I'm not alone in trying to make sense of what happened on November 5th of 2024. I'm trying to wrap my head around why people voted the way they did while at the same time trying to decide what my best course of action is - if there even is one. For now, I'm going to think in written form through this blog I created years ago and have since neglected.
If my memory serves me correctly, I originally titled the blog “ Endangered Conservative,” which might be a better title, but this one works too. We are certainly lacking in rational thought in this era of social media and Artificial Intelligence. As an unabashed conservative in the traditional sense, I've been immensely disappointed in the direction the Republican Party has turned.
Let me begin with my working definition of conservatism and how it contrasts with progressivism. The traditional definition or description of conservatism is that it's the ideology that change for the sake of change should be resisted and that we should require strong evidence that a new course will affect better outcomes. Progressivism suggests that if the status quo seems undesirable, we should be willing to be pretty open to trying new things without such a high threshold of evidence being required.
So, from the jump, you can see that our world has been turned upside down. Republicans are suggesting we tear everything down without any publicly articulated plan for what arises after everything gets burned to the ground. If there is a plan, it's Project 2025.
The winner of the election, Donald Trump, consistently denied he had any knowledge or involvement with Project 2025. That's dubious at best, but not impossible to believe. With very few exceptions, such as immigration, Trump seems to have little interest in governance, but tremendous investment in the idea of exacting retribution against those with whom he has grievances.
Regardless, if Project 2025 is the framework of the plan that will guide Trump governance policies, it is the absolute antithesis of conservatism as defined above. This post’s emphasis is not going to be on the details of Project 2025, but even though some of the plan’s policies champion traditional values, on balance the document is radical and almost devoid of evidence that its implementation would positively impact the lives of Americans.
At the same time, Democrats are saying, “Hey, slow down! Let's, for the love of God, examine how these policies would impact our country and the world.” Because of misinformation and propaganda foisted on the masses, these tapping on the brakes efforts are scoffed upon by too many Americans. But the irony is that progressives are having to take on the role traditionally held by conservatives to keep our country from becoming a veritable dumpster fire. How the hell did we get here?
How is it that many Muslim Americans concluded Donald Trump would be a better option for the troubles that ail Palestine and the Middle East broadly? Some of the first appointees by Trump were ambassadors to Israel and to the UN that have unblemished records of supporting Zionism and opposing a two state solution. Seems like the calculus of these voters might be contradictory to their aims.
How is that so many young Americans rejected the ticket that has championed student loan forgiveness? At the same time they held the Biden-Harris administration responsible for inflation that was less than most Western democracies. Clearly, people from different income brackets experienced inflation differently, but it's incontrovertible that broadly, wage growth exceeded inflation. The Biden-Harris administration was absolutely dominated by the misinformation campaigns that came from Donald Trump and his myriad right wing media outlets. When Trump implements his threatened 20% tariffs - action that will effectively be an enormous sales tax on Americans - our relatively tame inflation rates over the Biden-Harris years will seem cute.
A fear campaign was ginned up with regard to crime and the border. Crime rates are down significantly during the Biden-Harris term. The border has been a mess, and the Biden-Harris team was slow to respond. When they did, and an aggressive bipartisan plan was negotiated by very staunch Republicans, Trump killed it. He did not want the border crisis solved before the election.
To help, Fox News and other right wing outlets provided a constant stream of carefully crafted border optics that created great fear in Americans who faced no real threat from the border crisis. These outlets used deceptive statistics to make Americans believe there was vast carnage being carried out by immigrants. This was in spite of the fact that migrants have crime rates that are far lower than those of good old red blooded Americans. At its worst we had the “eating dogs and cats” insanity of the debate. As has been the case literally dozens of times since Trump became a viable candidate, I thought that would be the end for him. He seemingly paid no price for this evil lunacy.
If Trump voters wanted a Presidency that would reduce crime, it seems like they got sold a bridge in the desert when Trump announced he'd appoint Matt Gaetz as Attorney General. It's certainly true that when it comes to sex trafficking, he has great expertise. If even a small percentage of the allegations against him are true, he should be excellent at letting drug users and dealers off too. What he has no track record on is fighting the kind of crime Fox News got everybody all hot and bothered about. So, it kind of leaves anyone applying rational thought to conclude Gaetz’s real purpose is to be Trump's lapdog in going after enemies and sheltering him from future crimes he will commit. I wonder how Trump voters reconcile this?
I haven't even touched on the insanity of the selection of RFK Jr, with his self disclosed brain worms, science denial, throwing a dead bear in Central Park, … or numerous other crazy actions since Trump got elected. But, I need to quickly say what I really think is at the root of Trumpism.
I think for so many, Trump is a sharp stick in the eye of “Woke Americans.” I actually get some of that and plan to express some ideas on the idiocy within the Democratic Party. I still strongly suggest that jabbing a stick in the eyes of fellow Americans in the form of Trump is tantamount to commiting national suicide. It's really unforgivable.
But, Americans spoke clearly when they reelected Trump and the burden of proof is on me. I hope to do that going forward and in so doing relieve some of the immense distress I feel about our national trajectory.
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