What's Next
I can’t lie. I thought Kamala would win. How could America elect a known felon and adjudicated rapist? The answer is simply that many voters disengaged and stayed home. The election was decided by low information voters who believed the mis/disinformation and bought into a candidate who echoed their own racist and misogynistic ideology.
The mainstream media’s policy of bothsidesism or false balance is “a media bias in which journalists present an issue as being more balanced between opposing viewpoints than the evidence supports. Journalists may present evidence and arguments out of proportion to the actual evidence for each side or may omit information that would establish one side's claims as baseless. False balance has been cited as a cause of misinformation” according to the well-known research database, Wikipedia (sarcasm).
This policy has led, in part, to the disengagement of democratic voters. Now the information news sources most people rely on are social media. Ask yourself “who controls the information you get from social media sources?” They are the Musks, Bezoses, and Zuckermans of the world – some of the richest people on the planet. People who paid to get Trump re-elected. Fact checking be damned. Can we say, “conflict of interest?” And the income gap continues to grow. Fortunately, there are independent sources, such as Marc Elias’ Democracy Docket, that offer a more unbiased perspective. When mainstream and social media “sanewashes” Trump’s dictatorial behavior, these independent sources may provide a more unvarnished explication of his behavior.
There are several important things to remember as we move past the 2024 election. Trump is a troll. He loves attention and will say whatever outlandish nonsense to remain in the spotlight. Renaming the Gulf of Mexico is an example, something that will have zero impact on American’s day-to-day lives. You can call it the Gulf of I Don’t Give a Fuck, for all I care. Don’t buy into it.
Trump isn’t very smart. He still does not really understand the impact of tariffs on American consumers or that seeking asylum doesn’t mean that immigrants come from “insane asylums.” He doesn’t know how magnets work. The Executive Orders issued on day 1 of his presidency have offended many of his base and other Americans. For example, most Americans oppose pardoning the January 6 terrorists who stormed the Capitol and committed violence against the police. So much for the party of law and order. A smart person doesn’t offend his base.
Trump is a figurehead who doesn’t care about much other than cheating at golf. He doesn’t care about what typical Americans experience on a daily basis – like the price of eggs. He only cares about himself. His cabinet selections are mostly figureheads as well. Real decisions about the operation of federal agencies they represent will be made by deputy secretaries and under-secretaries. Let’s hope they have more sense and exercise better judgment than RFK, Jr. and Pete Hegseth, for example.
The solutions: what can we do? Don’t disengage. Stay aware of what’s happening in Trump world. Get involved in any way you can and act locally. Republicans have the slimmest majority in a very long time. Members of the House of Representatives come up for election in 2026. Many other state elections come up even earlier. In Texas, where I live, some elections come up as early as February 2025. Be an advocate and role model. We know that the most vulnerable members of society will be targeted. Do what you can to support them. Most of all, don’t comply in advance. In fact, don’t comply at all whenever possible.
We know what we’re up against. Remember, #when we fight, we win.