Jung said “you are what you do, not what you say you’ll do.”
So, when the gamblers and bookies do things that disagree with the pollsters, my money’s on the bookies.
Sadly, the bookies basically called the US Election weeks ago.
This morning brought resigned sadness, but not much surprise.
I read the idea, somewhere, that politics and policy affects us in two ways: by what it does to us – the liberties provided or restricted, the taxes and tariffs levied – and by what it says about us – how our sense of self is reflected and affected.
What our tribe’s politics and policies say to people – especially those outside the tribe – about who we are, what we believe, and what values we hold dear.
It’s mostly through that lens that I’m despondent about another Trump presidency. Because of what I believe the choice says about the beliefs and values of the tribe that chose him.
A tribe that I’m part of. A tribe whose decisions cause ripples in every direction, and into the future.
Electing him to lead, and to represent the US on the world stage, is a decision that I fundamentally do not understand and deeply disagree with.
I didn’t understand it the first time. We knew plenty about Trump through how he ran his businesses. He had a long history of mistreating people who worked for him. He didn’t dispute it. He was proud of it. He berated belittled and verbally attacked people who disagreed with him. He weaseled out of agreements. And he styled himself a “self-made success,” despite starting well up the ladder thanks to inherited wealth. (You may notice that Trump’s current favored sycophant suffers from the same misapprehension.)
I was confused the first time. I’m utterly incredulous the second time. We had four years to see his reprehensible character and behavior amplified by the office of the presidency. Four years of him acting like a petulant child who needed nothing more than his mommy or daddy to send him to his room until he learned to behave like an adult. Four years of him putting his immediate family into positions of authority and responsibility for which they were no better suited or prepared than he was.
And there was a veritable conga-line of close former advisors and collaborators vocally, publicly, and voluntarily shouting that he’s unfit to lead.
And yet. Here we are. At least another four years.
So now what?
Well, mostly things are the same as yesterday.
He’s a bloviating cretin who spews an incomprehensible amount of nonsense and cruelty and who has historically broken more promises than he’s kept.
I don’t expect him to change.
So it seems there’s little choice but to see which promises he tries to keep, and do what can be done in response.
He’s stacked the deck pretty strongly in his favor, so stopping him will be … hard. The Supreme Court seems unlikely to help. The media is basically why we’re in this mess in the first place, so don’t look to them for help either.
I’m honestly not sure what that leaves.
What I am sure of is that there will be people who will need help. Will need support and defence against this “new world order.”
So we’ll help. Because, what we do matters.