What Now?

Committing to "a More Perfect Union"

This was not 2016.

There were no long-running “scandal” stories about Kamala Harris. No FBI last-minute announcement about suspicious laptops. No WikiLeaks dumps about internal emails. No infighting within the DNC.

Trump was not a newcomer providing entertaining clips for cable news. His outrageous comments and perceived cognitive deterioration were well covered. We had four years of his administration to judge him by. He was found liable both civilly and criminally in courts of law. He encouraged a crowd of followers to “be wild” and, as we all saw, a subset of those attacked the capital.

The majority of Americans who voted supported him anyway. Here’s the popular vote totals from the Washington Post.

The most likely answer is that this was a protest vote about post-Covid economic conditions. The combination of the stimulus funds in the American Rescue Plan and the subsequent supply chain disruptions created an inflationary spiral. Even though inflation has cooled to near-normal levels, voters knew that prices were significantly higher than they had been (even if not as high as Trump claimed) and the fact that wages were up didn’t dissuade them from their concerns.

As I wrote over recent weeks, Harris had made policy proposals designed to help families deal with these increased prices. Trump has made proposals (tariffs, mass deportation, interfering with the Federal Reserve) that economists argue will be seriously inflationary.

It feels like the only thing Biden and Harris could have done was invented a time machine to address inflationary pressures in 2022. Of course, if Trump had that time machine, he could have gone back to early 2020 and dealt appropriately with Covid when it appeared.

As Steve Kornaki endless observed last night, Harris vote share in most counties fell short of Biden’s and roughly matched Hillary Clinton’s. It’s quite likely that there may be more antagonism to a woman president that people were willing to admit (see, The Bradley Effect). Harris had 15 million fewer votes than Biden had in 2020. Pundits will be pouring over how that happened for some time.

So this is where we are. Trump will assume the presidency in January, surrounded by acolytes who take his rally speeches as serious policy proposals. He wants figures like Elon Musk and RFK, Jr. to assume major leadership roles in the administration. He will have a strong majority in the Senate and a potential majority in the House. The Supreme Court has ruled he has criminal (but not civil) immunity for actions taken as part of his presidential duties. They have also crippled the federal bureaucracy with the Chevron ruling.

For nine years, the mainstream media has proven itself incapable of covering Trump. Featuring him doesn’t work. Neither does both-sidesing. Nor does attacking. Democracy dies, not in Darkness but out in the open.

Most people aren’t following the news anyway. There are too many podcasts, streaming shows, YouTubes, and Tic-Toks to watch. And they don’t trust the media institutions they aren’t watching (a vicious circle).

So what now? If political institutions don’t work and media institutions don’t work and the guardrails have been demolished, what do we do?

I only have the very beginnings of an answer. My mind goes to Old Testament stories. Of how Samuel was unhappy when the Israelites wanted a King and God gave them Saul. Of the books of 1st and 2nd Kings, where there were good kings, some very bad kings, and some in the middle. Of Jeremiah speaking of the exile and the promise of future restoration.

In the coming years, the people will learn the full force of what their vote unleashed. It is our task to make clear the myriad ways that Trump’s efforts fail to create a More Perfect Union, to point out those vulnerable populations who will suffer as a result, and to use our voices and tiny influence to share those messages. That’s what I will be doing here.

There were those who argued that the end of Trumpism and the Maga Movement would come about through a massive landslide election showing that their nativism and misogyny have no place here. But that will not happen.

I’m wondering if the only way Trumpism ends is to let him follow all of his ideas to fruition and bear the public outrage that follows.

Many people will suffer needlessly. That’s the other half of the Jeremiah reference. We need to hold those close, resist the natural temptation to say “I told you so”, and keep working for that More Perfect Union.

I’m not happy with this answer, but it’s all I’ve got one day later. I would feel better if we were in a parliamentary system where a snap election could be called when things start going south. Instead, we’ll have to hold things together until January 2029 (assuming an election in 2028).