Trying to get over post traumatic election disorder has been very difficult for me. Like many of you, I’ve had to cope with roiling emotions. Like many of you, I’m trying to decide how best to move forward.

First the positive. I encourage us to celebrate the victory of Governor Roy Cooper. I’m glad, too, that we will retain a Democratic attorney general with Josh Stein’s win and that African American Mike Morgan succeeded in becoming a North Carolina Supreme Court justice. Wow, this is good! There is hope that North Carolina can begin to restore its capacity to be seen as a compassionate, inclusive society. 

My work brings me into diverse audiences around the country. I can now more affirmatively say, “The citizens of North Carolina are beginning to push back against discrimination and the mean-spirited political actions that were beginning to define the state.” 

As for the US election of Donald Trump, that’s another story! It’s mind boggling that he lost by 2.5 million and still won … or did he? Along with thousands of others, I have been emailing members of the Electoral College trying to get them not to vote for him on Dec. 19. I was also one of the nearly five million people who signed a petition to help sway them. It feels like the Cuban Missile Crisis… as the 19th approaches can we get enough of them to change their minds? A few are doing so … a few days are left. There’s hope … I hope.

If not, then, how quickly can Trump be impeached? I know that’s on many people’s minds. It will take a majority of the House and a two-thirds vote of the Senate to succeed.

Whether or not that works, it’s time now to begin working to stop his re-election in four years. As he continues to damage the US psyche, I think we will begin to see leadership emerge that can take him on, perhaps even a leader like our Roy Cooper? Elizabeth Warren from Massachusetts would also have my vote. 

We have elected a dangerous man for our highest post … We are better than that. It was a mistake largely fueled by manipulated, fake news. We need to learn from our mistakes and go forward. We will be joined by many of his followers who are already beginning to see that he used them and is beginning to forget them.

I am optimistic. What other choice do I have? We cannot give up! Or give in …

~ Virgil Stucker, Tryon, N.C.