The US Election

So, they elected a demagogue.

As Jonathan Freedland so succinctly said:

Donald Trump has fought a presidential campaign like no other. He has mocked opponents for their looks, belittled women, disparaged war heroes, damned ethnic and other minorities in crude, bigoted language, jeered at disabled people, beaten his chest with bellicose promises of state-sponsored violence that would trample on the US constitution and trigger a third world war, and told dozens and dozens of lies every day."

President-Elect Donald Trump is part of the establishment his supporters that people were reacting against. Not the political establishment (although his ties to it are long and strong), but still very much the establishment. His supporters were also reacting against inclusiveness, diversity, consideration, respect and kindness. They reveled in it. So what will a Trump victors mean to the stereotyped blue collar Trump supporter? Will they get what they want in terms of a 'better life'? Will the establishment be brought to heel?

To me, what that means is all we’re going to see for lower income earners is a redistribution of resources between social groups. Once again the poor will be fighting over a shrinking slice of the economic pie because the top one-percent have just been given the opportunity to take more of it.
Trump is the one-percent and the republicans will take off the poor and middle class to give to the rich. Inequalities will increase, poverty will increase, poor health will increase and the bottom 50% income earners will fight among themselves even more for scraps from the tables of the rich – it’s just that different poor than now will appear to have the ear of government, and different poor will be the biggest losers among this economically deprived sector.

The republicans hold all the cards, the only disagreement they have is protectionism-immigration (Brexit anyone?) and they will work that through in favour of themselves.

• healthcare will again be privatised and reproductive rights curtailed
• education will be further privatised
• infrastructure build will be done by private firms
• private security and military will increase
• costs of things poor people spend their money on will increase as trade barriers go up
• blue collar jobs will disappear at a more rapid rate than now as people who need the stuff they produce cannot afford to buy

And that’s not even mentioning how environmental and climate change non-policy and changing international relations will affect them, or the civil and civic rights changes that will come into play.
The Democrats have a lot to answer for by not selecting Sanders. Sanders was a dead cert to be a transformative leader and would have bested Trump. But they were set on giving Clinton her turn, confirming a political class divide. I cringed every time the Clinton campaign turned up with celebrity backing – entrenching the notion of privilege and completely misreading the people they needed to communicate with.

In the meantime the most privileged of all on the other team with their perma-tans, botox and glitz were looking like a family that had just put gladrags on to go to a party rather than what they were; polished performers who lived a life of privilege all the time.

The question is for leftist Americans is how to reform that party? Abandoning it will leave the left without the resources they need to be a viable option at the next elections. It must be taken back and reformed. British Labour has managed to see off the neo-liberal portion of their party for now, will the Democrats be able to do the same? For as long as private money runs politics, I’m not hopeful.