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The Silver Linings of Trump’s Victory [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2025-01-09

Since the election, there has been enormous grief among liberals like myself. As we prepare to defend our loved ones, whose suffering was Trump’s number one campaign promise, and as we work to ensure our democratic infrastructure survives the next four years, we also have to struggle daily to understand how a majority of our fellow Americans could choose a petty, vulgar, criminal fascist over competent, democratic governance. How did this country get so hateful? So ignorant? So petty and unserious? Maybe it’s not that surprising of a result for a culture that treats politics like reality television, but it also seems that a lot of people just don’t care about prosperity as long as someone else is suffering more than they are.

It’s a hard reckoning, but liberals like me can no longer claim that this isn’t who we are or treat 2016 as a fluke. The American people have chosen false promises of security over liberty, fear over courage, ignorance over character, and economics over principles. (Though many Trump supporters were likely too uninformed/misinformed to even know what they were voting for.)

This election could be remembered as the day the American Century ended, not with a bang but a resigned sigh. We may be remembered as the first generation of Americans to vote away our freedoms. We could be the generation that lets democracy die.

But that all depends on what we do next. There’s a long fight ahead, but there are many reasons to think that the MAGA movement is not as impervious as it seems and that it’s not too late to set things right and restore America’s promise if we just stay in the fight.

1) Attacks on Our Electoral System Just Lost Their Rationale

Like it or not, nothing could restore faith in our electoral system like a decisive Republican victory. All their claims of election theft and voter fraud have been exposed as the lies they always were. Republicans can no longer claim that the system doesn’t work, and the rationale for their attacks on voting and democracy is gone, leaving our system more secure.

The rallying belief of Republicans for the past four years has been the idea that the 2020 election was stolen from them. Yet, the massive turnout of Republican voters shows that they knew all along that it was a lie. They wouldn’t vote if they really believed it wouldn’t count. And if Democrats could steal an election, you can be damn sure they would have stolen this one.

Now Trumpists have to face the fact that they’ve been chasing a lie for the past four years, that January 6 was an attempt to overthrow a legitimate election, and that it was Trump all along who was attempting to steal the presidency. And when Trump pardons the treasonous January 6 rioters, Republicans will know, even if they won’t admit, that they’ve aligned themselves with traitors and criminals, even as they continue pretending to care about law and order.

2) Trump Is Not a Serious Person

It’s important to remember that Trump is lazy, incompetent, and “a fucking moron.” He doesn’t really care about politics or governance; he’s just in it for the adulation and attention. He has no long-term strategy, and he’ll scrap his promises and plans in an instant to keep all eyes on himself and his fans cheering.

Truthfully, he’ll likely spend most of his time playing golf and holding rallies. As in his first term, he’ll also simply forget to do many of the things he promised or make a half-hearted symbolic effort, claim victory, and wander off like he did with Chinese tariffs, the border wall, reforming NAFTA, and so on. He’s promised some truly terrifying things, but his ability to execute is but a tiny fraction of his ability to run his mouth.

Similarly, while his cabinet picks are abominable on their face, it’s also to be expected that such a thoroughly unqualified group of TV personalities will accomplish little. Just look at the 2022 Republican House circus. Trump’s cabinet picks are terrible, but in a completely ludicrous way. If Trump is Hitler, he’s comic-sans Hitler, scribbled with a crayon. Because, to be truly evil, you actually have to give a shit about something.

3) The Trump Administration Is About to Get Musked

Elon Musk just bought Trump like he bought Twitter, and we know how that turned out. We can expect him to manage the Trump administration just as skillfully.

4) Economic Disaster Could Be a Gift to the Environment

There’s good reason to worry about what Trump’s policies will do to the planet, yet his economic policies are likely to put the brakes on the global economy. That will hurt, but it might also buy the planet some much-needed time.

5) We’re About to Find Out How Much We Depend on Immigrants

After a campaign centered on demonizing immigrants, conservatives are about to learn the hard way just how much our economy and way of life depend on them, documented and not. We could be about to see a major change of heart on an issue currently defined by animosity and dehumanization. At the very least, we can trust that the business community that sponsors the Republican party won’t give up their dirt-cheap labor without a fight.

6) Evangelical Hypocrisy Is on Full Display

It’s no secret to anyone who’s not an evangelical that modern Christianity consists of the complete and total rejection of everything Jesus Christ taught. This disconnect is only going to become more visible and untenable, and we can expect the decline of this power bloc to accelerate in the next few years as anyone with a shred of dignity left jumps ship.

While I don’t mean to downplay the dangers of breaching the separation of church and state, if this does come to pass, bringing Jesus into the classroom might not actually be so bad. If Republicans think public schools are bastions of liberal indoctrination now, wait until they start teaching from the Bible and find out that Jesus was a Democrat.

7) If Trump Actually Acts on His Promises, It Will Crush His Base of Support

The impact of Trump’s economic “concepts of a plan” is already felt. Many companies are planning layoffs and canceling year-end bonuses in anticipation of the hardship Trump’s tariffs and deportations will bring. By most accounts, Trump won this election in large part because people are mad about high prices. When Trump’s policies only make this worse, and they will if his backers let him proceed, the blowback will be swift and intense.

This is what happens when a party inexplicably comes to power by running on unpopular policies. Heather Cox Richardson writes, “The gap between what Trump has promised MAGA supporters and what voters want is creating confusion in national politics. How can Trump deliver the national abortion ban MAGAs want when sixty-five percent of voters want abortion rights? How can he deport all undocumented immigrants, including those who have been here for decades and integrated into their communities, while his own voters say they want undocumented immigrants to have a path to citizenship?”

I recommend Jennifer Rubin’s article in The Washington Post titled “Trump can keep campaign promises or be popular. Not both.” (gift link) The title says it all.

8) No More Blaming Everything on Liberals and Democrats

The brightest silver lining of Trump’s reelection, in my opinion, is that Republicans don’t get to blame the rest of us for their failures anymore. When Trump’s policies backfire, when he embarrasses our country and leaves us more divided than ever, when prices rise and government services fail, when civil rights are trampled and our global influence wanes, they don’t get to come bitching to the rest of us. This is what they voted for, this is what they wanted, and whatever happens now is all on them. After their next tantrum, mommy won’t be there to pick up the mess. “Their monkey, their circus,” as my wife likes to say.

Without their denial, excuses, and scapegoats, Trump’s supporters are going to be forced to see him for what he is. As it slowly dawns on them how badly they’ve been manipulated, they are not going to take it well. The right-wing mediaverse will always find ways to blame everything on the left, but the fact will remain that Republicans control every lever of government power, and when they fail to deliver results, their perpetually riled-up voters are going to be very pissed off.

The vengeance and self-pity platform works great for a party out of power, but now that the Republicans are politically dominant, they’re going to have to deliver on all their promises and prove that they can do better. Which they most definitely can’t. It’s not easy to pivot from a platform of grievance and obstruction to one that can actually govern and solve problems as, again, the 2022 House Republicans powerfully demonstrated.

9) This Could Be the Beginning of the End for MAGA

This election may prove to be the Pyrrhic victory that finally destroys the MAGA movement. Their entire reason for being is to battle the liberals and Democrats they think have oppressed them. It’s all about underdog resistance. Once we’re not there to push against, they’re going to fall on their faces. Then, as they try to seek out new enemies to blame their problems on, it seems all too likely that the movement will fracture and consume itself.

Their sense of victimhood and persecution has been the only thing holding them together. Now that they hold all the power, their victim identity is gone, and their motivating force dissipated. History is full of examples of popular movements crumbling right at the apex of their power. The trick will be for the rest of us to endure the inevitable hardships to come and not try to save them from themselves.

After the election, I expected a lot of gloating and celebration on the right, but what happened was short-lived. Most Republicans and conservatives still seem completely irate, even in victory. Maybe it’s all they know, but maybe they never really wanted to be in charge, preferred to play the victim, and are only now realizing the responsibilities they’ve laid upon themselves.

For all their talk of “liberal tears,” you’d think they’d be thrilled about all the women who cried on their way to work the day after the election. Or the gay parents who can’t sleep because they might have their families dissolved. Or the trans people who are about to become a legal underclass because they had the audacity to think that freedom means living the way you want. But I suspect they’ve been focused on hatred and vindictiveness for so long that they no longer know how to experience joy.

Many Republicans like the big, angry, violent rhetoric of Trump’s rallies because it was all spectacle and hoopla. It wasn’t ever supposed to become real. And now that it has, they’re left with the realization of the kind of people they’ve become, the kind of example they’ve set, and the path of decline they’ve committed our country to.

10) Sometimes Things Need to Break So Something Better Can Arise

This is a hard one to swallow, but sometimes, things have to break before they can get better. Maybe the destruction of Trump’s second term is necessary in the way an egg must shatter for new life to emerge. If Trump burns it all to the ground, so be it. We did all we could to stop it, but the majority chose this. No empire can last forever, and like most of those before us, ours will crumble from the inside.

We have to face the fact that the very system we seek to salvage has failed us irreparably. It contained the seeds of its own destruction. Now’s the time to start thinking about what we’ll build on the ashes because the power of dreams is always greater than the hatred of the hopeless. Our victory will come off the heels of MAGA’s self-destruction, and we need to be ready.

Because one final lesson of the election is this: We can’t rely on a president, a political party, or the government to solve all our problems. We can’t rely on corporations, newspapers, courts, or churches either. We have to do it ourselves, locally, person to person, because everything that cannot bleed is an abstraction, as fickle as the wind. And because the biggest beneficiaries of the existing system, i.e., those with money and power, will always defend that status quo. If these next four years restore our confidence in ourselves — the bedrock of actual democracy — it may all be worth it.

Moreover, much of what we’re fighting for is arguably not worth saving. This culture is frequently soul-sucking, nihilistic, and antithetical to life. It’s a suicidal culture, single-mindedly focused on consuming the natural systems and resources our survival depends on. Frankly, a society founded on cynicism, speed, disposability, profitability, and ease was never going to last. We’re due for a reset — our survival may depend on it — and though we should do all we can to minimize the suffering such transitions entail, it will be worth the price if we can find ourselves living, on the other side, in a society founded on truth, justice, beauty, and prioritizing the needs of human beings over those of corporations and politicians.

Our Hope Is Bigger Than Their Hate

The biggest reason to stay hopeful right now is us. While there is much wailing and despair online, most liberals have responded with resolve, hopefulness, and a recommitment to our principles of justice, tolerance, democracy, and truth. We’re finding ways to come together and defend what’s worth defending. We’re tired and beaten and sad, but we’re not giving up.

Our strength is that we’re driven not by anger and vengeance but by love and the promise of a better future. If we can hold to that, we cannot be defeated. This election is a major setback, but it’s only that. No victory is final, and nothing is over.

In an article titled “Retreat is not an option” in The Washington Post, Dana Milbank writes, “The authoritarians want us to retreat. They build their power by fabricating constant crises that exhaust us and drive us into despair and isolation.” He then provides this advice: “Rest. Breathe. Grieve. And then reengage, to fight for the lives of all who are scared and threatened by this regime.”

What will be the outcome of the next four years? We’ll see. But even as we endure obvious hardships, we can’t let go of the idea that these are necessary steps on our way to something better because such faith is self-fulfilling. Human history is a story of unfathomable tragedy and injustice, but more importantly, it is the story of people overcoming tragedy and injustice over and over. And while there will never be a final triumph over the evils of the world, we find our meaning and our purpose in the struggle. So let’s get started.

Now is our time to rise to the occasion. To be the people who fought back and refused to give up. Heroes arise when times seem their darkest, and right now, in this moment, we can choose to be those heroes.

*If you enjoyed this piece, please consider subscribing to my Substack newsletter, Hope Anyway. Thanks for reading!

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