Don’t Lose Your Mind Over the Election Results
America needs an emotional containment strategy for its political Cold War.
In exactly two weeks, millions of Americans will have cast their vote for a new president. The interminable 2024 election will be over.
Given the closeness of the race, and the complicated and needlessly prolonged state vote counting mechanisms, we may not know for certain who won the presidency on the Wednesday morning after the polls close.
But we do know that someone will eventually win, and someone will lose. “Thems the breaks.”
It’s critical now that Americans and their public officials adequately prepare for the visceral emotional release of the most engaged voters in response to this coming political reality. If we don’t learn how to better control our political feelings across party lines after this election, then the next four years of American governance could lead us to some dark and undesirable places.
We need to encourage good behavior and contain the bad behavior.
In the final stages of the campaign, anxiety or irrational exuberance rule the day among partisan supporters of Harris and Trump, with indifference or disgust at politics reigning supreme among a large group of unaligned voters.
How we collectively decide to handle our emotions in the aftermath of the 2024 contest will matter as much as the result itself in terms of America’s success or stagnation over the next four years.
For starters, Americans and party officials will need to give the eventual presidential winner their due—and be gracious to the losing candidate and their supporters. The winner, in turn, needs to let every American know that they will do their best to serve their interests and will listen to their concerns when they are falling short. The loser of the race will need to get over the pain and move on in life—and help their supporters do the same.
We need a national commitment from the two parties and their voters to help keep political emotions in check after this long and grinding presidential election season. Here are a few components necessary for doing so:
Better political leaders. Americans desperately need both Kamala Harris and Donald Trump to behave decently whether they win or lose. It’s a sad situation that this seems like a lot to ask of our presidential candidates. But here we are.
In doing so, the two party candidates and their allies can help the country move forward in a sane and orderly manner by promising to stay calm as the vote tallies are calculated and potentially rechecked. Give election officials (and the courts if necessary) time to fairly and accurately determine the results in various states. Accept the results when they are determined, win or lose. Don’t inflame supporters with a frenzy of conspiracies about a stolen election and voter fraud that doesn’t exist if you end up on the losing side. Don’t gloat about MAGA or liberal “tears” if you win.
President Biden—who was unceremoniously kicked to the side by donors, media celebrities, and political elites in his own party—also has a real opportunity to serve the public well in his final few months in office. Above all, he needs to ensure Americans that we will have an orderly, peaceful, and honorable transition to a new president next January, whoever that may be.
If Trump wins, the president shouldn’t be bitter or petty. If Harris wins, he shouldn’t flaunt it or say annoying things. Regardless of who wins, Biden should reach out to the former president and his supporters—even if it’s not reciprocated. It will help the next president and the country move forward.
Likewise, there’s a high probability of divided government starting in 2025, so the leaders of both the House and Senate, and in those working in the new administration, will have to commit in word and deed to finding some concrete policies to work on together to help advance the nation’s interests.
Better media elites and billionaires. Political emotions are unfortunately stoked on a regular basis by those who cover campaigns in both traditional and non-traditional media outlets, and by those who pour billions of dollars into Super PACs, issue advocacy groups, advertising, and other forms of political combat.
Maybe, just maybe, the people who control the emotional levers of politics with their platforms and money could decide to grow up, act responsibly, and not make matters worse by promoting false claims about the election or spewing more partisan vitriol and other inflammatory coverage of the outcome.
Again, it’s sad that this must be mentioned. But American journalists, big tech and media companies, and a bunch of rich people on either side of the Democratic and Republican divide have a lot of power that is constantly misused for profit or ideological gain.
Perhaps this time around they could cut it out and serve up honest and measured media coverage and political activism that is deserving of our respect.
Better citizens. Ultimately, the only thing any of us can do is control our own emotions and reactions to politics. It sucks and hurts when your candidate loses, and you feel elated and optimistic if they win. But remember, there are lots and lots of decent people on the other side of the party divide, and many more who don’t particularly care about your political feelings.
So put your politics in perspective. It’s not religion or an essential component of personal identity. Nothing is permanent in politics. It’s not the end of the world if your guy or gal loses. And it’s lame and immature to make other people feel bad when their candidate and party loses.
It might seem trite, but whether you end up ecstatic and beaming—or depressed and angry—by a Harris or Trump victory, perhaps reach out to someone on the other side and say, “Hey, no hard feelings.”
Containing our political emotions more effectively is a vital component of America’s future success or failure as a nation.
We’re all Americans living in the same country, and we could try a little harder to get along despite our genuine emotions and conflicted feelings about politics. Nothing good happens from a collective mental breakdown about election results every four years.
There’s always another candidate to support and other elections to get involved in down the road. Move on to something else in life. Enjoy family time. Pursue other activities besides politics. Find ways to talk and work together with those holding different beliefs and political views. Do it for yourself, and for America.
It might be too late when an incumbent if cognitively missing President is still uttering "lock him up" as Joe Biden this week did, less than two weeks before the election.
But Halperin's sage advice to chill is directed at the larger electorate. Voters might keep in mind that when they and a partisan press put so much stock into the outcome of a presidential election, they invite the kind of imperial, overreaching presidency America has witnessed especially in the past quarter century. It was never what our Framers intended.
A national method of quickly counting votes would certainly help. Obama's gentlemanly invite of Trump to the White House the day after the election in 2016 should serve as a template. Whoever wins I sure would like to hear the leaders of both parties to offer to work with that person to pass legislation beneficial to the American people.