When I was thinking about this column earlier in the week, I imagined I’d be writing a ‘holding’ piece like ‘American democracy hangs in the balance,’ while waiting for final results on Saturday morning. Turns out, the counting was quicker this year. And the result was a little clearer. Well, the count was. What the result means, is both something to be understood retrospectively and something that will emerge as we move into the second Trump Presidency.
Maybe because I was expecting an easy pass, I have found coming to write this column difficult. I was sceptical of the emails coming from the US college I attend noting that the campus ministry and wellbeing teams would have extra availability in the days after the election for those who need support. I wasn’t unaware of the stakes and yet it seemed a little overwrought. Still, here I find myself. Feeling knocked flat.
Not, I hasten to note, because I thought Vice President Harris was the answer to the challenges American and the world faces. Her candidacy and platform left much to be desired for someone with my commitments. Nor am I without sympathy for those who voted for President Trump because they want an economy that better benefits the working and middle classes, an immigration system that is a system and an approach to foreign policy that’s more assured.
I don’t have confidence President Trump will deliver these things. But that’s not, as such, why I feel so flat. I feel flat because of the sheer baseness, the coarseness of Trump’s politics and the dark, cravenness of so many around him.
The American Republic is in serious trouble. It has been for quite some time. Still, how is it that so many Americans feel this is the only solution? A ‘solution’ that elides dialogue or the possibility of consensus building and instead expresses the most vile, dehumanising language in any circumstance where such rhetoric might project sufficient strength to pick up votes in constituencies clearly feeling disenfranchised and maligned.
This 2024 Trump victory means something different to the 2016 Trump victory. It is going to take some time to come to terms with that. Last week I was at an event at which Liz Cheney spoke. Though I disagree with her on many issues, I am edified by her courageous stance within the Republican party on the ‘red line’ of a Trump re-election. She gave a