Not the end of the story

HOTSPOT As I write this, Kamala Harris has conceded her defeat and has called Donald Trump to congratulate him on his victory. The electoral college tally stands at 226 for Harris and 295 for Trump. Republicans won back control of the Senate, and may possibly keep the House leadership.

Like many, I also have family and friends in the US and I’m concerned what a second Trump presidency might mean to them and other immigrants. Good thing, they still have senators, congressmen, the courts, state governments, state legislatures, unions, and movements — political infrastructure — that could provide a safety valve against Trump’s overreach or abuses. Most US friends I spoke with in the days and weeks leading to the elections said they were voting for Harris.



But all of them said it looked and felt like Trump would win. The results proved them right. The Associated Press tried to capture the magnitude of Trump’s triumph with this lede: “Donald Trump was elected the 47th president of the United States on Wednesday, an extraordinary comeback for a former president who refused to accept defeat four years ago, sparked a violent insurrection at the US Capitol, was convicted of felony charges and survived two assassination attempts.

” We have an eternity to discuss how and why Trump won to become the 45th and 47th US president. He duplicated the record of Grover Cleveland who was the 22nd and 24th US president. Cleveland was the first to win two non-consecutive terms as US president.

The exit polls paint a picture of Trump’s winning coalition including huge numbers of first-time voters, working families, union households, Blacks, Latinos, and women. We could expect academics, analysts and pundits would be tackling this second Trump victory and Harris’ loss for months and years to come. Harris’ defeat and Trump’s victory gave many here a sense of déjà vu (or is it a nightmare?) about the 2022 and 2016 elections.

Surely, there are many similarities especially if we consider the worldwide upsurge of illiberal and fascist leaders and the global decline of liberals since the last decade. But there are many differences too that are quite inconvenient to discuss because they might hurt the super-sensitive feelings of friends who happen to be fans of traditional politicians. The canon for some is to blame disinformation and misinformation, and the so-called “stupidity” of voters.

This form of gaslighting denies us a fuller and more meaningful discussion of our political, economic, social, and other problems. This also gives a free pass to those who create, perpetuate, and profit from any and all the mess we are in. There’s also an apparent allergy to holding certain traditional politicians accountable for incompetence and ineptitude, even in conducting failed electoral campaigns where they are supposedly superior or better.

The mainstream traditional political parties appear to be incapable of, unwilling or allergic to assessing their political performance, especially when they lose. When they win, they praise themselves for their vaunted political acumen. But when they lose, it is the fault of the voter.

Their fandoms would wish harm on those who did not vote for their idols. Exactly how such a point of view or mindset would help achieve victory in the future, we do not know. How such a brand of politics would attract new adherents or supporters, or at the very least get differentiated from others, is also waiting to be answered.

My favorite tita in the US tells me that racism is still a huge problem there, and that she has cried many times being in the receiving end of it. (Good thing, she’s now retired and lives in a so-called blue state.) Tita did not vote for Trump and wished for a different outcome.

She almost cried as she talked about the results, and told me my cousin went ballistic when the race was called for Trump. (By the way, all my titas are my favorites. No jealousy, please.

) Right now, I have no answers to offer my tita and my readers about the political developments here and there. What consoles and inspires many others is that this is not the end of the story. We can change the story and help forge a future we deserve to have.

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