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Roger Marolt: Tears of sadness or tears of joy, a weepy Wednesday either way

Roger Marolt
Cluster Phobic
Roger Marolt for the Snowmass Sun
Kelsey Brunner/Snowmass Sun

What happened last night? You know. I don’t. I submitted this review before the last act of the 2020 election season. You’re reading it after the curtain has dropped. I have to choose my words carefully. You can be merciless with yours. You may be a gloating. I don’t dare.

It’s no secret I wanted Joe Biden to win. He is the better person. I mean “better” by viewing him through a lens that blocks poor character and moral deficiency. Through this lens I see Biden pretty much the way he has presented himself throughout his campaign and the 47 years he has served in high office in the United States. With Donald Trump, I see nothing through this filter, not a ghost, not even the vaguest outline of a decency.

I hope Trump has not been re-elected as president. I simply do not see how this country can recover its majesty with leadership that appears mean-spirited, at best, and cruelly indifferent to the dignity of humanness in all its various shapes, colors and ideologies, as it appears to have manifested in intensity over the past four years.



I read an article Friday where an economist and a pollster each predicted a Trump victory by differing methodologies. In a moment I cannot explain and which I never saw coming, my eyes teared as I read. I didn’t take the predictions like a man, I reacted as a human. It was like a flashback to the morning after the election in 2016, except I did not cry that day. I couldn’t. I was too stunned, too immersed in disbelief. My eyes remained as dry as my soul felt.

I hope I am celebrating as you read this, rejoicing in the unity that Biden has at least promised as one of his main goals during his presidency. That is the biggest issue. Taxes, foreign policy and all the other items on every political agenda are important, but the recent past has convinced me that all these things begin to look dingy under the bright lights of dignity and character.




They might turn out to be only words that Biden spoke, but at least he spoke them. We never got even a roundabout hint at caring about every single American from Trump. He pretends to like his constituency. He hated me from day one and I felt it every single moment. I duck my head into my collar against the chill thinking how others, even more different from him than I, felt.

Don’t worry if I am celebrating and you are a fan of Trump. I am not celebrating in the in-your-face way he would. I am celebrating in a relieved way, the way in which I picture you and I may again live without suspicion of each other being red or blue and instead focus on family, friends and the pursuit of happiness in our lives across the expanse of common ground we daily tread. I will be celebrating the return of the American flag as a unifying symbol for all of us, and by this I mean all of us in the world, in character with history. It is time to tighten the stitching bonding the stars with the stripes, so that it may fly high in the strongest headwinds and remain vibrantly reassuring from great distances.

If Trump has won, I will pray. I don’t anticipate tears this time, but who knows. Surprise’s cover has been blown. I have grown accustomed to expect the unexpected, to realize the unbelievable can unfold in front of me. Tears relieve acute pain. A Trump win will be the continuance of a deep, dull ache that I can distract myself from with family and friends or by taking a long walk amid the dangers of wilderness fully predictable by science and observation.

No matter what happens, I take comfort in the outcomes of the local elections. I am confident we did right by our children by protecting and insuring their futures through funding education. Thankfully, this is a given in our community.

I also am pleased with those filling open seats of local elected offices. We can’t go wrong. It was a field of all good people, friends and neighbors, who ran the races. Fortune has always smiled on us in this regard. With gratitude and awe I thank all the candidates. It is not difficult to lead a great community, but it does take an incredible amount of work and commitment. Thanks!

Roger Marolt is looking forward to the historical accounts of the Trump presidency. They won’t be pretty, but they ought to be a pretty good reading.

Email at roger@maroltllp.com.