“Is it true that human beings are fundamentally cruel? Is the experience of cruelty the only thing we share as a species? …To be degraded, damaged, slaughtered—is this the essential fate of humankind, one which history has confirmed as inevitable?” —Han Kang, Human Acts.
“…if only you will not begrudge lending your ears…those which you are accustomed to prick up for mountebanks in the marketplace, for clowns and jesters…” —Erasmus, Praise of Folly.
Heartbroken twice; in 2016 and now in 2024.
But I can move on without the angst of brutal disappointment because I live in Canada. Not to the millions of Americans who hated Trump though. They must stay put and continue the fight for another four years of chaos and division.
Some, however, will opt to leave the US while Trump is in office. Eva Longoria, the American actress known for her role as Gabrielle Solis of ABC’s hit television series Desperate Housewives, announced during an interview that her family had chosen to live abroad. She said, “I get to escape and go somewhere. Most Americans aren’t so lucky. They’re going to be stuck in this dystopian country, and my anxiety and sadness is for them. I would like to think our fight continues. [But] it just feels like this chapter in my life is done.”
Villa Vie Residences, a cruise operator, is offering travellers, who want to avoid the Trump presidency, a journey around the world with these choices: 1-Year Escape from Reality, 2-Year Mid-Term Selection, 3-Year Everywhere but Home, and 4-Year Skip Forward. The trip, though, is expensive. Rates range from $49,999 per person for a year’s journey to $159,999 per person for a four-year trip on double occupancy. For single occupancy, the rates start at $79,999 for one year and $255,999 for four years.
As for me, my way of escaping is to tune out of my favourite TV news programs in the United States. Goodbye Morning Joe, Deadline: White House, The Beat with Ari Melber, The ReidOut, All In with Chris Hayes, The Rachel Maddow Show, Alex Wagner Tonight, The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell, the 11th Hour with Stephanie Ruhle, Inside with Jen Psaki, Fareed Zakaria GPS, and PBS News Hour . You’ve been great to watch and I will miss you all. Welcome back CBC Morning Live with Heather Hiscox, Adrienne Arsenault of The National and Rosemary Barton Live.
I did not bother with the post-election analyses. As far as I am concerned, Kamala Harris ran a very excellent campaign: logical and well-structured campaign speeches, well-attended rallies, joyous exuberance, growing momentum, celebrity and anti-Trump Republican endorsements, a billion dollar of campaign funds, high number of volunteers, economic and tax plans to help the middle class. I was expecting a landslide victory for Harris and the Democratic Party.
Instead…The clown gets the crown…Again!
Were they wrong of the more than 74.9 million votes, or 48.4%, for Harris?
Were they wrong of the high-profile celebrities and talk show hosts like Oprah Winfrey, Taylor Swift, Bruce Springsteen, Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, Billie Eilish, John Legend, Eminem, Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Meyers, Jon Stewart, and many more for liking Harris over Trump?
Were they wrong of the hundreds of Republicans and former Trump staff and retired military and naval officers who endorsed Kamala Harris?
Were they wrong of the well-known authors, historians, legal and academic authorities as well as Trump’s relatives who wrote articles and books on the danger of another Trump presidency?
Were they wrong of the democratic leaders in Europe, Canada, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, and Africa who felt antsy and wary about the global leadership of the Trump administration?
Election victories do not make right; they are a mandate for power. Do you think the millions of jubilant people who welcomed the reign of Hitler, Stalin and Mao Zedong [the triumvirate of evil] would celebrate the same way if they knew the destructive consequences of their consent?
How could you vote [much less hire] for a person to the most powerful position in the world with disqualifying qualities: serial liar; absence of empathy, sympathy and compassion; unabashed grifter; corrupt to the core; lack of moral character; convicted felon; no respect for law, democracy and tradition; authoritarian tendencies; infuriating arrogance; laziness; and pure selfishness?
How could you stand a person who likes denigrating people, who is fond of name-calling, who calls his opponents to be locked up or executed, who is unapologetic for his mistakes, his rude behaviour, his dehumanizing and unhinged tweets, who does not pay his fair share of taxes, who sells bibles, sneakers, digital cards, gold watches although he’s already wealthy?
How could you applaud and laugh out loud with his obnoxious remarks, his mocking and ridiculing those who don’t like him, his “salad” speeches, then come home feeling entertained with his buffoonery, which reinforces your belief that he is the salvation of your victimhood, your resentment, your racial prejudices, your bigotry, your hatred of “the others”, your being a hypocrite when it comes to immigration when you were once an immigrant, too, your conspiracy theories, especially the one that the whites are being replaced?
Of course, Trump is not unique in being unfit to hold public office. Other countries, like the Philippines, elected the heads of their government who turned out worse than they expected. No question they survived the nightmare. But the damages will take years to be repaired.
America’s greatness is its so-called American exceptionalism, which Wikipedia defined as “the belief that the United States is either distinctive, unique, or exemplary compared to other nations.” It has become the most powerful country because of it. Russia and China, combined, still cannot surpass the United States in any measure, be it economic or military. It has become the beacon of the Promised Land in which many peoples want to live. The United States leads the world in bringing peace and order, of Hollywood movies and superior music, of invigorating lifestyle and culture, of economic opportunities, of dreams and possibilities. Trump stained it when he was in power in 2016; he is threatening to be worst in his second term. The world is now bracing for a hurricane!
According to Gary Wills in his book, Certain Trumpets: The Call of Leaders, leadership must have the three legs to stand on firm ground: leaders, followers and goals. The leaders persuade and mobilize; the followers obey according to their self-interests; and the goals are the shared objectives or targets. All three must be in unison to achieve success. And that makes leadership challenging and complicated.
Trump has been mandated by the majority of Americans to show some kind of leadership for the next four years. We will now find out if he is capable and more competent to exercise it the second time around.
In his first term, Trump benefited from the economic policies of the Obama administration. He inherited a good economy. Then he was clipped by the pandemic and didn’t perform well. Yet his voters dismissed his lack of leadership and all the shenanigans he committed. Again, he inherited the highest ranked GDP among developed countries from the Biden administration. I wonder what other blessings and luck Trump will receive to avoid total accountability when the situation gets bad, just like the washing away of his legal problems.
America had decided. As much as a lot of people were disappointed about the result, there’s nothing more they could do. Trump and the Republican Party control the trifecta of power: the White House and both the House and Senate in Congress. They also have the Supreme Court to give them immunity. They can do whatever they want. Banning abortion nationally is a definite possibility.
The Democrats can still stage a good fight. But it will be a difficult struggle, especially with almost half of the voting public are so ill-informed and unwilling to give the Democrats the credits they deserve for looking after their welfare. They can only hope that Trump will mess it up; that extreme abuse of power will turn the lives of Americans upside down. Corruption, after all, is a debilitating disease. And Trump will infect all his enablers. Cruelty is the point in Trump’s reality show!
America has been described as a huge elephant that tramples anything it steps on. Canada, as its closest neighbour, is making several plans to combat US moves that will have an impact in the country. One of them is how to deal with the 25% tariff Trump is threatening to impose. It costs Trudeau and the Liberal Party a high profile resignation by Chrystia Freeland, the former Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister. Even that trip by Trudeau to Mar-a-Lago did not placate Trump. Instead, it emboldens Trump to mock Trudeau, disrespectfully calling Trudeau a governor and Canada the 51st state of the United States.
Ukraine, on the other hand, will now rely more on its European allies for supply of arms, ammunitions and weapons in its war of survival against Russia [and North Korean soldiers as well]. Trump promises to end the war, but what concessions will he give to Putin? Will Ukraine accept?
On January 20, 2025, there will a peaceful transition of power, not like the resurrection on January 6, 2021 which Trump instigated. Trump 2.0 officially begins.
Bob Woodward, an investigate journalist for the Washington Post and a twice-recipient of the Pulitzer Prize, will perhaps be busy again writing books of what Trump 2.0 look like. In Trump 1.0, he wrote five books: Fear (2018), Rage (2020), Peril (2021), The Trump Tapes (2022), and War (2024), which Trump voters didn’t bother to read. They didn’t even bring down a president unlike his work with Carl Bernstein in reporting the Watergate scandal that resulted in Nixon resigning and being out of politics for good. But Woodward is now 81 years old. Can he produce one more book that will finally result in Trump’s downfall?
During Trump 1.0, the term kakistocracy, defined as “the government by the worst people” as Merriam-Webster puts it, was used to describe his administration. It is being resurrected in social media even before Trump 2.0 is installed. What more apt description do we need?
For Trump voters, as you celebrate the second coming of your retribution, your “orange messiah”, don’t forget there’s no regret and be upset when you get what you get. You wish for the clown so never frown when he lets you down. He fooled you once, shame on you! He fooled you twice, shame on you again!! You don’t deserve redemption. This is much on you for not knowing better and not paying attention to the warnings of reasonable people. You enable him; give him enormous power again so that he is not just a useful idiot, but a dangerous idiot with serious consequences, not only in America, but to the whole world as well. It is your willing co-operation with evil that endangers everybody. As my parting words for you all: Be well and let’s hope there is no MAGA-hell.