This comes partly from a PM discussion I had with a couple of Dopers (who can feel free to identify themselves if they so choose) – some more thoughts that I want to share.
I’m over my devastation and shock, but I am still extremely worried. I understand that many or most Trump voters are not evil people who have any desire to hurt black people, Hispanics, Muslims, or others – but I also understand that many/most black people, Hispanics, and Muslims (and others) have rational reasons for seeing Trump as an existential threat to their chance at equal and fair treatment in America.
I don’t know how these sides come together, and I expect that they cannot, at least not in the near (and maybe not even medium-term) future. But maybe it’s good enough if they just stay simmering, as long as they/we don’t explode, until time heals this wound, as it eventually heals every wound.
Trump’s actual policy decisions will have an enormous impact over how these divisions evolve over the next few years.
Honestly, maybe this is the reset that the country needs… The alt right, the xenophobes, the racists, the extreme right will now never able to say again “if only my guy had won” … Well, he did. And guess what? Those fools that voted for him (mostly poor and low middle class whites) are exactly the people he has been screwing over his whole life, from unpaid contractors to his crap made in China (can’t believe Hillary didn’t dive deep into that). Trump is going to keep being trump and he will once again screw these people. Watch for some incredible explanations from the right wing media machine. These folks are about to have their bubble burst, which is great.
Another lesson learned, this election showed us is that republican women will not vote differently than their husbands, no matter how sexist and anti their own interests the candidate is, sad. Oh yeah and next time some right winger starts giving you the “morality of voting GOP” BS you can now point to their face and say “yeah but you voted for trump, motherf!*!!, you are a lying hypocrite”
My biggest concern is climate change and the level of environmental destruction about to be unleashed, this is truly the most lasting legacy of this disaster - plus this adds a global aspect to the next four years of crap… As I mentioned in another thread this will mostly affect the poor in the global south - the world’s most vulnerable, which breaks my heart
Accelerationism - the idea that things getting disastrously bad will result in positive reform or revolution - has a very bad history. To quote the German socialists: “After Hitler, us.” They died in the camps.
Right now, there’s no mechanism that brings together the divisions in America. One side digests a steady diet of social media memes, hard-right slogans, and just general non-truths. The other side has no idea how to communicate effectively to the masses of people in this country that are actually reachable.
One side wants to blow it all up. The other side is seen as the defender of a system that the first group hates.
So, these political divisions are not easy to bridge. And in fact, right now I’m at a loss for what sane America can do to help heal insane America. Insane America is about 30% of the voting population (maybe more), and I don’t know of any way to message something to these people to get them back to sanity. There is maybe 20% of voting America that voted for Trump that MIGHT listen to sane America. But even there, it’s hard to communicate effectively to them, because they’re swimming in a world of lies/memes and hard-right slogans currently…
There isn’t one; trying to persuade the Right has consistently failed for as long as it’s existed. It’s overcome or worked around, but never convinced. The MAGA fanatics will stay MAGA fanatics until the day they die.
A common enemy needs to emerge. Yah know, where everyone see the risks and acknowledges the situation and takes responsible action to protect one another, like a global pandemic or something.
Over the last several decades Republicans have become true masters at exploiting political loopholes and human behaviors. With Trump 2.0 more check and balances as well as ground level political institutions are going to erode and the system is going to become more gamed than it already is. Democrats will look fondly back on days when only winning 53-54% of the general vote would be enough to feel secure in winning the presidency.
Trump’s first election - I chose to believe that people were hoodwinked by his showmanship and didn’t guess how bad it would be. Biden’s victory reassured me of this. But for people to elect Trump 2.0 given the disaster of the first 4 years - it just seems a large chunk of the population have no ability to recollect and/or are completely incapable of doing any objective research and making rational choices.
I no longer see a path that involves reconciling differences. Bring on the Fascism.
I think that most of them know exactly what they voted for and look forward to getting it. They want a fascist dictatorship, they want tyranny and genocide and exploitation and political purges and all the rest. The Democrats have been persistently in denial about what the Republicans are actually like and refuse to acknowledge it, but their supporters know.