WASHINGTON DC – I woke up on Election Day with a fluffy feline headgear. My brown tabby cat, Joey, had wrapped his paws around my head and purred in my ear as I remembered my plan to go to Washington, D.C. to attend the watch party at Howard University for the vice-president. president. Kamala Harris. But with a cat draped over my head, my mind drifted to a previous trip I took to Washington, D.C. in January 2017, when I covered the women’s march to protest Donald Trump’s inauguration. That day had been the only bright spot amid MAGA’s years of hell, seeing hundreds of thousands of people pouring in from all directions, vowing to resist one man’s fascist impulses. who bragged about sexually assaulting women. The symbol of the day: the omnipresent p***y hats, cheerful pink knitwear worn by women regaining control of a body part that Trump memorably boasted of having seized against the will of his victims.

It now seems that my adorable cat was a bad omen. With Trump’s victoryIt’s time for women to take their hats out of the closet, grab their “tough” wine glasses, and get back to work. Trump’s victory was won by a majority of male voters, while most women once again turned out in hopes of stopping him. It will once again be up to women to save America from this sinister fascist threat.

In 2017, the pink cat ears atop women’s marchers were often accompanied by signs adorned with angry cats declaring “pussy catches.” Eight long years later, the domestic cat continues to symbolize female resistance. Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, complained a lot about the “cat ladies”, a favorite MAGA insult of independent women. However, women, including pop star Taylor Swift, wore the term like a badge of honorrightly emphasizing that thinking for oneself is a source of pride.

The mood was high at Howard around 9 p.m., as the event filled up. Students dressed in academic attire or their Greek letters milled about. As hip-hop blared from the speakers, groups of women happily line danced to the tunes of Ciara and Missy Elliot under giant American flags. At 10 a.m., the mood deteriorated as it became clear that once again American voters were unable to make the correct and obvious choice between a competent, good-hearted woman and a screaming, screaming fascist. hateful. I went out demoralized at 11 p.m. and woke up to find the worst had happened.

But even as people realized that Trump might, once again, pull off this victory, it hasn’t been as heartbreaking as it was in 2016. Maybe that’s because we’re no longer surprised that much of our fellow Americans harbor so much resentment that they would rather burn this country down than share its riches with those who helped build it. But part of that is because this crowd knows what they couldn’t have 8 years ago: they can get back on top and keep fighting. We know that even when most men fail in this country, most women straighten their shoulders and fight. In November 2016, we had not seen the Women’s March. We had not witnessed the #MeToo movement. We have not seen how women could speak out against the ban on abortion, oblige several States to protect the right even as Republican leaders try to ban it.

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Some of the world’s richest men, like Elon Musk and Rupert Murdoch, have spent billions of dollars to drown Americans in far-right propaganda. The internet is full of mind-blowing conspiracy theories and people hardly pay attention to real news anymore. The forces of basic decency are truly a David facing a Goliath. And yet, because women continue to join Democrats, they fought this election to a near zero result. It is a sign of true strength. The MAGA movement has resorted to a tsunami of lies, distractions, and even violence to win, because it has never been able to compete in a fair fight.

As Harris herself said this during her first announcement his candidacy for president, “I know the Donald Trump guy.” Through a massive propaganda apparatus built on lies and the inherent injustice of the Electoral College, the MAGA movement has built more power for itself than it has gained through popular will. The thumb has long been on the scales of rapists, misogynists and bigots. But the crowd at Howard Tuesday night was a reminder that the MAGA movement won’t win so easily. The culture is oriented towards the people present that evening: young, diverse and predominantly female. They won’t return to the kitchen just because some bitter weirdo calls them “cat ladies” on Twitter. They will continue to live.

Harris deliberately downplayed her gender identity and racial identity during this campaign, unlike Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign, which centered on blistering rhetoric that the candidate was breaking the final glass ceiling. But somehow it turned into what some experts called a “boys versus girls” election, largely because polls predicted the widest gender gap ever recorded in a presidential election. In truth, it was more of a “boys versus adults” election. Despite Vance’s grumbling about “childless cat ladies,” the Harris campaign brought a strong energy to moms: cheerful but determined. The fans, both men and women, embodied the vibe of every grown woman who smiles as she checks off her long to-do list, busy but grateful to have such a full life.

Despite the candidate’s advanced age, the Trump campaign was characterized by petulance and immaturity. Trump, his running mate and his loudest supporters have adopted the face of a spoiled rich kid mocking his mother for telling him to do his homework. The principle behind the campaign was that lazy and childish men should be the leaders of society, not only despite, but because they will not do the work to deserve it. Men like Elon Musk, RFK Jr., and Joe Rogan wore their ignorance like a badge of honor, mocking those who put years of effort into becoming experts, rather than just lazily spouting theories of conspiracy. The Proud Boys, whose name indicates their arrested development, have reappeared threaten election officials with violence. Trump and Vance spent the final days of campaigning a track flooded with sexism in schoolyards, calling female leaders “trash” and the b-wordwhile openly fantasizing about sending a convicted rapist after Harris.

Even the field operations of the two campaigns reflected this divergence. The Harris campaign approached get-out-the-vote operations with the diligence of a straight-A student with her hand always in the air, knocking on more than 800,000 doors in Pennsylvania on Saturday. Musk handled the ground game for Trump, which results in an anemic canvassing presence. Instead, in the tradition of lazy dads paying someone else to take tests for them, Musk bought Trump voters with a million-dollar-a-day lottery. This contrast has an undeniable gender flavor, as girls everywhere know they must study hard and show up to get ahead, while rich white boys too often settle for privilege.

Even the location of the candidates on election day highlighted the difference. Harris set up camp at his alma mater, demonstrating not only his personal work, but also the historic determination that black people have put into education and work in a country that has often worked against their aspirations. Trump relaxed at a country club he bought with inherited wealth. And yet, there’s no doubt that Howard was the more fun place, simply because the people were nicer to be around. Even in the face of a crushing defeat, the Harris supporters in attendance knew it wasn’t due to a lack of effort on their part. This is only because the nation is still too sexist and racist to deserve the sweat that this crowd – racially diverse and predominantly female – puts into the fight. And I will continue to invest in it. They have no other choice. Their lives and freedoms depend on it.

Trump has done real damage to the American psyche, especially when it comes to his supporters, who have become angrier, more paranoid and more sadistic over the past nine years. Even in defeat, we must be grateful to Harris for her tremendous work embodying a different vision: one in which Americans can be kind, cooperative, and, yes, joyful. Even sticking to the journalistic practice of running an arm’s-length campaign, it has been a relief to attend Harris events, such as the rally at Temple University in August Or the Democratic National Convention. Honestly, it has less to do with the candidates and more to do with the people on the ground, who are funny, sweet, smart, and just plain normal, instead of bristling at the weird, hateful energy Trump is engendering in his own country . followers. Despite the fear that is once again taking hold in the country, there is strength in seeing all these reasonable people coming together, men and women, who believe that women deserve better. That we all deserve better.

The women who voted for Harris are not giving up. Vance and Musk and their army of Twitter trolls can use the term “cat lady” all they want, but voting for Trump won’t force women to abandon their jobs en masse to play the role of “tradwife.” . Trump can and probably will enact more restrictions on abortion and even contraception, but women have already shown that they will respond with support networks to smuggle care to those who need it. MAGA men continue to tell a story that if they hate and punish women enough, women will lie down and accept it. They only make women angrier and more determined. Women understand that they cannot count on the goodness of men to protect us. Americans know it: the only people who will save us are us.