John,
What happened last Tuesday cannot, and should not, be sugarcoated: Donald Trump's egotistical hatred, racism, and lawlessness will now be visited upon the entire country in a context that is ripe for abuse. America is in very serious trouble.
Trump has vowed to punish his political opponents, backing this up with threats of physical violence. He has pledged to ignore or shut down any of the various investigations and prosecutions of his criminal actions. And he has promised to inflict untold pain and harm on millions of people, because he needs a vulnerable scapegoat to distract us from the rest of his toxic agenda.
It is going to be very important that those who see this, and who have worked to oppose it, remain clear-eyed and honest about what is happening in America right now.
Millions of people chose this vision over the Democrats' vision (however flawed) for a more unified, positive future for our country. There are hundreds of reasonable explanations for this; no single person or group has all the answers for what happened and why.
There will be time to retool and regroup, but we will never recover if we don't acknowledge the fundamental sickness at the root of this disaster that allowed a man like Donald Trump—a twice-impeached convicted felon—to win the popular vote after running the most racist, incoherent, and laziest campaign in modern American history.
And while we do the work to recognize what happened and address these problems, let us also keep in mind that Colorado, along with only a handful of other states, bucked the national trend and barely shifted right from 2020.
We all did our part to provide the blueprint for defeating MAGA: robust economic populism that appeals to the working class in both urban/suburban areas and rural areas; uncompromising on our values of equality and tolerance; and competent democratic governance that delivers tangible things to taxpayers while fostering growth and prosperity for everyone.
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