They built that. We watched.

White liberals really embarrassed ourselves in 2016 by being blindsided by the level of support for Donald Trump. "We didn't think so many Americans would actually vote for an ignorant racist!" we said. Voters of color knew better and shook their heads at our completely willful ignorance.

Then we continued to show our asses via the white media's collective insistence that support for Trump was a symptom of "economic anxiety," and not racism. White liberals bought it, and we filled op eds and airwaves to overflowing with hand-wringing about appealing to the "white working class.""Why can't they see that Democratic policies benefit workers more?" we wail, again and again and again, while never stopping to consider that those voters might just be motivated by something other than economic policy. Again, voters of color shake their heads at us and note that giving white people the benefit of the doubt is a luxury that only white people can afford.

The latest manifestation of white liberal denial is this insistence that GOP politicians and voters are turning against Trump. We scan the news for glimmers of defection and hold them aloft as if they were moral victories, when in fact they're merely isolated desertions born of distaste - not for the agenda, but for the man who's taking all the credit for it. "He's gone too far, even for them!" we yell into the void of reason and ethics, as Gallup publishes a poll that shows GOP approval for our president at 90%.

Listen. He has not gone too far for them. His supporters are not turning against him. They are not moved by the bullet-ridden bodies of high-schoolers. They are not moved by unarmed citizens treated like enemies on a battlefield. They are not moved by little brown children in cages. The most enduring truth of 2016 is that fully half of our voting public is deplorable, and wants to inflict harm upon the other half. They are racist, yes, and they are so much more. They are willing to destroy the constraints of governance in order to empower a dictator who will persecute the people they hate. And they won't turn back from their course on their own. We cannot convert or reason with them, we can only use what is left of our democracy to stop them. 

Time's up

On Twitter I've learned that I can pretty much set my watch by dudes derping into my mentions with their random horseshit. Because god forbid a woman assert something on the internet.
I love my boyfriend and of course all the men that I'm friends with, and a few - very few - known male advocates for women and other disenfranchised people.
But right now as far as I'm concerned the rest of you guys can pretty much show up for your assignments in the pits of hell.
Look at what happened at the Golden Globes. Yeah, I'm going to draw a parallel between a Hollywood awards show and the real world. One male winner - one! - talked about racism in the industry and in doing so made reference to the official "Time's Up" theme of the evening, and the rest either could not be bothered, didn't care, or were actively trying to avoid scrutiny on the subject (cough! cough! James Franco! cough!).
It was all too reminiscent of my experience on Facebook and other social media, where men, even some of my very awesome male friends, leave the feminist activism to the womens while they post about literally everything else. Where they leave women high and dry on their threads while their asshole male friends wax misogynistic about which women are whores and which ones are crazy and which ones are liars and which ones are fat and which ones are gross and old and which ones it's okay to call an ugly cunt because they are conservative.
A male friend of mine, who no doubt considers himself "one of the good ones," assured me that he is protecting his daughter from sexism because he and his wife (that is, his wife) have chosen a progressive preschool and are very careful about her playdates.
I'm not fucking kidding.
What's worse - and this is way, way, worse - he doesn't understand how offensive that belief is.
To think that sexism can be avoided so easily is to fundamentally, deliberately, and inexplicably refuse to understand what sexism is, and to misunderstand through such astounding lack of mental effort is a profound fucking insult to every woman who has struggled against the pervasive and insidious effects of sexism and misogyny every fucking day of her fucking life. I've spent my entire time on earth trying to extricate and protect myself from this bullshit system of judgement and oppression, but you've solved it by avoiding little Jason at the Montessori? Go fuck yourself.
In short, guys, you need to do WAY better. To start with, if the words "systemic sexism" furrow your brow, read a fucking book. Don't just waddle through social media in ignorance while asking female friends to explain to you your dumbass assumptions. Then, when you see sexism/misogyny at work, fucking call that shit out. Don't assume that because you're a man that it's HER job to beat back all the shitty ignorant arguments your friends are heaping upon her. We all perpetuate sexism, but men benefit from it, so it's YOUR FUCKING JOB TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT.
I can't tell you how many times I've come away from an online discussion literally shaking with fury because some man I used to admire averted his eyes while his friends took a deep dive into the misogyny pool. I'm tired of these kind of betrayals. I am bone fucking tired.