Well – the 2024 election is over and I thought I would bring
it to a close with this final post on the issue. As previously stated, I am a small “I”
independent and have never registered as a Democrat or a Republican. Except for Barack Obama and Joe Biden - I
have voted for Ralph Nader in nearly every other Presidential election that I
have voted in. As you can see from
recent posts, I absolutely did not want Trump or his minions anywhere near the
White House again. It is astounding that
it has happened. To make sense of it –
sometime last night the media started to spin it as Trump being some kind of
genius or popular hero. That lacks any
real explanatory power. The media has done an incredible job during this
election making Trump seem to be a normal Presidential candidate when he
is far from it. It was quite a spectacle this morning watching the morning TV
gang falling all over themselves making this seem like a miracle – when they
essentially staged it.
You do not have to be a psychiatrist to see the obvious
problems here but apparently it helps. I have listened to Trump voters
interviewed and during those interviews they can provide no rationale for their
vote. I have listened to young voters interviewed
and it was not clear that they knew anything about how voting works in the
United States. Young voters are
criticized for being ideologically self-centered as if older voters are not. The
only voters that made sense were self-identified Republicans who could not vote
for Trump based on his attempt to overthrow the elected government of the
United States. You would think that
would be a hard stop for any law-abiding citizen. Back in the day when I took civics, I think
it was referred to a treason. Beyond
that small problem, nobody seems to recall all of the other the legal problems
that would keep the average person from getting an interview just a few years
ago. Somebody posted that Americans need
to stop pretending that they are superior to everyone else when they put a guy
like Trump in the White House. Trump
could not get a job at Piggly Wiggly and he is now President of the United States. That personifies everything that is currently wrong
with the United States.
There has been no discussion of the the rhetoric used in this campaign particularly Trump's. To cite one example, in a previous post about the initial debate with Biden - Trump suggested Biden had “destroyed” the country (he used the word destroy 22 times) and he is the “worst” President – (he used the word worst 22 times). All that despite the fact that Trump produced no useful content on policy and did not respond to Biden's comment that in a scholarly ranking of presidential achievement - Trump was dead last (Biden was 14 out of 45 and that has probably improved). This has been Trump's strategy in every speech. No content and irrational personal attacks. He attacked Harris' ethnicity and called her a "bitch" several times as well as many other derogatory names and insults. And there was no criticism of this by anyone apart from Biden in the debate, who was characterized instead as old and feeble.
Of course, Trump opponents are also issuing conciliatory
statements acknowledging the win and wishing him the best. They are doing everything he would not do and
ignoring all his vicious name calling along the way. I have not heard the usual
platitudes about how he is the President for all Americans yet – but it will be
coming. Let’s face it – he is not the
President for all Americans. He is the
President for the powerful and the gullible.
He was described as a transactional President by the BBC
today (1). In other words what does he get
out of what he gives in negotiations. It
came up in a conversation with a Ukrainian Prime Minister Kira Rudik reminding everyone
that Trump said he would solve the war in Ukraine in one day. And later that he would solve the war in
Ukraine before he was in office. Those
are the first of many failures that I will be looking for and pointing
out. Trump is completely disingenuous
and I expect to see a long list of failures.
One major point that seems to be missed about this election outcome is that it is a textbook example of how rhetoric alone can carry the day – even when there is a complete lack of substance. This is a critical point that I have not seen analyzed by anyone. If anything – the press is still reacting to Trump’s rhetoric as though it is true. The economy is a clear example. Trump has described it as a disastrous failed economy due to Biden and Harris. The press still accepts that despite the recent edition of the Economist pointing out it is an outstanding economy as far as economies go. There is the other reality piece that Presidents don’t have that much of an effect on the economy anyway – but the economy persists as a top explanation why Trump won. It really wasn’t the economy – it was false rhetorical ideas about the economy. The second most common narrative to explain the results is that Trump sold himself to the commoners as someone who would attack the “elites” and either burn the system down or taken them all down a notch. I heard Mark Cuban on Sam Harris’s podcast describing the elites as basically anyone Trump wanted to criticize – generals, doctors, etc. So the elites are basically the rhetorical targets of Trump. They don’t really meet any unique definition of elites. And the definition of elites is quite wide ranging from people with special abilities to the wealthy class. Is a general concerned about Trump’s treatment of military veterans and war casualties an elitist? What about the billionaires all circling around Trump and Trump himself? They are after all some of the wealthiest people in the world. What about people who are clearly above the law compared with the rest of us? Any application of the elitist explanation must leave out the fact that Trump is one of the biggest elites of them all.
The failure to see Trump as the character and intellectual
failure that he is seems matched by rationalizations that equate him to your
eccentric old uncle who shows up once a year at the family gatherings. During the past months where his style was
equated to autocracy (which it is) and Naziism (which it is not) – several
excuse makers came out and said that Trump could not possibly be a Nazi because
he is only interested in himself and not promoting any long-lasting ideology.
So, if he moves on the dark cloud will go with him. In another case, the Wall Street Journal
stated:
“We don't buy the fascism fears, and we doubt Democrats
really do either. Our own concern is whether he can successfully address the
country's urgent problems. Most second presidential terms are disappointing, or
worse, and Mr. Trump hasn't mapped out a clear agenda beyond controlling the
border and unleashing U.S. energy production.”
And
“The authoritarian rule that Democrats and the press
predicted never appeared. Mr. Trump was too undisciplined, and his attention
span too short, to stay on one message much less stage a coup. America's checks
and balances held, and Democrats benefited from the political backlash.”
Yes – they really are suggesting that we can rest reassured
that their candidate's cognitive limitations and complete lack of an agenda
should be reassuring that he can sit in the White House and not try to fashion
an autocracy with staying power when he has a raft of Mini-Mes at his
disposal. He has after all demolished
the Party of Lincoln to the point where it is no longer recognizable as a
legitimate political party and rendered it into a cult.
The other problem with all of this is that there is an
expectation somewhere that all Americans will accept this atrocious set of
affairs, reconcile with the people who voted for this man, and we will all be one
big happy family. That is very unlikely
to happen. What is likely to happens is
that Trump and his cronies are likely to “double down” on all their intrusions
into private life, functional government, and public safety. Even today we are hearing about how Kennedy
wants to eliminate FDA departments and Musk wants to impose a new austerity
standard on all Americans. The Rolling Stone quoted several proponents
of Project 2025 saying that they no longer must pretend that there is distance
from Trump and they can now own the connection. All of that translates to direct harm to the
people who voted for Trump thinking that he is somehow interested in them.
There needs to be resistance to this at every level. When the harm occurs it needs to be
documented whether that is maternal mortality because some politician thinks
they know how to manage pregnancy or increased infant mortality due to
vaccination limitations or worsening asthma as a direct result of lax air
quality standards. I think that violence,
gun violence, and violent crime will increase just because it is part of the
MAGA culture. Their standard response
that they are the law-and-order party no longer applies – because they are not.
There is a long list that I will record
over time. Expect a PowerPoint.
As all of this was churning in my brain last night – I
realized that Trump getting elected was just like me working on my acute care
unit just before I quit. I was lying in bed wide awake and feeling
like an electric current was running through my body. It was impossible to
relax. My heart rate was elevated. It
reminded me of why I can never go back to that kind of work again. Although I
did it for 22 years, at the end it was intolerable. I did not mind when the stress was due to
trying to help people resolve severe psychiatric problems. It was very problematic when the environment
became politicized and I was one of the targets. It also reminded me of the current danger, a
dangerous man, and a dangerous party and why it is more important to be loyal
and true to the idea of a country than a candidate. Stay vigilant and don’t let this extremely
bad turn of events get you down.
In the most basic final analysis – a vote for Trump was a
vote for lawlessness, resentment, dishonesty, and disrespect. It was a vote for big
business and CEOs, income inequality, climate change, government intrusion, and
autocrats worldwide.
How can that possibly end well?
George Dawson, MD, DFAPA
References:
1: Bensinger K, Yourish
K, Gold, M. Failing to Provoke Harris,
Trump Turns to Tried and True: Vulgarity.
New York Times. August 31,
2024. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/29/us/politics/trump-crass-imagery.html
2: Haberman M, Swan J. Inside the Worst Three Weeks of Donald
Trump’s 2024 Campaign. New York
Times. August 10, 2024. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/10/us/politics/trump-campaign-election.html
3: BBC News Hour November
6, 2024: Interview of Ukrainian PM Kira
Rudik (starts at 19 min 27 second mark): https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w172zb96nbcppzq
Graphics Credit: Thanks to Tyler Black @tylerblack32 for allowing me the use of one of his election graphics from X(formerly Twitter). See the entire sequence for his statistical commentary on the election dynamics.
