To frame the very reality that Donald Trump just beat Vice President Kamala Harris in the election last night: In a 2015 conversation with astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson, former president Bill Clinton described his use of a rock brought back from the moon landing in 1969 to keep perspective.
“...When we’d have Republicans and Democrats or people on two sides of any issue, and they’d start getting out of control,” said Clinton, ‘I’d say ‘Wait! You see that moon rock? It’s 3.6 billion years old. Now we’re all just passing through here and we don’t have very much time, so let’s calm down and figure out what the right thing to do is.’ “
You’re probably far more concerned about the outcome of the 2024 presidential election than you are moon rocks. But the point Clinton was making is that despite all of the issues that would come to his desk, that rock symbolized something that was older than any of us could conceive and it’s still here.
So as Black folks nervously come to the realization that Trump is our next president...again, we also should try to keep things in perspective. Most of us wanted to see Harris victorious and are terrified of what might happen now that we know she is not. There are even some who voted for Trump who felt the same. Either way, there are some things we can all do to keep ourselves grounded.
Fix Your Face
First, don’t panic. The initial reaction to hearing that the election didn’t go the way we wanted will likely be shock, sadness and even grief. Lots of us put our hopes into Harris and envisioned the next four years with her. In any instance of tragedy — be it in our family, community or nationally — the worst thing we can do is fall into a collective state of fear.
It’s okay to feel disappointed and dejected...it’s not okay to resort to dangerous rhetoric, taking violent action or listen to misinformation. Our grandmothers were right when they scolded us when we were upset: “Fix your face.”
Don’t Play the Blame Game
There has never been any time when one group of Black people made things better by blaming another group when things go wrong. During a loss, people love to point fingers at others, accusing them of some malfeasance or misfeasance, but that gets us nowhere.
Sure, we can take an introspective look and figure out what went wrong. That’s team strategy. But the obvious move is to build on your strengths and work on your weaknesses. Going into a litany of “it’s their fault” is like shooting craps on the point roll with one die and the point is 10 – you can’t win.
Counterpunch
Trump’s Day One plan is clear: He is going to witch hunt migrants, impose economy devastating tariffs and sic the military on citizens...not to mention the madness of Project 2025. The best plan is to figure out a counterpunch, and the most obvious place would be the 2026 midterms.
If the House remains under MAGA Republican control, we could boost better candidates. If the Senate is kept Democratic, and the House flips, Trump’s congressional power deflates. This means no more of his federal judges, his policies would not pass, and he could do no more damage to the Supreme Court. It would set us up nicely for 2028.
This brings things to a final point. 2028 is coming. So is 2032. So is 2036. Time will move on. Things will change. Others won’t. In a century only a handful of you reading this will be around. But Black people, if nothing else, have become experts at surviving everything America has thrown at us.
So many more things will happen in our lives, good and bad. But the moon, my friends, will still be there.
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Madison J. Gray is a New York-based journalist. He blogs at www.starkravingmadison.com.