Though we’ve known for four years that the 2020 US election cycle would be even more fraught than the strange and painful fall of the 2016 elections, most of us still find ourselves a little disoriented these days. For some, the urgency to remove Trump from office has immobilized us. For others, it’s fortified us into action to get out the vote and to sway those who are undecided, apathetic, and reluctant.
In the final five weeks before the election of a lifetime, we asked writers to consider the undecided voter and contribute compelling arguments and ideas for making the world right. Some contributors sent us work that takes on issues with precision and gravity. Others sent us different work, perhaps an even more visceral snapshot of this alarming moment — a one-act play, an open letter, a story of exile. New writing will be published weekdays; we believe its wisdom and strength will help us all navigate the uncertainty ahead.
A collection of real-life commentary on female politicians over the past four years.
When she comes on television, I involuntarily cross my legs.
She comes across as overly ambitious. Clearly wasn’t picked for personal charm. She’s a very mean woman. The viper. She’s so invested in an insane view of this country that she’s amusing.
She’s extraordinarily charmless on the campaign trail. She is weirdly mechanical. I don’t think anybody knew how crazy this woman really is. Appeared to overreact, appeared to lose her temper. Abrasive … if she can warm things up and be a little more charming …
You know what? People don’t like her.
She is a disgrace to our country. Ruthlessly ambitious. What comes out of her mouth — and her Twitter feed — is so divorced from reality that no one who has made it past kindergarten should take it seriously. That jacket and coat don’t look like a girl who struggles.
Madwoman. Stone-cold crazy. Unhinged. Horrible … disgusting. I have watched her violence and craziness and, most importantly, WORDS, for far too long. Now tears?
That’s a real beauty, isn’t it?
Made waves. Took a swipe, swipes. Pushes, pressures, accuses. Rips. Slams. Screams.
Her name? Nasty woman.
She is divisive, and she’s focused on her celebrity. She’s incapable … a nasty, vindictive, horrible person. That’s why she gave a hummer … she would get on her knees for anybody, for any sort a power or money.
If anybody know her backside, and I mean in the Biblical, intimate sense …
Ho(e).
I apologize for their misunderstanding.
She’s an interesting woman. Despite the annoying nature of her nasally voice. She’s attractive, she’s a Black, she’s a female. A token. A racial arsonist. Living proof that the way we practice immigration has become dangerous. Loudly and viciously telling the people of the United States, the greatest and most powerful Nation on earth, how our government is to be run. She wants Americans to despise and fear each other. She is pleased when things burn.
Fucking bitch.
She has no idea what she is talking about. We call her Crazy Eyes … when we realized that she was fully off the deep end. Slept her way up … is not a woman who rose the way Americans teach their daughters to achieve. Her high-dollar hairdo. People with glass faces should not throw stones. She’s built nothing.
She could never be president. That would be an insult to our country.
If you enjoyed this essay, please share it with an undecided voter in your life, and please consider contributing to Women Helping Women.
To learn more about the Trump presidency, McSweeney’s is compiling a list of his misdeeds and is also tracking the Trump years, by the numbers.
Jen Davis writes in Northern Kentucky, where she’s enjoyed voting against Mitch McConnell four times. Her poetry has been nominated for Best of the Net, long-listed for the Over the Edge New Writer of the Year Award, and sprinkled across the interwebs in numerous wonderful journals.