A Crystal Ball - In Two Part Disharmony
Part I (Donald Trump Emerges Victorious)
At 12:26 AM this morning, November 6th, 2024 Donald Trump received a call he has been waiting for since 2020. Kamala Harris congratulated Mr. Trump on his victory. And he has thus become both the 45th and 47th President of the United States.
It was a stunning victory for Mr. Trump. His history one that would have seemingly doomed his career a thousand times over. Beginning with his defeat at the hands of Joe Biden, much of the country believed we had seen the last of Donald Trump. What followed since that day in November of 2020 was an unending series of events that would appear to be the work of a fiction writer with an overactive imagination. An attempted insurrection at the Capitol on January 6th, 2021 in which Mr. Trump was a clear accelerant. A second impeachment. A finding by a jury that Mr. Trump had sexually assaulted Jean Carroll. A finding by a court in New York that Mr. Trump had defrauded the State of New York. Four different criminal prosecutions initiated. The one trial that occurred leading to 34 felony convictions, it being found that Mr. Trump had criminally orchestrated a cover up of an affair with a one time porn star in an effort to keep information from possibly dooming his effort in 2016 to become President. Hundreds of millions of dollars in verdicts against him and a declaration he could not operate a business in New York. The remaining criminal matters, though watered down by a series of decisions by the Supreme Court, still looming.
The Republican party seemed to stagger under his control, faring worse than expected and far worse than they hoped in 2018, 2020 and 2022 elections.
But Mr. Trump was able to capture the heartbeat of those Americans who felt the country was turning away from them, was looking down at them, was not listening to them. And their sense was that Donald Trump, flawed as he clearly was, heard their concerns, was out to protect them and could best defend this country against those who would do us harm, whether it be in our midst, at our borders, or across the globe.
He demonized and denounced, misled and outright lied, turned friends into foes and embraced those with authoritarian and dictatorial leanings. He would seem an ill fit for so many who cast ballots for him, from women to minorities, from the elderly to the impoverished, from those who worry about our future environment to the fear of what havoc his tariffs will cause our economy.
And yet despite the overwhelming evidence, this country has spoken and Donald Trump, who will be closing in on his 83rd birthday at the end of his term in January of 2029 and who has shown ample reason for us to worry of his cognitive capacity by then, stands once more as the chosen leader of the United States.
Ms. Harris was gracious in her call, wishing Mr. Trump the best of luck in the days and years to come and hoping that this country will stand strong as it moves forward to address the challenges it will inevitably face.
We will not have another January 6th in 2025. And for that we are all grateful.
We echo the sentiments of Kamala Harris and pray that America will be a recognizable democracy at the end of the second term of Donald Trump. We are, quite candidly, most pessimistic.