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President Trump: what happened?
A few months ago I went to bed thinking that the UK would remain in the EU and the following morning brought referendum results to the contrary; earlier this week I went to a presentation at work about the implications for our EU coworkers. Last night was rather more shocking still: I had been actively watching polls and went to bed hoping that the Democrats might take the Senate. I awoke at around 5h with a splitting headache which now seems prescient given the advent of President Trump. Soon there will be books for sale purporting to tell us how this happened. I have taken painkillers but they haven't brought enough relief for me to be able to get back to sleep. Maybe if I write a little here it will help my mind to relax somewhat.
Even though I do not always vote Democrat I am most sorrowed by the idea of the Republicans holding the White House, Senate and House for at least four years. As for how it happened, perhaps xenophobic hatred is more in vogue than I had realized. We may now end up with a Supreme Court that gives us decades yet of substantial voter suppression. Indeed, the knowns are already unpalatable, plausibly including gutting social security, healthcare, regulation of investment banking and much more. Trump brings a host of unknowns too, especially regarding foreign policy, as if Russia weren't already adequately alarming of late.
It is so sad to know how affordable a real social safety net, effective green energy technologies, etc. all are, yet how they won't be pursued: I do believe that it is not hyperbole to claim that Republican rule will cause a lot of avoidable despair and death while hastening the storms and floods. Even beyond their rhetoric we have already seen actions like Republican states refusing Federal money to cover their poorest citizens' healthcare. I have seen nothing in their recent governance to suggest that they understand or care about people's fates.
I worry about the deeper implications. For instance: Is my worldview actually wrong? Could the electorate be correct to even come close to choosing Trump over Clinton, as many previously did Bush over Gore? Am I wrong to dismiss the reality in which many Republican voters live? I don't want to be guilty of being deceived by propaganda or being blinkered by my ideology in a similar way to how I suspect many others of being.
Also: Is there a serious sickness here that threatens society? The EU is plausibly on the path to breaking up and the US becomes increasingly politically polarized just as the Republicans prepare to increase economic inequality. It's not as if the US economy wasn't already improving well under Obama. For the progressive agenda is this just a fluctuation or did we reach some peak of happiness and cohesiveness a few decades ago and it's downhill from there? Was the repudiation of Fascism but temporary? Does the segmentation of modern media markets irresistibly foster partisan extremism?
The idea of a Trump administration feels surreal to me and, even as somebody who worked in the defense industry under Bush/Cheney, this is one of the first times I've not wanted to be living in the US. Perhaps my sojourn in Scotland is unexpectedly well-timed.
Update: Like Gore before her, I notice that Clinton does seem to be winning the popular vote, by a whisker. Perhaps not so much from the rural counties though, maybe little of recent years' economic recovery has reached them? But I doubt that explains what might happen in the coming elections in Austria and France. On reflection, difficult times like these make me want to be in the US all the more, to better understand what is happening and to be an albeit-tiny counterweight.
Even though I do not always vote Democrat I am most sorrowed by the idea of the Republicans holding the White House, Senate and House for at least four years. As for how it happened, perhaps xenophobic hatred is more in vogue than I had realized. We may now end up with a Supreme Court that gives us decades yet of substantial voter suppression. Indeed, the knowns are already unpalatable, plausibly including gutting social security, healthcare, regulation of investment banking and much more. Trump brings a host of unknowns too, especially regarding foreign policy, as if Russia weren't already adequately alarming of late.
It is so sad to know how affordable a real social safety net, effective green energy technologies, etc. all are, yet how they won't be pursued: I do believe that it is not hyperbole to claim that Republican rule will cause a lot of avoidable despair and death while hastening the storms and floods. Even beyond their rhetoric we have already seen actions like Republican states refusing Federal money to cover their poorest citizens' healthcare. I have seen nothing in their recent governance to suggest that they understand or care about people's fates.
I worry about the deeper implications. For instance: Is my worldview actually wrong? Could the electorate be correct to even come close to choosing Trump over Clinton, as many previously did Bush over Gore? Am I wrong to dismiss the reality in which many Republican voters live? I don't want to be guilty of being deceived by propaganda or being blinkered by my ideology in a similar way to how I suspect many others of being.
Also: Is there a serious sickness here that threatens society? The EU is plausibly on the path to breaking up and the US becomes increasingly politically polarized just as the Republicans prepare to increase economic inequality. It's not as if the US economy wasn't already improving well under Obama. For the progressive agenda is this just a fluctuation or did we reach some peak of happiness and cohesiveness a few decades ago and it's downhill from there? Was the repudiation of Fascism but temporary? Does the segmentation of modern media markets irresistibly foster partisan extremism?
The idea of a Trump administration feels surreal to me and, even as somebody who worked in the defense industry under Bush/Cheney, this is one of the first times I've not wanted to be living in the US. Perhaps my sojourn in Scotland is unexpectedly well-timed.
Update: Like Gore before her, I notice that Clinton does seem to be winning the popular vote, by a whisker. Perhaps not so much from the rural counties though, maybe little of recent years' economic recovery has reached them? But I doubt that explains what might happen in the coming elections in Austria and France. On reflection, difficult times like these make me want to be in the US all the more, to better understand what is happening and to be an albeit-tiny counterweight.
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