Isabel Framer camped out on her couch until 4 a.m. Wednesday watching the election results come in on three computer monitors and a television.
As the results began to turn, and it was clear her candidate Hillary Clinton was in trouble, Framer watched her Twitter feed turn ugly.
Bernie Sanders supporters lobbed angry bombs at Clinton backers, blaming them for the impending loss. Emboldened Donald Trump fans, meanwhile, began taunting Latinos, saying they should cross the southern border and “Make Mexico Great Again.”
The acrimony was too much. Framer, 59, of Copley Township, had to disconnect from Twitter.
“I saw all the hurt,” Framer said. “But it was the anger that concerned me the most.”
How, Framer wondered, could such a divided nation talk to each other after Trump’s unexpected victory?
It won’t be easy, political and social observers say. But it’s necessary, whether voters — nearly equally split between Trump and Clinton — are chatting in the office kitchen, sharing beers at the corner bar or gathered around a turkey for Thanksgiving,
“People aren’t hearing each other. They’re not listening,” said Ted Celeste, a former state representative from Ohio now with the National Institute of Civil Discourse.
Celeste said he saw a tweet from a former Ohio police officer that used a couple of derogatory terms toward Clinton.
“My instinct was to find that officer and shake the person by the neck. But that’s not OK,” Celeste said. “We’ve got to find a way to make this work.”
Trump and Clinton made the first moves.
In his victory speech, Trump abandoned his nickname for Clinton — “Crooked Hillary” — and instead said Americans owed her “a major debt of gratitude for her service to our country.” Trump also reached out to those who opposed him, saying he would seek their guidance to unite the country and pledging “to every citizen of our land that I will be president for all Americans.”
Clinton, meanwhile, acknowledged the pain of the loss, but told her supporters “we owe [Trump] an open mind and a chance to lead.”
Messages of faith
Between the speeches, faith leaders from across the area gathered for the quarterly Love Akron breakfast.
Mark Ford, executive director of Love Action, said he told the group they needed to soothe the divide that’s tearing at the nation.
“If your candidate won, this is not time for gloating, high-fives or pats on the back. It’s time to humble ourselves,” Ford later recounted. “It’s time for spiritual leaders to step up and stop the brouhaha of politics, religion and race.”
This is a teaching moment, an opportunity to find common ground even when there seems to be little to none, Ford said.
Paul Levy, a professor who chairs the University of Akron’s Psychology Department, said those conversations can be difficult and require listening to learn where someone’s coming from and what formed those ideas.
Some people might not be ready to talk, he said. They might need time to decompress from the election.
“Today, I sent a text to my wife, telling her I was getting a flu shot, going to the student union for lunch and using my iPad to read only about baseball,” he said. “My resources are depleted.”
Although it may seem like America’s never been so divided, it has been worse, said John Green, who directs the Ray C. Bliss Institute of Applied Politics at UA.
In 1860, Americans were on the verge of a Civil War that left the country with regional, cultural and racial divides that bedevil the nation today, he said.
And a century later, in 1968, Americans were fighting Vietnam on the heels of the civil-rights movements.
“I was just a kid then, but I can remember how tense personal relationships were,” Green said. “Those divides ran through families. My mother and lots of mothers had a rule: Not talking politics at the dinner table.”
That tension eased, Green said. He predicted today’s will, too.
Recalling Nixon
Dave McCann, 61, of Akron, was 13 in 1968 and it helped shape his life, he said, quoting Richard Nixon’s speech accepting the Republican nomination for president that year.
“Let us build bridges, my friends, build bridges to human dignity across that gulf that separates black America from white America,” Nixon said.
Nothing has changed, said McCann, a Trump supporter.
“Let us build those bridges, too,” he said.
McCann said that inspired him to work in public service. He spent most of his career working for Summit County government, often running interference between his Republican party and the Democrats.
On Wednesday, he said he’s not sure how to reconnect with friends now who voted for Clinton.
“I think it’s too early. they’re feeling bad, but we’ve all been there,” he said.
McCann said he has no intention of gloating, but his candidate and his party won and he wants them to move forward and get what he wants done.
“I hope these friends who supported Clinton will also have a degree of empathy for how I feel,” he said.
Amanda Garrett can be reached at 330-996-3725 or agarrett@thebeaconjournal.com.