How do I feel? Erm, odd. I feel defeated, resigned, humbled and fearful.
Where shall I start? Fearful. There are so many similarities with Brexit. Like us, America is now divided down the middle and the worrying thing is that the two sides are more fiercely opposed to each other than is the norm in elections. It's not just normal political differences but two almost irreconcilably different views of the world. I was glad to hear Trump talking about uniting America because it's going to be a big job. Over here what has upset me is the way the winners are completely dismissive of the losers even though we're almost half the voters. The Brexit side also included many anti-immigrant and/or racist voices and some of those people now have the attitude 'we won so I can be as openly intolerant as I want now'. You may well find that in the US now.
Defeated and resigned because I sat up all night watching the BBC News channel and as the night went on I just felt my interest in politics drain from me. I think I've lost a bit of my fight. I kind of feel OK you guys are in control now, let's see what you can do and what promises you can deliver on. Over to you.
Humbled for two reasons. One that this has happened because, as I said the other day, the present political structures have let the poor get poorer and the rich get richer and they are angry. Also I'm having to get my head around the fact that there are certain liberal beliefs that I have like tolerance of others and their right to be different, equality of the sexes, equal rights for gay couples etc and I kind of presumed they were so fundamental that most people agreed. Well, at least half the population don't and I was naive to presume.
I could add 'frustrated'. In Brexit a lot of the leaders of that campaign were well-off, well connect, out of touch members of the ruling establishment but successfully passed themselves off as representing the 'little guy' and people fell for it. Same in the States. Trump is not a 'little guy'. He has his own plane for God's sake and the Republican party who now have total control is run by members of the establishment that Trump voters are sick off. Yet Trumpiters point to other establishment figures or liberal celebrities and criticise them for being the same as the people they support. It's too ironic for words.
You said in a post Zac that celebrities are perceived as out of touch and over privileged so being pro-Clinton didn't do any good for her in the eyes of people struggling to make ends meet. Chris (there you go, got him in!) is himself guilty of this and he is one of the least celebrity-like celebrities around. Nevertheless, a well known liberal, within a few hours of tweeting about his stay in a high class, hugely expensive resort most Trump voters couldn't afford a cup of coffee in, he's tweeting his obvious anti-Trump feelings. It's not long since he was doing the same about his stay in Caesar's Palace Nobu. Again he's advertising that his life is beyond the dreams of most Trump supporters and so they think liberal celebrities don't get it. I agree with his tweets but he needs to step out of his head, step into the head of someone who doesn't really know how they are going to afford this week's grocery bill and then look back at himself.
I think it would be a good thing if when looking for blame for this frankly awful situation we should start with ourselves. I blame myself, I blame celebrities and I blame the liberal/left establishment. Myself because I've taken it for granted that my opinions are right and most people agree with me. Celebrities because they live in a parallel universe of privilege and it makes Clinton look out of touch when they focus in on Trump's odious pronouncements but don't try hard enough to understand why people are turning to him. Finally, the liberal/left establishment has achieved huge things for minorities and I wholeheartedly applaud that but they've neglected what should be their core voters (should they have gone for Bernie?) who now want a divorce and have turned to someone else. I happen to believe their new partner doesn't really love them and is going make their lives worse.
What I really want to do now is go to bed. For five years. At least you can vote him out in a few years, we can't vote ourselves back into the European Union. Lucky you.
PS Edit.
This is just me trying to be optimistic and trying to understand how decent people can vote this way. There is always the chance that it's because most people are racist, sexist, intolerant, homophobic, Islamophobic, misogynist b4st4rds. I guess.
"The movie came to life every time you were on the screen." Stan Lee to Chris Evans.
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QOK (1504)
5 years ago
At least you can vote him out in a few years
What makes you think they won't vote him in again?
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