On the morning of November 7th 2020, four years after the election of Donald Trump, the defeat of the incumbent president by now President-Elect Joe Biden was announced. The importance of this historic win cannot be overstated. The wide margins in both the electoral college and popular vote reflect an American repudiation of fascism in general and Trumpism in particular, and represent a significant mandate for change.
There are many problems still to solve, and the tens of millions of people who voted for Trump still exist, and it remains to be seen how the Republican party will react in the wake of this loss. But we can take today as a day of celebration and relief. We hope that Trump will graciously leave office; we hope that the Democratic party will win control of the Senate via the Georgia runoff elections to be held in January; we hope that we can now properly address the pandemic and current economic crisis; we hope that we can collectively begin to heal after four years of trauma, pain, outrage and death; we hope that we can begin the process of reforming our democracy to ensure that no one like Trump can ever be elected again by a minority of the American people. All our hopes have a chance now. But for today, for now, this is enough.
On a personal note, I founded Torchlight Media almost four years ago, shortly after Trump’s inauguration. Dozens of concerned citizens decided we could do a better job reporting the news than Breitbart and the other conservative propaganda outlets being given access to White House press conferences. I believe we achieved that, and more. We participated in the great project of American democracy and fought in the same battle this country has been fighting since its inception: against cruelty and division, and for equality, tolerance, the rule of law, and the better angels of our nation’s nature. I want to personally thank each and every writer, editor, artist, and staff member of this organization for doing everything you could during this incredibly difficult time. I am immensely proud of the work we have done together. We covered historic events with quality reporting in real time; we shed light on stories, people and government agencies that were underreported; we shared the news without a false appeal to centrism and “non-bias” by acknowledging the difference between facts and lies. We told the truth to the best of our ability. Today the truth won. I know in some small way that we contributed to that victory.
There are more battles to come, but it won’t be the same Torchlight fighting them. I have decided to step down as editor-in-chief. I could not be happier for my team, some of whom may keep the torch lit here, and all of whom I know will continue the fight somewhere.
Finally, I want to thank you for reading us, following us, supporting us, sharing our stories. Every one of you helped to keep us going. Please keep supporting truth and the people who report it.
