My Statement on the Election of Trump Nov 2024

Part of me cannot believe this has happened. It's so against logic and good and common sense that I find myself bewildered. But if this can happen, (and it did) anything can. And I mean anything. And if you don't think this is a major earthquake for the US and Europe and even more, you are sadly wrong. So wrong, that I have pity for you. There will be consequences. It is not only tragic for us, but for the world. Trump is a pathological monster. He will seek revenge as all pathological narcissists do. His fractured ego will drive him. And perhaps, you are all going to see what 'good country people' can really do while they are failing. Half the American voters in this country are obviously desperate, fearful people hoping that populist ideology will fix or mitigate their pains from modernity. It will not. The past will not provide anchors that these people want or alter the course of technology. I am a long arc personality. That's how I see history but we are facing some serious challenges in our quest for freedom and fairness. As it has been in all of history, a backlash is upon us. We are a country split in two. We are in the middle of a war of ideas where one side of the nation truly believes their way of life is under threat and the other side does not, but all of us are shaky when it comes to the same things, our homes, our jobs, our families, our children. This was not an election won on economics or common sense, but on cultural ideas alone. But no one is really winning on these cultural debates. It is a scrabble on the lawn. I am not naive. People are going to get hurt in this scrabble over identity, abortion, religion, and immigration and this is partly due to the fact that the cultural Left has dominance and the cultural Right feels under attack. But cultural identity politics is not something you can simply put back in the bottle and plug the top, not even with laws and cranky conservative men on the Supreme Court. But it does create weaknesses for us and democracy, what I call soft powers gone amok and the spoiler country is Russia. We are living in an unpredictable environment regardless of our cultural beliefs. And Russia is powerful and motivated enough to ruin any geopolitical stability. They have, in the Ukrainian War. People often look at that war as nothing to do with them, especially in rural areas in our country where people are struggling against change and culture. So far, by his actions and words, Trump has cast his influence with Putin. And I could say that all narcissists envy other narcissists and Trump wants to be feared like Putin, but it's much more complex than that. Russia doesn't care about our democracy or our liberal scrabble on the lawn over cultural issues. Neither does China. The strain of our scrabbles may become cracks where Russia and China actually find ways to alter and bring a halt to our march toward progress. It is going to get messy and we are going to feel its pain. That said, in some ways, despite our setback from this election, I am still hopeful. Think about it, the Ukrainians are suffering and dying every day against a huge power— for freedom and I do not believe, for a moment, that populist ideology will help the half of this country that prefers Trump over the reforming, centrist ideas of the Biden led administration. These people will get up today and think eggs and chicken prices will go down, taxes will be lower, that radical thoughts coming out of universities will be crushed, that liberals will be deterred from what they call killing babies. It simply won't happen. Because one thing is clear, we all want to be free and we all desire the ability to make free choices. That drive is more powerful than Trump or Putin or the pressures of China and the religious revenge of Islamic terrorism. In psychology, there is a certain 'anxiety' that comes with freedom, with rest, with democratic success. This is what we are all experiencing. This is what Trump has exploited, what every authoritarian exploits. No amount of economics will solve a crisis that is based around cultural change. We are going to fight it out and work to build a new civic culture in the future. I have often said here and in many other conversations that while we are always walking in the shadows of the past, we are moving forward into the future and the future wins. Change is as inevitable as sunrises and sunsets. But so are conflicts and even bigger wars. The 20th century taught us that. I want the Left to know one thing from this, bottom up is always better and for years now we have been working from above. Remember that. You cannot force people into a future they fear and do not understand. You have to ease them along. This will not be popular but it's pragmatic and realistic. It doesn't help, really, knowing any of this now. At present, I believe we all feel a little powerless and disgusted. I know I do. But I don't want liberty to fail. As long as we have some sort of liberty we can fight and make anew. We can make meaning. We can rise. We will face The Gorgon.