I’m still trying to understand how our country could choose to make the single most despicable person in public life our leader. Here’s a list of the options I’ve considered, followed by my sad conclusion.
Possible explanations:
1. This was a “change election.” Anyone associated with the current administration was doomed to fail, and any challenger who was not part of the status quo was on an easy track to take the White House.
2. This country is not ready to put a woman in the White House, no matter if she was strongly qualified and her opponent was not.
3. “Tribalism.” I use the term to refer to include racism, misogyny, antisemitism, Islamophobia, hostility to gay and transgender people, etc. We are approaching the point where Caucasians will be less than 50% of the population. Moreover, people of color are becoming more prominent in our culture - in music, television, movies, social media etc. Tribal resentments that festered below the surface are now becoming more public and more acceptable.
4. Media brainwashing. The power of right-wing media is immense - we now live in a world where our fellow citizens actually say things like “I get my news from other sources and I believe a a different truth.” The right-wing media has been immensely successful in selling lies as truth, and truth as lies.
5. Income in-equality. Right now, income in-equality in the US is at its highest point since WW2, and it’s rising and getting worse. At this point, most Americans are merely struggling to get by, and only the wealthy are accumulating wealth. Vast numbers of Americans realize that they will never enjoy the good life they see on TV, movies and the internet. They are angry, resentful, and desperate for change.
My conclusion: we are living in late-stage capitalism, and income inequality has triggered all of the above.
Anyone who has played Monopoly has experienced what it feels like to have no money and no property, while one player (or perhaps two) has nearly everything. At that point, you’re just moving around the board waiting to get slaughtered. Barring a true miracle, you have no chance to win, and you know it. Right now, a lot of people feel that way about their lives. And they are right - the way things are going, they have no chance for the good life.
Soon it will get even worse. AI will eliminate huge numbers of white collar jobs, devastating another huge portion of our population… just as automation eliminated the blue-collar factory jobs of the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s.
These conditions are ripe for the rise of a fascist strongman. It’s happening in many countries all over the world, and it’s happening right here, right now…