Historically, how has the Trumpian ethos twice prevailed at the ballot box? How did his rhetoric succeed in which he speaks or invokes that "he alone" embodies the authority, competence, or expertise to persuade others that his worldview and view of Man is correct and can, therefore, fix anything and everything? I read as fast and broadly as possible to wrap my head around historically how we find ourselves in the era of The Great Regression. The most helpful is Democracy and Solidarity: On the Cultural Roots of America's Political Crisis by James Davison Hunter. And I greatly appreciate Ruth's articulation of how Strongmen (weak men) sometimes prevail.
Mass deportation—we gnash our teeth. But what, exactly, is its legal basis? In America, even dictator wannabes need a law to justify their actions. Or do they?
BTC is correct: Harris & Walz performed above & beyond. Solidarity, not finger pointing is needed. I wouldn’t have agreed with Zappa in 1989 that “we have opted instead for an authoritarian system disguised as a democracy”, but it seems we have handed our democracy to autocrats. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPHH5trgC1w
As always an excellent which is both well written, informative and goes straight to the heart of the topic. It’s just unfortunate that we have to be thinking about this again but here we are. Thanks for all you do to educate us on this topic!
One small step in resistance is to resist calling this win a "robust mandate." It isn't all that robust. And mandate to do what? People voted for trump for a variety of reasons, some DESPITE one particular policy or another. As I started to comment, a notice popped up on my screen about pro-choice women who voted for trump. THEY aren't giving him a "mandate" to enable a national abortion ban.
And no one voted in favor of more inflation, which is sure to happen almost immediately. There is much talk of “anticipatory obedience.” But there is also already showing “anticipatory greed.” Prices are arising in anticipation of tariffs and what those will do to the cost of anything imported—in whole, or in its critical parts.
Once we realize this, we can look for the cracks, places where our trump voter friends and families most certainly do NOT approve of something trump does. Or, more importantly, something their representative (or Senator in the 33 seats up for reelection in 2026) approves of and votes for. We may be stuck with trump and/or Vance for 4 years, but control of Congress is just 2 years away.
Great insights and something I have been challenging as well, with people in my ken. Pointing out that so many voters are one issue voters / voting against someone else, which makes it iffy to define a "mandate".
Ruth, have to admit I was a bit offended to Joe’s telling us we need to like what happened to love our country. Hell no, Joe. Donald doesn’t play nice, and carry me out on a stretcher, yet my love of my country tells me to call him out
He has been complicit, that’s why. Had he wanted to hold anyone accountable, and prevent this from happening, he would have fired garland by 2021. Garland was clearly protecting Trump, & it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to find out why, nor recognize that without holding them equal before the law, even more faith would be lost in the Dem party. Nevermind what we already learned with Obama’s bills- without voting rights and stopping the cabal behind Trump, all of Biden’s wonderful bills would be repealed or defunded when these criminals got back into power- and it was was obvious they would by any means necessary. I think Biden has been around the block & isn’t a stupid man. He knew.
Thanks for this, Ruth. If you haven't read The Atlantic's One Story To Read Today (Nov 7) you might want to. It discusses the analysis done by the NYT after Trump won in 2016 and the cultural differences that informed his win. Racism and Misogyny are part of these cultural differences. i believe also that the abysmal education most Americans receive in how the government works, history and the role of America in the world also contribute mightily to these cultural differences. I'm glad Lucid exists to help keep us strong.
Thank you for your clear-eyed post-election assessment Ruth. Your voice is so important imo. The post-election analyses from mainstream media is again disappointing and has not mentioned the massive amount of disinformation on social media and internet. The Teflon bubble where actual facts (like the economy doing well) just bounce away from a vast amount of Americans. This effect has risen in just 20 years mirroring the discontent with democracy worldwide. This is an unseen war of algorithms of lies getting to us so much faster than the truth ever could. It’s never happened in human history like this. And now the people who propagate those lies just won! AI is coming on fast and our country just gave the liars a big thumbs up cause they are prevented from knowing what the other data says. That’s on them. They have choices but choose the easy path to what they believe is knowledge. I know these folks and have had conversations with them. They do not believe the info you present them when you do a simple google search with them watching. They will not believe it and their minds are closed. So what do we do with endless disinformation with bad actors who soon will be back in power?
Also what I’ve been thinking about - the disinformation and delusions - but a more sanguine take might - might - be that the population is experiencing electoral colic, a recurrent 4 year wish to throw the bums out and short term memory loss. It’s like an over the top attempt to get customer service from a higher power, which they’ve been beguiled to think is Trump. Totally irrational and emotionally incompetent as well as relationally deprived. So maybe there is a mental health approach to this which can work as well. More to come on this. It’s devastating and vulnerable people need protection. We so need to shore up civil society. Donate to ACLU, other orgs that protect vulnerable people. We all need to be more presidential now and creative in how we engage with this nonsense.
Historically, how has the Trumpian ethos twice prevailed at the ballot box? How did his rhetoric succeed in which he speaks or invokes that "he alone" embodies the authority, competence, or expertise to persuade others that his worldview and view of Man is correct and can, therefore, fix anything and everything? I read as fast and broadly as possible to wrap my head around historically how we find ourselves in the era of The Great Regression. The most helpful is Democracy and Solidarity: On the Cultural Roots of America's Political Crisis by James Davison Hunter. And I greatly appreciate Ruth's articulation of how Strongmen (weak men) sometimes prevail.
Mass deportation—we gnash our teeth. But what, exactly, is its legal basis? In America, even dictator wannabes need a law to justify their actions. Or do they?
Thank you Ruth for your insight and superior understanding of the coming storm. You’re brilliant ❤️
BTC is correct: Harris & Walz performed above & beyond. Solidarity, not finger pointing is needed. I wouldn’t have agreed with Zappa in 1989 that “we have opted instead for an authoritarian system disguised as a democracy”, but it seems we have handed our democracy to autocrats. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPHH5trgC1w
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLiagIdA84c
As always an excellent which is both well written, informative and goes straight to the heart of the topic. It’s just unfortunate that we have to be thinking about this again but here we are. Thanks for all you do to educate us on this topic!
how do I attend the zoom meeting starting now. ican not find a link
Thank you Ruth! Let's keep
moving forward, one step at
a time.
One small step in resistance is to resist calling this win a "robust mandate." It isn't all that robust. And mandate to do what? People voted for trump for a variety of reasons, some DESPITE one particular policy or another. As I started to comment, a notice popped up on my screen about pro-choice women who voted for trump. THEY aren't giving him a "mandate" to enable a national abortion ban.
And no one voted in favor of more inflation, which is sure to happen almost immediately. There is much talk of “anticipatory obedience.” But there is also already showing “anticipatory greed.” Prices are arising in anticipation of tariffs and what those will do to the cost of anything imported—in whole, or in its critical parts.
Once we realize this, we can look for the cracks, places where our trump voter friends and families most certainly do NOT approve of something trump does. Or, more importantly, something their representative (or Senator in the 33 seats up for reelection in 2026) approves of and votes for. We may be stuck with trump and/or Vance for 4 years, but control of Congress is just 2 years away.
Great insights and something I have been challenging as well, with people in my ken. Pointing out that so many voters are one issue voters / voting against someone else, which makes it iffy to define a "mandate".
And last yet not least, you might want to rethink who you let into your Substack group:
https://youtu.be/er8hG17_U5Q?si=vX0LGXA6d0BJJmnK
I’m more at home with this as a way forward:
https://youtu.be/c70bxvjSdMM?si=XzenV1GdjASuo2pK
Ruth, have to admit I was a bit offended to Joe’s telling us we need to like what happened to love our country. Hell no, Joe. Donald doesn’t play nice, and carry me out on a stretcher, yet my love of my country tells me to call him out
https://youtu.be/86avI9slOzc?si=eLXav6g3_3vaAtk6
He has been complicit, that’s why. Had he wanted to hold anyone accountable, and prevent this from happening, he would have fired garland by 2021. Garland was clearly protecting Trump, & it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to find out why, nor recognize that without holding them equal before the law, even more faith would be lost in the Dem party. Nevermind what we already learned with Obama’s bills- without voting rights and stopping the cabal behind Trump, all of Biden’s wonderful bills would be repealed or defunded when these criminals got back into power- and it was was obvious they would by any means necessary. I think Biden has been around the block & isn’t a stupid man. He knew.
I agree!
Gary… I am with you100%.
Thanks for this, Ruth. If you haven't read The Atlantic's One Story To Read Today (Nov 7) you might want to. It discusses the analysis done by the NYT after Trump won in 2016 and the cultural differences that informed his win. Racism and Misogyny are part of these cultural differences. i believe also that the abysmal education most Americans receive in how the government works, history and the role of America in the world also contribute mightily to these cultural differences. I'm glad Lucid exists to help keep us strong.
Thank you. Lucid analysis is spot on.
Thank you for your clear-eyed post-election assessment Ruth. Your voice is so important imo. The post-election analyses from mainstream media is again disappointing and has not mentioned the massive amount of disinformation on social media and internet. The Teflon bubble where actual facts (like the economy doing well) just bounce away from a vast amount of Americans. This effect has risen in just 20 years mirroring the discontent with democracy worldwide. This is an unseen war of algorithms of lies getting to us so much faster than the truth ever could. It’s never happened in human history like this. And now the people who propagate those lies just won! AI is coming on fast and our country just gave the liars a big thumbs up cause they are prevented from knowing what the other data says. That’s on them. They have choices but choose the easy path to what they believe is knowledge. I know these folks and have had conversations with them. They do not believe the info you present them when you do a simple google search with them watching. They will not believe it and their minds are closed. So what do we do with endless disinformation with bad actors who soon will be back in power?
Thank you.
Also what I’ve been thinking about - the disinformation and delusions - but a more sanguine take might - might - be that the population is experiencing electoral colic, a recurrent 4 year wish to throw the bums out and short term memory loss. It’s like an over the top attempt to get customer service from a higher power, which they’ve been beguiled to think is Trump. Totally irrational and emotionally incompetent as well as relationally deprived. So maybe there is a mental health approach to this which can work as well. More to come on this. It’s devastating and vulnerable people need protection. We so need to shore up civil society. Donate to ACLU, other orgs that protect vulnerable people. We all need to be more presidential now and creative in how we engage with this nonsense.