America entering turbulent times – Jamaica Observer

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Former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on November 4, 2024.(Photo: AFP)

Okay, I have eggs all over my face. I am eating crow. I had stated, categorically, that Donald J Trump would have lost the presidential election. As it turned out, he won convincingly to the dismay of many, including myself. Not only did he win the required electoral college votes, but he won the popular vote by over five million votes.

If the truth be told, as it ought to be, and as I try to do in this space, Donald Trump has been one of the most resilient politicians of the 21st century. One does not have to like him to admit this. There are few politicians who, by their own despicable behaviour, could have survived as he did and go on to score the resounding victory he got.

With all his valid legal troubles — his unrelenting campaigns for office whose characteristics were measured in lies, fabrications and demeaning threats to his opponents whom he characterised as enemies — one would have thought that his political life was numbered. But here he is sitting at the pinnacle of American power, more emboldened and determined to change America for good.

Before analysing the implications of his win, an assessment of Vice-President Kamala Harris’s loss is in order. There is no doubt that she ran a spirited and focused campaign. She was energetic and determined, but she was up against some serious headwinds which she could not overcome in the short time she had.

Blame for her loss has been flying around like dust in a storm. This is to be expected when parties lose a general election, especially in this magnitude. They cannibalise each other in order to escape blame themselves.

I mention two perspectives. One of the big headwinds is the racism and misogyny that are still deeply embedded in American society. I believe that this was one of the most important and largely silent issues that accounted for her loss. I say silent because racism and misogyny are not subjects that Americans discuss openly, or are comfortable with, although they are such important elements of the country’s social disfunction, especially racism. For all it is worth, it is not lost on me that the two times Trump won the presidency he was up against two female opponents. The only time he lost was against a man.

There is still a large segment of the American society who cannot abide a woman ruling over them. And this is not only among white men, but men in general, including black and Latino men. So, for those with this disposition, Harris was faced with a double dilemma, for not only is she a woman, but she is black. The latter may have accounted for why so many white women rejected her and broke for Trump despite his obvious denigration of womanhood. It has been noted that a good number of Gen Z women (18-25 years) supported Trump.

The second headwind is what I characterise as mainstream media arrogance and its implicit support for Trump. They do not like the elite label, but mainstream media in America tends to believe so dearly in the cogency of their analysis that their pundits seem to believe in the sanctity of their reflections and conclusions, and the rest of America should too. Thus, they fail to reckon seriously with the reality that many people face in their daily lives. They are often deaf to what people are saying to them.

A glaring example of this is how they missed, resoundingly, the message from poor and working-class Americans of the economic hardships they were experiencing despite what the pundits were saying about the strong Biden economy. They wasted a lot of time trying to convince themselves and the wider society that the economy was robust, which it is, but that where it mattered for people in their pocketbooks, they were not feeling it. And people vote their feelings, which became palpably clear last Tuesday.

So, mainstream media do polling based on their own jaundiced view of what people think, and not on what is happening on the ground. In their mainstream silos they failed to hear the cry of the people on so many fronts. Instead, they spent a lot of time promoting Trump by reporting every word out of his mouth, thus giving him untold millions of dollars in free advertisement and helping him to get his word out.

So, there is a great deal of soul searching that has to be done by mainstream media. Part of that is to reckon with the fact that many people, especially young people, no longer get their news or information from mainstream media sources, but from a vast array of non-traditional digital sources such as YouTube and the many available podcasts. The morality of young people today that is being shaped by social media is vastly different from that of their parents and grandparents, the great majority of whom still derive their news source from mainstream media. It would appear that Netflix is fast becoming a respite from the tired and jaded jabbering of mainstream media.

So, Trump won. Now the big question is: What next? What of the future for America and the world? One of the reasons that I did not support Trump in his bids for president lies in what I perceived to be his unsuitability for office. I have not resiled from this thought. If anything, it has become more ironclad in my mind.

By his own words and actions, he demonstrated that he does not have the temperament to be president; that although he has distanced himself from the Republican blueprint for governance called Project 2025, he is solidly committed to what that document aims to achieve. I do not believe that Trump has read the document in its entirety or, if he has, whether he understands the ramifications of what he might have read.

Furthermore, he has breathed out threatenings against his perceived enemies. One should have no doubt that he will use the arms and agencies of government to go after these enemies and anyone who would dare to oppose him. To remedy a wrong or slight done against him is something that is deeply woven into his DNA.

So, what I fear as he assumes office on January 20, 2025 is that the country will be entering into one of its most turbulent periods ever. I believe it will be a period characterised by chaos and recrimination as the politics of vengeance and revenge are fully engaged, and as important arms of government such as the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Department of Justice (DOJ) are brought under the aegis of the president as chief executive or, better, king.

It will be a time of fear as the detention of illegal immigrants is put in full gear. It will take the collective will of civil society to push back against manifest injustices that are bound to emerge. But then, protests may be met with brutality. No one knows exactly what Trump’s relationship with the military may be. He has more than hinted that he would like to have greater control over it; that he would like to have generals of the calibre of Hitler’s who would be willing to do his biddings without question. It will be interesting to see how this one plays out. In his first term, Trump did not have a wholistic relationship with the military, members of which he characterised as losers.

So, on the face of it, I believe the country will be in for a rough ride, and so will the rest of the world. So, put your seat belts on we are entering into a period of turbulence.

Dr Raulston Nembhard is a priest, social commentator, and author of the books: Finding Peace in the Midst of Life’s Storms; The Self-esteem Guide to a Better Life and Beyond Petulance: Republican Politics and the Future of America. Check out his podcast, Mango Tree Dialogues, on his YouTube channel. Send comments to the Jamaica Observer or stead6655@aol.com.

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America entering turbulent times – Jamaica Observer

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