The Bad Guys Won. It is what it is.
What's next?
November 6, 2024. 9 am. Donald Trump won the popular vote and the electoral vote this time. The electorate has opted for the less flashy shell game being run by the worst elements of modern day capitalism.
In 2016, the response from progressives and liberals was “resistance.” Millions of people marched, Democratic politicians made brave speeches, and too many of us assumed that our righteousness would win out as history inevitably turned toward justice.
History has arrived, and brought with it the reality that authoritarianism is ascendent. This election was a critical juncture, not unlike those surrounding the civil war and the great depression.
The losers of those battles, with some modernized camouflage, have made their comeback. The South has risen. The Gilded Age is officially upon us.
I expect we’ll see a circular firing squad in the Democratic party, as liberal patricians play the blame game. Nothing will be changed, and, led by Gov. Gavin Newsom, we’re likely to end up with some semblance of a loyal opposition.
California’s Governor says he’s been preparing for the possibility of a Trump win all along. Politico this morning says they have a plan, down to what lawsuits are to be filed when.
What’s missing from the various pathways coming from establishmentarian sources is the fundamental truth that this is not the time for tactical discussions/actions/propaganda. This is a moment when strategy needs to emerge, based on some uncomfortable truths.
The question of what is to be done by us losers needs to start with a reassessment of the social, economic, and political battlefield we find ourselves in.
I’ll start with a couple of observations soon, and will expand upon them in the days to come.
Going forward my writing will be focused on winning, what does winning mean, and what progressives can do to protect the afflicted (including our own mental health), and envisioning a better world. A lot of bad things are going to happen. But not tomorrow.
We lost. Now we must deal with the consequences.
You hit the perfect. note, Doug. TY
I know this is a rough day and time. We have time to prepare and build strong before Trump takes office. One should reflect that most well off white folks living in Trumpian Florida, Texas, and Oklahoma for the last 8 years have not felt disruptions. There will be for many some space to continue life. Likely, Trump on a national basis, is likely to be more firmly assertive. Unfortunately, given his self-centered, destructive and perverse response to the pandemic and medical science generally, as well as MAGA’s hate for government health insurance, public health, and facts, not to mention women’s autonomy, the coming years are likely to have a tragic and horrible impact on the health of Americans.
For better or worse my big picture thoughts —
Today is a very sad day. It is a fact that in an open fair vote (within the confines of gerrymandering and voter suppression) vast numbers of the American people are upset enough about their personal circumstances to jump ship from the democracy and its traditions that we (mostly) upheld for almost 250 years. I am bereft - the world I valued and worked to support and expand may disappear.
Benjamin Franklin said in 1787 “We have a republic, if we can keep it.” It seems we have lost it and need to start rebuilding a humane society. I am beyond sad that I have left this hard task to my children and grandchildren.
While the next days will be spent dissecting the election I want to call your attention to 3 important factors (2 mostly unacknowledged) that set the stage and fueled this tragedy. These are the deep undercurrents that progressive (mostly Democratic) politicians and pundits have mostly ignored and MAGA exploited. This election result proved these 3 factors to be very real:
(1) USA is not ready for woman or another colored president. We now have proof that massive misogyny and racism still percolate through America. (2). WEALTH INEQUALITY In the 1950's the CIA popularized the Gini Index (named after an Italian economist to describe the distribution of something among a population, where "0" means everyone has an equal amount and "1" indicates it it all concentrated in one person/unit's/country's hands) as a measure of a country's stability. The CIA determined an index over 40 portended civic unrest. For years the USA hovered over 35 (close to Mexico) and far above the Scandinavian countries (e.g. Sweden is at 30 in 2024). Obama with his tax on stock transactions and the ACA was the only President since the 1960's to lower our Gini. Since then especially with the Republican minimization of estate (“death”) taxes and the Trump tax cut, the USA Gini Index is now 42. Three Americans have more wealth than the bottom 50% of the population. Both American families and American government are being starved and the very rich have unprecedented raw power. The rich own the Supreme Court. Wealthy billionaires threw unprecedented gobs of money at Trump. As for Dems - under “neoliberalism” Clinton with NAFTA and Obama with failure to protect homes in the 2008-9 recession (itself the result of Republican and neoliberal deregulation) destroyed, alienated and ripped the heart out of middle America and the less wealthy who are still in pain. For the last 10 years, and on an accelerating basis, we have been watching massive wealth inequality playing out in real time - producing civic dysfunction and disorder whose engine is wealth inequality. OUCH! More than anything else this explains the panoramic dynamics of the MAGA movement. Watch Elon Musk, Betsy DeVos and Peter Thiel take over the country. The relatively peaceful domestic and world order may well collapse. (3) POST PANDEMIC TRAUMA DISORDER - COVID-19, like most major pandemics in history, produced more individual, family and systemic insecurity, demoralization, fear and anger,(all of which have been historically repressed). These feelings were mostly individualized and sub-rosa and not publicly dealt with or admitted (although Biden gave an incredibly wise and great shot at relief.) This malaise percolates on.
VOILA the USA - a failed democracy and fascist country by a huge popular vote!
We have been fortunate to be able to live and thrive in our imperfect democracy. The future will challenge us to preserve it as best we can. With your help and wisdom we can rise to the occasion.