Twitter Is Comparing Election Day 2017 & Election Day 2016 & It’s So, So Rough
In case you hadn't heard because you live under a rock or are one of those rare people who are not online 24/7, it's Election Day again. And after the devastation of Election Day 2016, people are dealing with the very real possibility of another disappointing year the best way they know how: memes. These tweets about Election Day 2017 will give you a good idea of just how well people are coping. Which is to say... not well.
On Nov. 8, 2016, millions of people woke up expecting to end the day with President-Elect Hillary Clinton. Polls everywhere predicted that Clinton would win the 2016 presidential election by a landslide, that the race wasn't even close. And yet, now-President Donald Trump pulled off what Politico called the "biggest upset in U.S. history."
His win has caused what some call "Trump trauma" and others have named "Post-Trump Stress Disorder." But whatever cutesy name you give it, Trump's angry, borderline dangerous tweets; policies such as the trans military ban; the attempted anti-immigrant, anti-refugee travel ban; anti-woman policies like the birth control mandate roll-back; and his tendency to start feuds with people who criticize him has exhausted many of us. Left us in a state of shock, even. (Which is probably why people are somehow still re-litigating and arguing about the election a full year later.)
So with Election Day 2017, many are worried about a repeat of last year. After all, there is a hotly contested gubernatorial election in Virginia, which, according to The Hill, some are calling a bellwether for national politics and the 2018 midterm elections. There is also a campaign to replace New York District Attorney Cy Vance with a write-in candidate after it was reported that Vance not only allegedly let several Trump kids off the hook on a suspected fraud investigation, but dropped an investigation into assault allegations against Harvey Weinstein. (Vance said that a criminal charge for Weinstein was "not supported" by the evidence, and has suggested that the Trumps' case was mostly a civil matter, per Vox.)
So voting this year, despite being an odd year, is important. And it's giving people horrible flashbacks to last year.
We were so young, so innocent. We were so... full of hope.
And now we're dark and jaded and ready to battle. In the voting booth, that is. We will not, these memes say, be taken advantage of again. We are no longer naive but fully awake to the ways of the world. So let's friggin' do this.
Election 2016 made us hardened, world-weary individuals, as illustrated by fictional characters.
I used to just sit on benches in a nice pea coat, and now I'm ready to throw down.
I will blow up my psychopath boyfriend if I have to. Lick it up, baby.
No more working girl. Now I'm a badass, no apologies.
Darkness has descended upon us all.
Some people, of course, shook things up.
The election has aged us all.
Some people went on a journey.
Others were already jaded before Election Day 2016.
And, let's face it, we were all super strung out by the end of 2016 anyways.
And some can't vote, so make sure, if you can vote, that you go out and do it!
Like last year, wonks, journalists, political activists, and people full of self-loathing are waiting with bated breath for the results from special elections across the United States. But if I have learned anything from last year — when I sat in front of my computer refreshing FiveThirtyEight and The New York Times until I cried — sitting in a dark room obsessing over every tiny detail is not, uh, healthy.
So as long as you can vote and have made sure others are voting, go outside. Have a drink. Do a face mask. Do not refresh your phone until your thumb aches. After all, Winona Ryder's character in Heathers probably went home and showered. Frodo was rescued from the top of Mt. Doom, and Eleven returned to Hawkins. So, you know, it'll probably be OK.
