid and comfort to anyone on the right who wants to point to it in five years and say “look, see what we did for you?” \u00a0Honestly, I really think we’re going to have to find ways to work together without involving the Man in the Oval as much as possible, because you know he’s going to be obstructionist.<\/p>\n

Finally, because I really want a pony and a million dollars for Christmas: can the Democrats please stop eating their young and attacking each other?<\/p>\n

I can dream.
\n__________
\n* As more than one Democratic leader has noted over the last week, it really is possible to walk and chew gum at the same time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was working the polls on Election Day (if you’re feeling anxious about an election, I cannot recommend this too heartily: you’re too busy ensuring a free and fair election and adhering to the bajillion rules surrounding the process to obsess over how the vote is actually going). Because I was busy (and because we […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4943","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-essays"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4943","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4943"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4943\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4947,"href":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4943\/revisions\/4947"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4943"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4943"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4943"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}