Some Reflections on the Trump Victory

I was shocked watching the election returns coming in on Tuesday evening. But the fact is that we were warned by any number of commentators that Clinton did not have a slam-dunk victory ahead of her. And, wow, it came true.

I am embarrassed for my country that “we” have elected a man as president who is not only poorly qualified but also who has all kinds of strikes against him in his personal, social, and business behaviors. And we have chosen this man against a woman who is very well qualified in terms of her experience with governing and whose “crimes” are miniscule compared to his.

For me, it is a complete irony. As a boy in the 1940s I took pride in being an American. Today, I really would not like to be identified as an American. Americans have abused their military power around the world, their economic power around the world, and they have proved themselves (by almost a majority) of being incompetent to select a qualified leader. What I wonder, seriously, is when the rest of the world is going to do something about what is going on in America — and what they will do. Of course, the world pretty much stood around and watched Hitler destroy Europe before they decided they should do something about it. So I won’t hold my breath. But, seriously, I am really concerned about our relationship with the world and, in particular, when the rest of the world is going to have to say, “Look, you’ve gone too far. We are going to put an end to this.” I do not think the end game is going to be pretty.

Meanwhile, many Clinton supporters have taken to the streets to protest a Trump presidency. Unfortunately, I think much of this is misguided. What we have here is really a radical fracture in American culture. Trump may have taken advantage of that but Democrats are equally guilty of not recognizing the real division. For generations, Democrats and Republicans have managed to control that fracture and to keep Washington moving in the directions appropriate to America’s urban dwellers. American culture, as such, has moved slowly toward an “urban culture” that has little to do with traditional rural culture. Rural culture is pretty solidly Christian, moralistic in some sense, and tends strongly toward a kind of exclusionist mood, protecting itself from outside intervention. Both parties, I would say, (yes, even the Republicans) have tended to let “majority rule” carry the day and the rural folk have swallowed this for a long time. The social world that majority rule has produced is not at all the world these folks want and they are pissed. I don’t want their world and they don’t want my world, and that is the real fact of the matter that we all face today.

The real problem is not Trump but, rather, it is figuring out what to do about this collision of cultures. There is really no easy solution. But in particular, there is no political solution. The rural culture has used politics this time in order to express their hatred and fear and disgust, but politics as such is not going to solve this problem. In all honesty I can’t imagine what, if anything, is going to solve this problem except attrition. What the urban culture hopes is that “millennials” will move away from rural culture and produce a dominant urban culture that eventually retakes political power. I honestly do not care whether that new political regime calls itself Republican or Democratic so long as it expresses the values that I admire --- care for other people, advancement of education and training of the young, a sense of right in being what you are, protection of those who are vulnerable, control over those who wield economic power, and modesty in our relations with the rest of the world.

Nevertheless, we are a political people and we do have a national government and Donald Trump will be our president for the next four years if the Electoral College votes for him (and I have little doubt they will). I think that we need to do everything possible to make Trump’s presidency a success, meaning that we need to work with him to urge a continuation of intelligent social and environmental programs. What we should not do is what Republicans have consistently done throughout Democratic administrations and that is simply refuse to cooperate and do anything constructive for the nation. What we need to do is to express our real value that the role of government is to govern and not just to fight over personalities and power. So the Republicans now hold the power; we need to help them use that power for good deeds. I know that is a real challenge, but it is a challenge we must embrace.