On November 5th, America faced a turning point. The ability of We the People to make a positive choice–to begin what would be a necessary and arduous process of rehabilitating our democratic republic–was constrained by structural elements: obsolete electoral mechanisms, widespread civic illiteracy, economic unfairness, and an information environment littered with massive amounts of propaganda.
All of which fed age-old bigotries and hatreds.
When Trump won, We the People lost the America of our Founders’ aspirations, at least temporarily. That win–narrow as it was (somewhere between one and two percentage points, with approximately a third of eligible voters not bothering to go to the polls)–suggests that the next few years will see a ferocious assault on current norms of governance–on civil servants, on ethics, on science, on the belief that government should serve the public interest rather than further enrich the already-privileged.
Given what we already know about Trump and the disordered and personally-ambitious sycophants surrounding him, we are also likely to see an administration characterized–and, to an extent, stymied–by back-biting and internal struggles for influence. Given Trump’s demonstrable disinclination to do actual work, and his equally obvious lack of even the most basic understanding of how the American government operates, decision-making will be exercised by the quarrelsome and largely unqualified theocrats and neo-fascists with whom he is stocking his administration.
So the next few years will be ugly, and a lot of people will get hurt. The economy Joe Biden rescued, currently the strongest in the world, will certainly suffer. If Trump actually imposes his beloved tariffs, he will tank the excellent economy he is inheriting, which will hurt everyone. If he manages his massive deportation plan, crops will rot in the fields, grocery prices will skyrocket, and small businesses– restaurants, landscapers, builders and others–will be unable to find workers.
The next few years will see setbacks in the fight against climate change. If nutcase RFK, Jr. is given any role in public health, a lot of people will die unnecessarily. The very worst outcomes are likely to be global. (All those people thinking about leaving the country don’t seem to understand that–with Trump in the White House–no place will be safe.) Ukraine will be handed over to Putin, and he and other autocrats will no longer fear NATO.
Most ironic: the pro-Palestinian voters who deserted Harris because they disagreed with the Biden Administration’s Israel policies will discover that they’ve elected Netanyahu’s best friend. Trump has already chosen an ambassador to Israel–Mike Huckabee–who supports Israel annexing the West Bank, resettling Gaza with Israeli citizens, and has said that there “isn’t such a thing” as a Palestinian.
All of which brings us back to THE question: what should the reality-based community be doing while these tragedies (and some farces) play out?
We can certainly signal our disapproval–we can march, boycott companies that supported Trump (although a preliminary google search suggests that much of the billionaire class that donated to him are folks we’ve never heard of, or in the alternative, brands like Tesla that most Americans lack the resources to purchase anyway…), perhaps even mount targeted strikes.
We can stop ignoring the widespread media disinformation network–sending people like Pete Buttigieg to engage on their turf, and creating social media campaigns designed to penetrate the right-wing bubble. Popular entertainers–celebrities, movie and television producers, and other “influencers” should mount campaigns focused on combating propaganda.
And we can–and must–address the “to do” list to which I’ve previously alluded: identifying the structural issues that brought us to this point, the constitutional and policy changes that would ameliorate those problems, and figuring out how to implement those necessary changes when Trumpism has crashed and burned.
Because it will crash and burn. A movement built on denial of reality cannot change that reality. The effects of climate change have become too obvious and widespread to ignore, and failing to fund FEMA is unlikely to be a welcome response. Tariffs are a tax on the American consumer that will engender widespread pain and resentment. The assaults on women’s autonomy and LGBTQ+ rights will continue to generate backlash.
MAGA represents the triumph of a fundamentalist theocratic underground that has been active for decades. During the time it took to eke out a slim victory, however, the culture has been changing. A third of Americans have left organized religion. Marriages between people of different races and religions have proliferated. Workplaces have diversified. Attitudes have changed. Harris may have lost this election, but she was 100% correct when she declared that we are not going back.
Right now, we need a roadmap of how to go forward.
A clearer picture of this past election needs to be drawn. The numbers paint a different picture of what happened than is being presented by pundits and bloggers alike.
Here are the numbers: Of the people who voted for Biden back in 2020 a massive 8,044,114 did not vote for Harris. Did they all switch and vote for Trump? NO! He only got 1,908,547 more votes in 2024 than he did in 2020. So where did those Biden voters go? They didn’t go to the polls, that’s for sure. And that leaves the only question to be answered. WHY? To answer that question perhaps we need to be respectfully asking those previous Democrat voters why they didn’t vote. Until I can see some serious research on that I will not be joining in on condemning any one person or group for this election failure.
Because the commentariat ( and the DP itself).of this very forum refuses to acknowledge how the DNC and its acolytes have alienated former DP voters.
I tried to warn you– but I was met with adhominems et al.
The party can never fail the people,only the people can fail the party.
Ian, please show your evidence for your assumption that the DNC alienated voters. Nothing today is as simple as your simplicity implies. You appear to have little or no clue about what the electorate thinks.
Yes, Trump and the Republicans won all the tight races this time, but the utter incompetence, corruption and bigotry of all Republicans will cause our government to fail. Listen to Steve Bannon the Leninist who wants to destroy the government he doesn’t understand and replace it with … uh, no comment.
Misogyny and racism sunk Harris. The rest of this is just noise.
Looking at the election more in economic and geopolitical terms, I wonder about the Trump administration reaction to the new deep water port constructed by China in the city of Chancay, Peru? This $3.2B project, part of Xi’s Belt and Road Initiative, enables cutting shipping times by 10 to 20 days, and accommodating ships too large for the Panama Canal.
Per a 10/14/24 WAPO article on the topic, Peru’s annual trade with the U.S. is $21B, while Peru’s trade with China is $36B. It’s difficult to see how the Trump administration could order a stop to the Chancay port project, as they did with the Nordstream 2 project.
It seems that while the U.S. has invested heavily in the Ukraine War, commodities in the Donbas, and attempting to topple Russia, the Chinese have had a focus on world trade. The Chinese appear to be getting more for their modest $3.2B Peru transportation investment than the U.S. expects to receive from its Ukraine commitment.
Calling Bannon a Leninist may be disparaging Lenin beyond what he deserves.
Theresa, I’m rather amazed at the statistic you present. That’s a huge number of people abandoning the very things it would appear they voted for 4 years ago!
The Trumpets craziness is going to be massive, and the reality based folk will have to keep reminding the general public about the erosion of governance as it happens, so that more people, hopefully, will recognize, and remember what it used to be…not perfect, but not odious. The disorientation I believe Trump will cause could, otherwise, be the final nail in the Republic’s coffin. And, yes, people will indeed be delivered of the oh so difficult duty of voting.
First, let’s advocate for a federal law that does not allow canvassing or “running” for election for president 3 years before the election. Second, let’s push for reforming how money can be raised for elections -Congress should address Citizens United’s effect on elections and reduce the influence of billionaires. Shameful what Musk seemed to be able to do. Last and the most important thing is to educate the public about authoritarianism, about issues, about history. Trump will eventually be hoist with his own petard (Shakespeare) because his own narcissism is the flaw that will bring him down (Greek hubris). In the meantime, contact Todd Young urging him to put some sense back into the Republican party. Jim Banks is a waste of time.
There are politics, and there is governance.
Politics is advertising a person applying for a specific position, like these days when professionals use LinkedIn.com.
Govern is what those hired do after they are hired.
Trump started politicking around 2011 when he went public by being a “birther” about President Obama. He has always been a headline grabber.
Kamala for President almost caught him for President in 100 days.
Now that he’s been hired as President, Trump has started disassembling the Federal Government, which has grown the business of governing states that have been united for 250 years.
He has begun disassembly by hiring a cabinet based on one criterion: loyalty to him above country.
He will fail to govern.
Gordon is spot on with his microshot of China versus the US over the past decade. It’s not just in Ukraine and Peru; it’s in the Global South, including Africa. China is investing wisely while the US has been expanding militarily. Geopolitically, the US refuses to collaborate because it wants to dominate others. It’s still playing by post-WW2 rules. The dollar has suffered.
As for NATO, it needs to collapse. It is as dysfunctional as the EU – both are bureaucracies run by unelected neocons of the oligarchy and military-industrial complex. Russia and Ukraine should have ended in 2022, but Boris Johnson (UK) and the US wouldn’t allow it.
With regard to Theresa’s question, the DNC’s plans for global and national policies haven’t helped the average American. While Biden claimed trickle-down economics hasn’t worked, his plans were pure neoliberalism or trickle-down. He invested trillions into the military-industrial complex and oligarchy. A lot of his investments into high-tech hubs are being sucked up by existing US firms who’ve invested abroad and will bring their companies back to America with lots of foreign workers because US workers aren’t trained for the work.
Trump will be very good for the oligarchy by lowering their taxes.
Biden is a neocon and Zionist, and his policy decisions did not jive with a big chunk of registered Democrats, especially progressives. Sorry, but there are not enough abortion-minded women, gays, transgenders, blacks, and Coastal Elites (identity politics) to make up a mass movement in this country. Harris failed to separate herself from Biden, which was her biggest mistake. A simple review of the red-blue post-election map tells the story very well.
Consider this, if you will, even if our economy collapses, the tRump voters will be convinced that it’s all the fault of the Democrats. He’ll be the victim of vengeful cat ladies, or immigrants from s-hole countries who have vacated their good “black jobs”, to undermine the farm and hospitality economies.
As a bonus, Magats will know that those immigrants are now coming for their jobs AND that this whole anti-American project has been funded by George Soros.
Sheila and Others – I didn’t vote for Harris – in California (for the opposite party’s reasons) – my vote didn’t matter. It almost ended my 22 year relationship with my spouse who is Black, Female, Queer Identified – and the birth mother of our 28 year old – GenderNonBinary Child (my step-).
Most ironic: the pro-Palestinian voters who deserted Harris because they disagreed with the Biden Administration’s Israel policies will discover that they’ve elected Netanyahu’s best friend. Trump has already chosen an ambassador to Israel–Mike Huckabee–who supports Israel annexing the West Bank, resettling Gaza with Israeli citizens, and has said that there “isn’t such a thing” as a Palestinian.
Sheila and others – I’m not blind to Fascism – and the dangers of Trump (already – not just starting January 20th, 2025).
Yesterday I completed a (partial) reaction to a previous recent writing of yours – wanting to explore more – of the “Why” – looking at the failures of the Democrats and the Harris Election Campaign – positing that Trump voters are not necessarily “stupid” or “uneducated” or similar (though some are of course) – see: https://medium.com/@marxgeo/trump-y-knot-043bd0f30b71 or: https://www.georgemarx.org/2024/11/trump-y-knot.html
Yesterday I heard Rebecca Traister (the interview may be available to all shortly – I can help others find it if interested) – interviewed by Peter Beinart (who I’d highly recommend). I believe the interview is already available to all – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebecca_Traister . Traister is a noted Feminist – strongly supportive of Women – Abortion etc – and her story of the Harris Campaign – helped me deepen my knowledge. I would note sources such as Democracy Now – https://www.democracynow.org/ + Common Dreams – https://www.commondreams.org/ + just mention names – beyond those I’ve stated already in random order: Rashid Khalidi, Norman Soloman, John Mearsheimer, Avi Shlaim, ta-nahesi coates, Mitchell Plitnick, Chris Hedges, Paul Kivel, Peggy McIntosh – and note: The Privilege Institute’s – White Privilege Conference – next one: March 27-29, 2025 (Hartford, CT) and the Annual – Socialism Conferences – sponsored – by Haymarket Books – in Chicago – Labor Day Weekend every year – for me personally – White Men for Racial Justice – wmrj.org – THE Best for white men such as myself, Caring White Men – support group, – and even: “LovingTrustingGroup” – just started 13 days ago – anyone can reach (out) to me anytime – my email address is my last name + “geo” – at: gmail – and my main blog is: GeorgeMarx.org . Thanks! – West Lafayette, IN “bred”
Nobody here, and almost nobody elsewhere, is mentioning all of the voter purging that has been going on for the past four years, and all the other methods of blocking votes. The number of lawsuits in so many states in the last couple of months to block various chunks of votes from being counted was non-stop.
In 2020 when Covid hit in a presidential election year, all stops were pulled out to ensure an election. And after the results, much that had been successfully put into place was yanked back, and those efforts to cut back were augmented in additional directions.
How successful all those efforts to prevent and discourage voting is not even being taken into account in all these analyses of the election.
Maybe some of the loudest anti-immigrant republicans will rush to apply for the jobs they claim the immigrants have stolen from Americans because we all dream of making our living in those easy high wage jobs in fast food restaurants, landscape maintenance, harvesting crops by hand, livestock slaughter facilities, etc., etc.
Voter purges are a source of Democrat anxiety, but I don’t think it’s that prevalent. Most purges eliminate dead or inactive voters or those who fail to respond to repeated attempts to clarify voters’ addresses.
I equate this to the anxiety of Republicans claiming that illegals are voting against Republicans. There is no evidence of fraud for either one. I’ve not heard of any examples where a voter was denied his right to vote, nor have I heard about a massive voting bloc of illegals.
https://truthout.org/articles/10-states-purged-over-19-million-voters-between-2020-and-2022-electoral-cycles/
I just gave orders to sell what little stock I have in preparation for the upcoming crash and depression. 2025 may be a repeat of 1929 and we know what followed that.
Leslie. Remember that in the run up to 2016 election “experts” predicted a stock market crash if Trump was elected. Instead, the markets went up pretty dramatically. I suggest you hedge your bets.
The problem with cashing out of the stock market is that Trump’s announced economic policies are likely to bring on high inflation as well as a business slowdown, hurting anyone who holds cash. I’ve also heard speculation that this might actually be The Plan: to make cash undesirable or unusable, so as to enrich cryptocurrency speculators and manipulators. There’s a lot of money to be grifted by controlling the de-facto money supply.
Good piece, summed it up. Thank you.
WADR – “Popular entertainers–celebrities, movie and television producers, and other “influencers” should mount campaigns focused on combating propaganda.”
Look at what the engaging with these folks did for the DEMS in the election. “Popular” is divided into 1,000 mini-cultures. Who is popular with some is not so with others. Many feel that we are obsessed with celebrity and are turned off by all uses of it. Not sure this is something worth doing.
Note on the voter purge – I tried to help a purged voter – she was dead, or at least one of the four people with whom she shared a name was dead – she was purged and didn’t want to deal with having to go down to the Election Board to validate her existence for a Provisional Ballot – she is one “dead” voter who didn’t vote – Our vote center had 1,326 votes, so I don’t suspect this was a big issue in Indiana, but elsewhere? We know that targeted voter purges have been conducted by Republicans.