It’s that scary time of year again when we are reminded that women’s power is so threatening to men they have created ugly caricatures of us in order to keep us oppressed.

I’m talking, of course, of Election Day.

If you thought I meant Halloween, I understand the confusion. Halloween is the time of year we celebrate our ability to frighten men by appearing to be a witch, as opposed to the rest of the year when we constantly apologize for doing so. And Election Day is the day they should fear us; the day when we could summon all the power of being a woman, casting a spell by casting a vote that could drive all the evil spirits out of government. Of course, evil spirits do not go quietly and they use quite a bit of sorcery themselves in the form of voter suppression, gerrymandering, and social media voodoo courtesy of their pact made with Vladimir Beezlebub. In this modern retelling, Trump Tower appears to be the mythical crossroads where the veil between the two worlds of right and wrong is just thin enough that you can make such a deal with the Devil.
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Here in America, we just tell them to go away and start knitting. They are mocked, ridiculed and demonized, all for having the sheer gall to still be alive with experience and knowledge to lead. Earlier this month at a candidates’ debate in Virginia, Republican Congressman Dave Brat repeated the name “Nancy Pelosi” at challenger Abigail Spanberger like it was some sort of magical incantation. It was like he thought Nancy Pelosi was “Beetlejuice” and if he said the name out loud enough she would show up to be burned in person instead of just in effigy. Senator Dianne Feinstein, up for re-election in California and frequently criticized for being too old, was kindly called “not exactly the Wicked Witch of the West,” by a right-wing blog. And Congresswoman Maxine Waters who has endured an endless stream of abuse and threats has most recently had her head placed onto the body of horror movie psychopath Michael Myers with the accompanying hashtag #UncivilDemocrats, just days before being sent not one but two bombs.

Of course, it’s not just older women who are being charged with the vulgar offense of fighting injustice. In today’s culture, any woman who steps up to speak truth to power faces the social media tribunal, doxxing, and threats of rape and death. Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, Emma Gonzalez, Jemele Hill, Moira Donegan, All of Louis C.K.’s accusers. The list goes on but the effect is clear: Do everything you can to discredit these women and if you can’t, at least make them so fearful that a woman will think twice before speaking up in the future. Like the age-old dunk test for witches—if we survived we were a witch and killed and if we drowned we were “vindicated” yet dead—the men enforcing our patriarchal culture have created a vicious circle where we are unable to ever get justice or even sound the alarm so that others may protect themselves.

In a diabolical move straight out of the Koch Brothers’ Necronomicon not only are women still treated as witches in an effort to diminish our political power, but our oppressors have also cast themselves as the persecuted victims. Trump and many other Republicans frequently refer to the Mueller probe into Russia’s interference in our election as a “witch hunt.” When protesters confronted him about his support for accused sexual assaulter Brett Kavanaugh, Lindsey Graham responded, “Why don’t we dunk him in water and see if he floats?” Just two years ago they were literally chanting “Bern The Witch,” at Bernie Sanders rallies and putting it on merchandise along with a photo of Hillary Clinton riding a broom. In fact, Clinton is still so absolutely terrifying to men that they keep invoking her image like a scarecrow at harvest time. She is the answer to everything they can’t defend: “What about Hillary?” and “Lock Her Up,” replacing the “No comment” response, even though she holds no office nor is running for one. And now they are literally trying to burn her alive: just last week she was sent a pipe bomb care of her Chappaqua home. But I understand their fears: They have spent over 30 years dunking her in the water and still, she floats.