A dumbstruck world and a sense of impending disaster saw the light of day in the wake of the US elections. If anyone ever doubted that ”truth is stranger than fiction,” imagine reading a novel with a similar plot twist, hardly credible in my view. Since then the air has been abuzz with analyses of why and what we are seeing, all from the gleefully mocking to the sad, scapegoat seeking. As the way things are of this world the reasons are highly complex where ”one liners” only satisfy the gullible. In essence giving democracy a face without the make-up.
Notwithstanding the constant cries of cheating, the people of America have decided on who they want for President. Therein lies not the problem; it’s just the name of the game.
It is wise never to ignore the importance of the ”what’s in it for me” phenomenon, pertinent even to the democratic process albeit more often on a group rather than on an individual basis. Casting a vote is weighing up the pros and cons, identifying the swings and roundabouts and calculating that the downsides are a willing price to pay for the seemingly more important issues. Whatever the ”what’s in it for me” was about this time, resulting in a vote for Trump and his MAGA, it meant accepting or at best turning a blind eye to the President-elect’s disdain for the law, morality and the truth. Behaviour that is seen as reprehensible by vast numbers of people across the globe is apparently a price worth paying for a majority of Americans. Furthermore putting their trust in a man of his calibre is in my opinion cringeworthy naivety.
The implicit meaning of ”Make America Great Again” is that it is no longer considered as great as it once was. Electing a man like Trump as the President of the United States rather underlines this sentiment although the irony might be lost on his supporters.
Time will tell how all this pans out but one thing is certain, the reputation of the USA has been taken down a notch or two and any aspirations to future greatness will forever be darkened by the shadow of the Trump era.
