In Mourning for America and the World
Can I cry now? Can I lie down, give myself up to pure grief and cry? Cry for a country I love, that shaped me, that gave me a set of values, that presented me with a wonderful education? Can I cry for the shadows that loom over the world, over people who have no share in the election process, yet benefit from its good choices, and lose from its bad ones? For, believe it, the United States elections affect the world and its stability.
The impossible has happened. Trump, the billionaire who went through several bankruptcies, the man who looks down on everyone who isn't himself. The man who, being the grandson of immigrants, thinks immigrants are America's bane. The man who thinks women are commodities. The man who talks about "the" African-Americans as if they were not as American as he. The man who has no empathy for the disabled. The man who would be friends with those antagonistic to America. He is now the President-elect of the United States of America. How?
Can it be that there are so many racist, bigoted Americans in that enormous, continental country? Are there really so many uneducated voters that feel so absolutely disenfranchised that they vote for the candidate less able to make their lives better? Or, can college-educated adults, with knowledge of the world and its delicate geopolitical balance, be so angry with the establishment, that they would risk throwing the world into disarray? Did people really believe the lies, half-truths, and unintelligible words that spewed from his round little hole of a mouth?
What has won, along with this little man, is fear. Fear and hatred of the unknown. Fear of those different from us, hatred of change; and the world is definitely changing. Trump appealed to those who let their most reptilian feelings decide for them. Many in the media helped him in that job. They never stood up to him. A few did, but too many were simply amused. Too many media outlets gave him the coverage he needed at the beginning, a little clown that was in the race only to boost his ego. Let's see how far this little orange-haired clown can go! Nobody will believe him! Well, they did. Enough believed him when he claimed to be a harbinger of change back to when America was "great". Some wanted to literally take America back to the days of their great-grandparents, when blacks were shut away in the kitchens and had to bow to their still-masters. The days when women were beneath men and had few or little rights. The days when it was okay to deny entry to dogs and Irishmen. The days when those who weren't Protestant were not allowed into the boardroom. Other voters simply wanted change at any cost. Bye-bye Establishment. Populism in its most ugly guise has won the day.
What does this mean to the world? Everything that has progressed with President Obama is up in the wind. The agreement with Iran, which has decelerated tensions. The opening-up to Cuba. The corralling of Russia and its megalomaniac Putin. The safety of Europe and other areas that depend on military agreements with the U.S. The fiasco in Syria and Iraq. We are drifting into uncharted territory that might lead us closer to a nuclear confrontation at some time. Fascist organizations will take heart from this election, just as they have taken heart from the Brexit vote. Their time has arrived to protect the "purity" of their nations. Marie Le-Pen has already sent her congratulations. The French national elections now will become a turning point in Europe, and possibly its death knell. Because the extreme right now find themselves empowered by Trump's win.
I am living in Spain. I will continue to live here, crying for my beloved America. I will now discourage my daughter from travelling there. There is no future there for her. Her future here is not the brightest, but I prefer to have her work as a janitor here, earning below minimum wage, rather than having risk her rights as a woman, and possibly her life, in Trump's America. Though we are all now at risk, wherever we live.
The impossible has happened. Trump, the billionaire who went through several bankruptcies, the man who looks down on everyone who isn't himself. The man who, being the grandson of immigrants, thinks immigrants are America's bane. The man who thinks women are commodities. The man who talks about "the" African-Americans as if they were not as American as he. The man who has no empathy for the disabled. The man who would be friends with those antagonistic to America. He is now the President-elect of the United States of America. How?
Can it be that there are so many racist, bigoted Americans in that enormous, continental country? Are there really so many uneducated voters that feel so absolutely disenfranchised that they vote for the candidate less able to make their lives better? Or, can college-educated adults, with knowledge of the world and its delicate geopolitical balance, be so angry with the establishment, that they would risk throwing the world into disarray? Did people really believe the lies, half-truths, and unintelligible words that spewed from his round little hole of a mouth?
What has won, along with this little man, is fear. Fear and hatred of the unknown. Fear of those different from us, hatred of change; and the world is definitely changing. Trump appealed to those who let their most reptilian feelings decide for them. Many in the media helped him in that job. They never stood up to him. A few did, but too many were simply amused. Too many media outlets gave him the coverage he needed at the beginning, a little clown that was in the race only to boost his ego. Let's see how far this little orange-haired clown can go! Nobody will believe him! Well, they did. Enough believed him when he claimed to be a harbinger of change back to when America was "great". Some wanted to literally take America back to the days of their great-grandparents, when blacks were shut away in the kitchens and had to bow to their still-masters. The days when women were beneath men and had few or little rights. The days when it was okay to deny entry to dogs and Irishmen. The days when those who weren't Protestant were not allowed into the boardroom. Other voters simply wanted change at any cost. Bye-bye Establishment. Populism in its most ugly guise has won the day.
What does this mean to the world? Everything that has progressed with President Obama is up in the wind. The agreement with Iran, which has decelerated tensions. The opening-up to Cuba. The corralling of Russia and its megalomaniac Putin. The safety of Europe and other areas that depend on military agreements with the U.S. The fiasco in Syria and Iraq. We are drifting into uncharted territory that might lead us closer to a nuclear confrontation at some time. Fascist organizations will take heart from this election, just as they have taken heart from the Brexit vote. Their time has arrived to protect the "purity" of their nations. Marie Le-Pen has already sent her congratulations. The French national elections now will become a turning point in Europe, and possibly its death knell. Because the extreme right now find themselves empowered by Trump's win.
I am living in Spain. I will continue to live here, crying for my beloved America. I will now discourage my daughter from travelling there. There is no future there for her. Her future here is not the brightest, but I prefer to have her work as a janitor here, earning below minimum wage, rather than having risk her rights as a woman, and possibly her life, in Trump's America. Though we are all now at risk, wherever we live.
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