Washington, CT – I woke up at 6am, two days after the election on the morning of November 7th, to the sound of the local garbage truck and a crowd cheering. The applause and the “yays” and “woohoos” were so loud that they almost drowned out the noise of the truck, which was parked at the Four Corners. This was incredible because there is almost never any noise here. The Four Corners is where Plumb Hill, Judea Cemetery Road, Bell Hill and East Street meet. The house I grew up on is on one corner, there’s another house across the street on the another corner and the other two are occupied by a meadow and a wooded area respectively. The only noise we ever hear comes from the occasional vehicle that speeds through the four-way STOP sign because they assume there’s nothing there.
Looking out my bedroom window surreptitiously, I was surprised to see that all the noise seemed to be coming from just two jubilant dog walkers and the garbage man, himself. At first, with the window closed, it was hard to make out what the three of them were yelling about, but pretty quickly my stomach turned as I made out the words “We’re gonna make America great again!!” I was shocked. While our town is known to have Republicans (the Town Selectman, for example) most of the people we know are not only left leaning, but pretty progressive teachers and artists, many of whom (including my parents) were former New Yorkers. But I had no idea that there were MAGA people living among us. Who were these dog walkers and the garbage man? And how did they think that Trump was going to make anything great?
I realize what that sounds like as I write this – either that I’m talking about aliens or zombies or that I’m talking about people for whom I have little respect. And now, a few weeks later, I also realize even more that this massive disconnect within communities is exactly the problem, and that it’s how Trump got elected. I tried to listen harder without opening the window and revealing myself, so I couldn’t really make out what they were saying, but through the cries of joy there was a lot of shouting – a LOT of anger.
A few days later, while the Democrats in the news still weren’t helping me make heads or tails of what happened apart from what seemed like obvious racism and misogyny, it was my younger cousin from Rhode Island who helped me better understand what happened. He told me that we needed a candidate who was angry because so many people in our country are angry. People who didn’t go to college, and even those who did, but still struggled to make a living are angry because unlike their parents they just cannot afford to buy a house, to pay their bills and these days, they can’t even afford groceries. They didn’t feel like any administration had really helped them. They didn’t believe the Democrats had helped and all they heard was condescension. Trump reflected back their anger and made them feel seen.
This was a wake-up call in more ways than one.
Amy Habbas 