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“As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.” 
– H.L. Mencken, American journalist in and social critic in the 1920s and 30s.

Just prior to the 2016 presidential election an acquaintance asked me what I thought would be the result. I answered that I was cautiously optimistic but, “Never underestimate the stupidity of the American people.” 

On November 5 the American people proved my pessimistic assessment correct in spades.

It is mind-boggling that so many Americans would ignore all the facts, the frequent, divisive, hateful behavior and the well-known history of unethical and criminal behavior, to re-elect Trump as President. Everyone knew who he is as a person and what he planned to do as president. He has been, despite being an untrustworthy liar, very clear about his agenda. No one can say they were duped, didn’t know, or thought he was joking. Trump is as funny as a heart attack.

The mainstream media is already “sane-washing” the election results. They are talking about how voters “trusted” Trump more on the economy and fixing inflation. They are fabricating narratives about Trump’s “historic political comeback.” 

The truth is that collectively the American people are dumb as a box or rocks and they have just screwed themselves and the rest of the country.

Trump did not win by a significant margin because the public was responding rationally to inflation, economic conditions or any other public policy issues. It happened because Trump was successful in stirring up bigotry, hatred and fear about immigrants, minorities, women and liberals. 

Too many Americans – especially white males (although this time around astonishing numbers Blacks and Hispanics supported him) – voted their prejudices. The “inner soul” of too many Americans is filled with selfishness, racism, misogyny and hate. These people knew who Trump was and voted for him anyway. They wanted to make America white again and put women and the all the “others” back in their place.

We are all screwed. The environmental destruction alone from another Trump administration will be severe and irreversible. The long-term damage to the political and social systems are less certain but they will be bad for most people. The appointments to the federal judiciary will hamstring justice for decades. You can kiss good by using the courts to resist the Trump agenda or protect the remnants of democracy.

Much has been written about people voting against their own best interests. This election is the ultimate example of this irrational, self-defeating behavior. 

Trump will not make America great again. He will not revive the blue collar manufacturing jobs of the past. He will not fix inflation. Nor will he solve any of the the world’s problems in “24 hours.” As he proved during his first reign of error, he will screw up everything he touches with his arrogant, ignorant, erratic “management style” and spend most of his time golfing.

The difference this time is that the Project 2025 wrecking crew of free market ideologues is in place to guide Trump’s incompetent “leadership.” They have a specific plan to destroy government and return the country to the unregulated Robber Baron era of the 1870s. 

Given that it looks like Republicans will control the House, Senate and Supreme Court, they will have carte blanche to destroy anything good that has been achieved in the last 150 years. They will end all efforts to mitigate climate change, protect the environment, provide affordable health care, educate our children, create safe, fair workplaces or bring some minimum standards of fairness to the economy. 

We all will get screwed including all the ding-dongs who voted for the doofus.

Unfortunately no amount of resistance, protest, organizing or suing is likely to mitigate any of the damage or prevent the implementation of the Project 2025 agenda. More than likely any dissident voices will be arrested, jailed, assaulted or killed. 

Trump has clearly stated he will deal harshly with any opposition, including using military force. He is not lying about this promise. We are screwed.

Fascism has come to America, carrying a cross, waving the American flag and selling Trump Bibles. The American people have installed an ignorant “moron” who thinks he is a genius and plans to rule by decree. He will run the country dictatorially “like a business.” Unfortunately his business history is full of failures, bankruptcies and fraud. Trump’s primary business “talent” has been making money off his name and leaving others to pay the price for the failures.

We all will pay a huge price for the mistake of re-electing Donald Trump. There will be severe and long lasting consequences. 

Clearly the intensifying impact of climate change will be one result. But we should expect many other social, economic and political disasters. Stock market crashes caused by destroying all oversight of business will certainly happen. There may be more pandemics. Without a doubt the economy and the tax system will be skewed even more to the benefit of the wealthy. The wars and genocide will continue and may escalate into a world ending nuclear exchange.

In my opinion these disasters may be the only way to break the power of the Trump oligarchy.
We will have to sink into a truly dystopian future before people wake up. That will be a terrible price to pay. But this is what the majority of the electorate voted for.

This may sound like election sour grapes – and it is. But after 50 years of hoping for a new, revived Progressive Era, and seeing no progress, my hope has died. 

After decades of watching every Republican (and many Democratic) administrations fail to address our many problems, I have no optimism left.

I am increasingly old and tired. So I plan to spend more time in the future walking in the woods (before they are all cut down) reading good books (before they are banned) and less time engaging in hopeless efforts to change the world. 

Maybe someday younger people will begin building a new democracy from the ashes of America. But I doubt it.

 
We are screwed.