With the aftermath of this election we will see, even with Biden as President, if this deterioration of our democracy can be reversed or if we continue to slide to the breaking point . And remember this condition is a direct reflection of a majority of citizens who hold sway to guide us forward to success or rack and ruin. And i’m concerned that even as a minority, the Cult of Trump could still destroy us.
It's hard not to get ahead of where we are, when information (and misinformation) can traverse the planet in the blink of an eye... But it's pretty clear that time must be given Biden to demonstrate --not just declare-- that a president with a different way of being will have a de-escalating effect on our polarization in the USA.
Trump's constant lying has changed us somewhat even if we never bought any of his lies. Just the fact that he lies dozens of times a day has reduced us to wearily thinking "is this true, no, wow, must get out there and say so"... we are transformed into an excessively reactive population.
That level of reactivity is an extension of the annoying habit we've adopted in the past 50 years somehow of thinking that if something is said in the public square, it has somehow acquired substance and must be defended to the death or opposed as if it were the plague. It's part of why we long since came to think some political issues are "third rail" items and so cannot be addressed in a national dialogue.
These days we cannot agree on what is a fact, never mind what impact it might have on local policy. And national policy? "Sez who?"
People are tiring of being caught in the middle of bullshit "red v blue" politics when just doing what used to be pretty ordinary jobs here: election workers showing up to prepare voting machines in polling places, or to count the resulting ballots... county health clerks tabulating cases of contagious diseases and issuing related public health notices... county coroners and town clerks recording causes of death.... town councils ruling on whether a store can post this or that kind of sign on its premises... people like this are getting DEATH THREATS based on assumptions about the intersection of their jobs, the rule of law and their own or the politics of the locale. Death threats phoned to spouses, kids... whoever picks up the phone...
Social media are not so much focused on this stuff and so neither are traditional media, but grassroots people for the most part voted, took note of who won the less "controversial" contests and have moved on... but they've moved on to noticing the agony their peers are in, whether it's people caught up in the political aftermath of a contested election AND political takes on the coronavirus, or just people caught up as all of us are in the upsweep now of covid-19 as cold weather moves us indoors and threatens our businesses, our access to goods and services, etc. all over again.
Social media hammers on red and blue and idiot alike about "how can you be such an ass-hat?" and meanwhile more and more of us see ourselves or neighbors in real life falling short on daily necessities PLUS deprived of emotional support and leadership from the very top down.
So easy to skim past reports of children going hungry (and the GOP leaps to asking hey isn't that an exaggeration.. there are food pantries... food stamps.. we pay too much in taxes for that shit already.... why don't they get a grip or not have kids if they can't afford them).
Yeah. Well what is, is. How about these days people having three hungry kids in the house, with a deferred rent overhang on it, and a pair of [temporarily?] vanished middle-income jobs.... and no more stimulus check "in the mail"... and meanwhile you should oversee their remote learning in three different virtual classrooms.
What are we to think of an incumbent President who by just about all credible accounts now has lost an election, will not concede, does not make more than pro forma public appearances except for golf outings, tweets lies nonstop and refuses to cooperate with an incoming administration in any way.
I'll tell you what they think around here in the boondocks. Nothing. Winter's coming. There's people don't have firewood in yet. People who don't have a winter rat car yet. No money for ammo for deer season. And those three kids fighting in the living room over the one iPad and one PC. And unpaid utility bills. People aren't thinking about Trump or Biden. They're thinking there's not enough in the cupboard. A pox on pols.
The cult of Trump could destroy us, sure, depending on how much Fox bends back around to pick them up after Biden is sworn in, or how much Newsmax and OANN and whatever Trump might do if he's got free time to play Kibitzer in Chief. But it's more likely that we'll all be focused on Biden and McConnell and Pelosi scrambling up another stimulus program to get some cash into the hands of Americans before the snow flies in earnest and we're dealing with the overrunning of hospitals again and the closure of stores and busting of supply chains with zero personal resources.
Trump's leaving us some bottom to come up from, gotta say that. Maybe later for seeing his former followers blaming him... but the blame will land where it should, just might take awhile.