I think the most accurate word for this election is dispiriting, completely and utterly dispiriting. I was willing to accept the many foibles of the U.S. (despite our wealth, the U.S. scores low on most international metrics of quality of life ) as long as I could believe that things are getting better, even when the progress has been painfully slow.
But what we saw on November 8 was so dispiriting because it makes us question the premise that our country is fundamentally good and that we will, when given the proper facts and choices, make smart, moral choices for the good of the country. Votes for Trump were motivated by some proportion of racism, sexism, self-interest, and ignorance, we will be arguing about what those proportions are for some time. We do have real, significant problems in this country and people are right to demand change, but Trump is a transparent con man using racism and divisions instead of real plans or solutions.
It is also dispiriting because all of our institutions have failed us, our media failed us, our two-party system failed us, the pollsters failed us, the Democratic Party failed us, and we failed as voters. The media was obsessed with polls and scandals and treated an election with real life and death consequences, as just another reality show. They showed the entertaining scandals, real and imagined, they showed the polling results displayed as a sports game, but they rarely showed policy differences or the impacts of those policy differences. In hindsight, all those months with thousands of hours of media coverage of polls turned out to be utterly wrong and completely worthless.
We are in the middle of the hottest year on record, the fate of the planet hangs in the balance, and the media refused to ask a single question on climate change during four debates. Trump thinks climate change, which is supported by hundreds of thousands of scientific papers, dozens of global climate models, thousands of data sets, is a hoax and no one in the media thought they should ask him why. Similarly, they never asked him what would replace Obamacare after he repealed it, or why tax cuts for the rich would lead to broad prosperity this time when they never have before.
But the Democratic Party and the two-party system also failed us. Something had to go terribly wrong to lose to Donald Trump. In an election where voters demanded change because they are falling behind in our two-tiered, rigged economy, the Democratic Party was was only able to offer the status quo–the ultimate insider candidate, made rich from her insider status, and seemingly selected by insiders before the primary–and the Party was only able to sell their candidate through fear of the other side.
For decades we were told we had to accept centrist neoliberal policies to win elections, but these policies turned out to be a clear and complete electoral failure. Just eight years after the epic failures of the Bush years, the GOP is back in control of the House, Senate, most states, the courts, and the presidency. Partly this is a result of dark money, voter suppression, gerrymandering and relentless misinformation by the GOP, but the Democratic Party has also done too little to cultivate an enthusiastic base. We have failed to articulate and support strong policies to create shared prosperity, and to fight inequality and the rigged economy.
After a financial crisis caused by widespread, systemic fraud that nearly brought down the global economy, no bankers were jailed and the big banks and bonuses are now bigger than ever. Clinton proposed reasonable but limited reforms and taxes, but made the disastrous decision to get rich off of huge speaking fees from Wall Street banks. Trump would deregulate Wall Street and make things far worse.
Obama was able to pass the Paris Agreement on climate and important regulations on greenhouse gas emissions; it is too little too late, likely still leading to catastrophic 3°C warming, but it was tangible progress made against strong GOP opposition. Clinton had a strong, far-reaching climate plan, but she talked about it too little and failed to make the clear differences with Trump a campaign issue. Trump thinks climate change is a hoax and wants to eliminate many environmental regulations; four years of Trump will most likely destroy any remaining chance of avoiding catastrophic levels of warming.
Too many people in the U.S. suffer from severe economic insecurity, about 62% have less than $1000 in savings. Schools are unequal, day care is too expensive, college is increasingly unaffordable, health care premiums and deductibles are growing, and retirement is too often out of reach. The human costs of poverty are increasingly steep and jobs are increasingly part-time, temporary, or insecure. Democrats, seemingly still in denial about the levels of economic insecurity in the US, offered increased minimum wage and more help for college, while Trump offered convenient scapegoats–immigrants and trade.
Obama didn’t help by fighting hard to try and pass the TPP trade bill despite concerns about increased pharmaceutical prices, inadequate labor standards, and the undemocratic ISDS. Clinton claimed to oppose TPP, but she supported it as Secretary of State and was silent during the fight over fast-track status. Trump used TPP and past trade deals to win vital votes in the Rust Belt from voters hit hardest by stagnant wages and loss of jobs.
Obama did pass Obamacare, which helped millions of people and had some very good aspects, but it was a GOP-designed plan that is a poor (yet very expensive) alternative to the universal healthcare every other advanced country enjoys. Clinton wanted to make some adjustments while saying single-payer would ‘never, ever happen’. Trump promised to repeal Obamacare and he would only describe his replacement policy as ‘something terrific’.
The Democrats expanded the vast, unaccountable surveillance state, covert wars, and drone warfare of the Bush years. Clinton also supported these policies and voted for the disastrous invasion of Iraq. Now we have to pass off broad powers and a vast surveillance state to an unstable, vindictive President Trump. We have given presidents almost unlimited foreign policy power including the ability to assassinate American citizens, now we have to trust Trump to use it wisely.
Americans rightly believe the government is too strongly influenced by big donors. The insurance companies dictate health care policy, the pharmaceutical companies avoid price controls, defense contractors profit from war, and Wall Street gets custom made tax breaks and get out of jail free cards. The top 25 hedge fund managers made more than all kindergarten teachers combined and still paid a low tax rate. Obama and Clinton both support campaign finance reform, but they haven’t made it a priority and Clinton pushed the envelope of campaign finance regulations. Under Trump we can expect elimination of the remaining spending limits, more voter suppression, and more lobbyists in government.
The trend is clear, Democrats offered mostly decent, but inadequate and uninspiring policies, Trump offered nonsensical or very destructive policies. Despite her scandals, real and imagined, Clinton was obviously the better choice–smart, prepared, emotionally stable, and offering better policies. Trump is a pathological liar; to the extent he bothered to articulate policies, they hurt the very voters he was appealing to. But with a media uninterested in policy, a Democratic Party that failed to provide a compelling alternative vision, and did too little to engage on policy differences, an electorate desperate for change, and two flawed (although not equally flawed) and unpopular candidates, voters did the unthinkable. Just a few years ago President Trump was a punchline on the Simpsons, now it is our reality.
The next 4 years are likely to be increasingly dispiriting and also uncertain and dangerous. The worst case scenario is really, really bad. We are left hoping that rational republicans will provide some limits on Trump, a hope that is not supported by recent history. The only silver lining I can find is that maybe this will finally wake people up, make them treat politics seriously again, get mobilized, organize and demand a government and a Democratic Party that really represents us, the best of us.
