A
conservative “populist” candidate who ran a campaign based largely on hollow
promises of economic recovery, racism, sexism, xenophobia, isolationism, tax
cuts for the rich and the stoking of fear has won the presidency, potentially
rewriting the future of the country. It was, at minimum, a repudiation of
Hillary Clinton and her uninspiring, defensive campaign. Yet one can go further
to argue that reactionary politics has reached its peak in the country, with
the possibility it will only get worse from here.
Given
the fact that conservatives now run the White House, the entire Congress, will
soon control the Supreme Court, most governorships, most statehouses and even a
majority of local officials, it appears to be a rather profound rejection of
the Democratic establishment and a victory for cult-of-personality populism,
not far removed from fascist uprisings of the past. In fact, it is the most
profoundly successful Republican election since at least the 1920s, even as
many of those Republicans actively and vocally opposed him.
My
analysis of the election is available here
(a three-part series), but I wanted to make a few points as the future
presidency of Donald J. Trump starts to take shape:
1. The Media, outside MSNBC, involved itself in a fascinating
attempt to normalize a Trump presidency, even before we had what seemed a
necessary conversation on why he won to begin with. This was particularly true
of the usually critical 60 Minutes,
which served up softball after
softball last Sunday before showing Trump with first his wife and then his
elder children in a tableau of normalcy far removed from the reality of his
life, on and behind the camera: Vox, Media Matters, Salon. The critique has
increased since, but the complicity of the media in this election is hard to
ignore and one sees a war emerging between the Trump administration and
mainstream media in the future.
2. Trump is already acting like an authoritarian and one imagines
it will only get worse (New Republic). He and his surrogates
claimed the protests going on across the country for over a week have been
orchestrated by the media and has excoriated the same media, including the New York Times, for actually covering
American democracy at work. His VP and campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, have
warned those critiquing the election and his running mate with thinly veiled threats
about undermining the First Amendment. In an appearance on "Fox News
Sunday” last week, Conway characterized Reid's critical comments about Trump as
"beyond the pale," and suggested that the Nevada senator be careful
"in a legal sense.” (Business
Insider).
Trump
has also claimed he “easily” won one of the tighter races in American history,
that the electoral college isn’t that bad after all (after saying it should be
repealed), that he would have won the popular vote if it mattered by spending
more time in California, New York and Florida and that he now has a mandate to
push through his radical agenda.
3. The selection of his team, and the circus that has defined
that process so far (NYT), both provide a stark reminder of our greatest fears. Even
before considering the selections so far, we should remember that one of the
most virulently anti-choice (see H. B. 1337), anti-gay (see Indiana Senate Bill
101), anti-media (he planned to start a state-run, taxpayer-funded news service
that would run pro-administration news and mete it out to local papers) and
anti-science (intelligent design proponent and global warming doubter) politicians
in the country, was chosen as his running mate and is now the man running the
transition team.
His
early picks for the cabinet move quickly from disappointing to downright
terrifying (TNR).
Myron Ebell,
in charge of his EPA transition team, is an industry-supported climate denier
who works for the Competitive Enterprise Institute. Stephen Bannon, his chief
advisor, is a right-wing provocateur who runs Breitbart, has a history of anti-Semitism,
domestic assault and conspiracy theory mongering (WP).
And he appears to be lining up positions for family members, even as this would
break nepotism laws, including his son-in-law Jared Kushner (NYT),
who has no experience in government (like Trump himself)
Trump also
announced that he plans to nominate Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) as attorney
general (a man deemed too racist by Republicans in the 80s to become a federal
judge, who calls the NAACP and ACLU “un-American” and said he thought the KKK
was “okay) and Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-Kan.) as CIA director (a man who ran the
Benghazi Committee, authored a report excoriating Clinton, and has close connections
to the Koch brothers). And he chose the fiery retired lieutenant general
Michael T. Flynn as his White House national security adviser, who has close
ties to Russia, led “lock her up” cheers about Clinton during the campaign and has
consistently made derogatory comments about Muslims. The three are all hardline
conservatives (WP),
who look poised to enact some of the most troubling of campaign promises around
immigration, voting rights, policing, domestic surveillance of Muslims and
other elements of the war on terror.
4. The selection of his agenda for the first 100 days as
President, should be a further concern for many. He plans a massive tax cut for
the wealthiest Americans and corporations (NPR),
while providing little so far in how he is going to turn around the lives of
the vast majority of his voters, or the country at large (Romper).
Net neutrality looks like it is in big trouble (Recode),
as is the environment (Fortune).
Anyone who has not an American citizen, and some who are, will live in fear
until they hear about their fate. And even Medicare might be on the chopping
block (TPM).
5. Last week, Trump took credit via twitter for saving an auto
plant by Ford that they never planned to be closed (TNR),
continuing his troubled relationship with the truth. This follows recent
stories by most major news sources worried about fake news and its potential
influence on this election (NYT,
Buzzfeed).
With one of the leaders of the alt-right in the White House, one can assume
reality will become much more akin to the variety described so vividly by The Matrix (using the ideas of Debord
and Baudrillard on the Spectacle Society). One assumes the fact checkers will
be earning plenty of overtime over the next four years, assuming Trump doesn’t
simply buy the entire mainstream media industry with the help of his good buddy
Putin.
Now
Trump is taking on the cast of Hamilton,
after the cast read an open letter to the Vice President-elect, after he showed
up for a performance (WP).The
cast said, ““We, sir, we are the diverse America who are alarmed and anxious
that your new administration will not protect us, our planet, our children, our
parents, or defend us and uphold our inalienable rights, sir,” said Brandon
Victor Dixon, the actor who played Aaron Burr, reading a statement the cast
members had drafted together, “But we truly hope this show has inspired you to uphold our
American values and work on behalf of all of us. All of us.” Trump’s response
was to call the cast “rude” and then call for a boycott of the incredibly
popular play. And so that idea that Trump will not seek revenge now that he is
becoming President … yeah …
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These
trends would be perfect fodder for a great science fiction novel, heralding the
death of American democracy and the coming of a brave new world of elite
prosperity. Unfortunately, they are instead a clarion call to anyone who cares
about the future of the country to stand up and act to block as much of this
radical shift as possible. It is not just the immigrants, Muslims, minorities
and, really, women who should worry, but anyone who cares about the
environment, healthcare, the elderly, our national security and economy or the
possibility of our collective destruction. To the 47 percent of American voters
who chose Trump … maybe be careful what you ask for in the future.
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