America Did This to Itself and Most Will Suffer

I continue to struggle trying to wrap my head around how a majority voting of Americans voted to put Trump back in the White House.  So far, it looks like the media again will promote the myth that the election results were due to economic concerns and upset over higher prices.  Never mind that the majority of economist panned Trumps proposals and preferred Harris' or that Trump's promised tariff will increase prices, perhaps significantly.  The working class that voted for Trump could see Walmart prices skyrocket if Der Trumpenfuhrer hits China with very high tariffs as threatened.  Add to that Trump and the GOP's animus towards labor unions, and wages could actually fall and working conditions worsen.  As in 2016, alleged economic concerns are a smoke screen for something far uglier: racism, homophobia, religious extremism aided by the ignorance of too many voters who foolishly believe anything Trump says.  I worry about the future not so much for myself - at my age, I likely have another 10-15 years ahead of me - but rather for my children and five grandchildren who will have to live with the wreckage Trump and his  morally bankrupt sycophants will unleash on the country.  My first ancestor born in America was born in Massachusetts in 1638 while others arrived in Charleston, South Carolina in the early to mid-1700's, all the result of fleeing monarchical regimes.  Now, America is headed towards a cruel regime akin to what those ancestors fled.  George Conway looks at what the nation has done to itself in a piece in The Atlantic:

This time, the nation was on notice. Back in 2016, those of us who supported Donald Trump at least had the excuse of not knowing how sociopathy can present itself, and we at least had the conceit of believing that the presidency was not just a man, but an institution greater than the man, with legal and traditional mechanisms to make sure he’d never go off the rails.

By 2020, after the chaos, the derangement, and the incompetence, we knew a lot better. And most other Americans did too, voting him out of office that fall. And when his criminal attempt to steal the election culminated in the violence of January 6, their judgment was vindicated.

So there was no excuse this year. We knew all we needed to know, even without the mendacious raging about Ohioans eating pets, the fantasizing about shooting journalists and arresting political opponents as “enemies of the people,” even apart from the evidence presented in courts and the convictions in one that demonstrated his abject criminality.

We knew, and have known, for years. Every American knew, or should have known. The man elected president last night is a depraved and brazen pathological liar, a shameless con man, a sociopathic criminal, a man who has no moral or social conscience, empathy, or remorse. He has no respect for the Constitution and laws he will swear to uphold, and on top of all that, he exhibits emotional and cognitive deficiencies that seem to be intensifying, and that will only make his turpitude worse.

He represents everything we should aspire not to be, and everything we should teach our children not to emulate. The only hope is that he’s utterly incompetent, and even that is a double-edged sword, because his incompetence often can do as much as harm as his malevolence. His government will be filled with corrupt grifters, spiteful maniacs, and morally bankrupt sycophants, who will follow in his example and carry his directives out, because that’s who they are and want to be.

I say all of this not in anger, but in deep and profound sorrow. For centuries, the United States has been a beacon of democracy and reasoned self-government, in part because the Framers understood the dangers of demagogues and saw fit to construct a system with safeguards to keep such men from undermining it . . . . The system was never perfect, but it inched toward its own betterment, albeit in fits and starts. But in the end, the system the Framers set up—and indeed, all constitutional regimes, however well designed—cannot protect a free people from themselves.

My own hope and belief about what would transpire last night was sadly and profoundly wrong—like many, I have the emotional and intellectual flaw, if that’s what it is, of assuming that people are wiser and more decent than they actually turn out to be. I feel chastened—distraught—about my apparently naive view of human nature.

I dare not predict the future again, particularly as it comes to elections and other forms of mass behavior. But I daresay I fear we shall see a profound degradation in the ability of this nation to govern itself rationally and fairly, with freedom and political equality under the rule of law. Because that is not actually a prediction. It’s a logical deduction based on the words and deeds of the president-elect, his enablers, and his supporters—and a long and often sorry record of human history. Let us brace ourselves.