Welcome to Amerika

 

“There is not a thing that comes to mind in terms of – and I’ve been a part of most of the decisions that have had impact, the work that we have done.” Kamala Harris during an October interview on ABC’s “The View” on how she was different from Biden

“Kamala Harris lost this election when she pivoted to focus almost exclusively on attacking Donald Trump… Voters already know everything there is about Trump – but they still wanted to know more about Harris’ plans for the first hour, first day, first month and first year of her administration… It was a colossal failure for her campaign to shine the spotlight on Trump more than on Harris’ own ideas.” Veteran pollster Frank Luntz on X

John Stewart excoriated pollsters on his Daily Show. They never figured it out. Yet, the Democrats self-emolliated in oh, so many ways, all while operating in a political system labeled as a “flawed democracy” (per the UK The Economist) based on: gerrymandered districts, legitimized voter suppression, an inane “Electoral College” (the only one of its kind on earth), supermajority rules where it matters most (including the Senate 60-vote majority required to bring a bill to a vote), two Senate seats where Wyoming (with 600,000 people) is the equal of California (with 39 million)… a mandate that cannot be amended, distorting the First Amendment into a legally open spigot of mis- and dis-information, with a constitution that is virtually unamendable in a polarized universe, a lifetime appointed Supreme Court justices with no ethical limits, and the reality of 13,000 school districts which have become local political footballs. If we can even use the term “American democracy,” it is definitely not a representative democracy. 2024 isn’t 1789.

The Democratic Party’s choices also doomed its demise. Joe Biden evidenced his age, even as Trump’s elderly status was ignored. Biden should have declined a second run and let the next generation duke it out for the nomination. It was axiomatic that his VP would rise in a last-minute withdrawal, a mixed-race woman in an increasingly misogynist, racist nation, with a mass of terrified voters living on fear and mythology, many seeking comfort in the possibility of a white Christian nationalist nation. But what tipped the election heavily was that large, heavily male Hispanic (white?) segment that tilted several swing states, in a vote for machismo values. As bankruptcy and financial fraud king Trump hammered exaggerated evils of immigration and made vague “I was on the Apprentice” projections of his economic expertise, Harris focused on attack.

With the Senate securely in GOP control, Trump knows he can reconfigure the federal government for decades. Senate confirmations of Trumps’s cabinet appointments, federal judges and Supreme Court justices (Alito and Thomas are likely to resign to allow much younger justices to reign for their lifetimes), and hence bureaucrats that will restructure the federal government for decades, are so long-term pervasive that he really does not have to use force to create the autocracy he seeks. We await the determination of the House races, but a GOP win there would give Trump total control of all three branches of the federal government.

The state with the biggest loss, even as it reelected a super-majority Dem legislature under a Democratic governor and two Democratic Senators, is California. Governor Gavin Newsom, seen by many as a probable presidential candidate in 2028, loses his political position in 2022 (termed out) from which to launch a presidential bid. The rising star in California is clearly newly elected Senator Adam Schiff (since he was also part of the special election, his term starts immediately). Schiff has an advantage as a most-outspoken moderate liberal, able to withstand attacks by MAGA opponents with dignified force. My advice to the next California governor: take a page from the Republican governors in Texas and Florida… resist, defy and obfuscate Trump’s policies mightily, even if courts force otherwise.

We live in a new America, where we have literally “weaponized” the First and Second Amendments – we have more guns than people (including 20-30 million semiautomatic assault rifles with few guardrails) – and legitimized baseless attacks on opponents, suborned destructive conspiracies as “alternative facts,” made racism and political violence acceptable and have created a Plutarchic Citizens United vs FEC, where money from the mega-rich legitimately allows the powerful to have unlimited influence in the media marketplace, a crime in most other democracies.

I’ve kept this short for obvious reasons. There is a great deal of post-election revisionism and iteration of that which seems obvious in 2020 hindsight. The test of democracy, the question of American credibility (especially with our allies, knowing Trump/Musk have a direct line to Putin), the survivability of our system of government and the impact of bizarre Trump policies on our economy… will be tested over the next four years. American values have changed. The definition of our future, in almost every way, is up for grabs. And that will also shape global politics in expected ways as we disengage from our traditional role in influence and economic interdependence.

I’m Peter Dekom, and in the words of Donald John Trump, the 47th Presidential of the United States, prepare to “stand back and standby.”