Last night our nation elected a felon, autocrat, insurrectionist, serial liar, and convicted sexual abuser to the highest office in the land—for the second time. This morning, world leaders are congratulating Trump, often lacing their words with flattery—the most effective tool of influence with this re-empowered narcissist. According to David Brennan of ABC News, NATO’s Secretary-General, Mark Rutte, issued a perfunctory (and to me, clearly defensive) statement, saying that Trump’s leadership “will again be key to keeping our alliance strong… I look forward to working with him again to advance peace through strength through NATO.” Of course, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban produced the expected praise: “the biggest comeback in U.S. political history…an enormous win… a much needed victory for the world.” Even Volodymyr Zelenskyy found it necessary to say that Kyiv “looks forward to an era of a strong United States of America under President Trump’s decisive leadership.” Vladimir Putin was coy with a toned-down response and a reminder that the United States is an adversary in their “special military operation” against Ukraine. In the privacy of the Kremlin, though, he must be ecstatic.
What have we done?
I continue to use the word, “we,” because Trump not only won the electoral college but also the popular vote. And the Senate has been flipped to the right. To me, this combined result is astounding, and deeply disturbing. It means that we aren’t who I thought we were. It means there is much more work ahead, and with fewer available tools than I imagined in my darkest moments. It means that our democratic republic has legitimately delivered a result that could lead to its own demise.
Thankfully, our demise is not a sure thing. Trump makes promises that are extremely difficult to keep in the real world. Even surrounded by sycophants, as he certainly will be in his cabinet and in Congress, he might find if difficult to follow through on his most radical plans. And, once in power again, if it suits him, he won’t hesitate to abandon some of his goals while claiming, against all documented evidence, that he never actually had them.
Here is my hope, as naïve as it might be. My hope is that our nation’s population, including many moderate Republicans, will recoil against the inhumanity of mass deportations, the economic damage of tariffs and tax cuts for the wealthiest, the dangerous realignment of international priorities, the abandonment of the rule of law, and the continuing violation of women’s rights, as these things and many others move from abstraction to stark reality.
Elon Musk is probably right about one thing: that we must brace for “hardship in the short term.” He was speaking in purely economic terms (and never acknowledging that he, personally, will likely remain unscathed), but his statement, I believe, applies far more broadly. We are in for hard times far beyond economics: socially, institutionally, and morally.
The only positive thought I can muster at this moment is that those “hard times” will serve to wake us up once again. Let’s hope that happens sooner rather than later.