America seems to have fallen into a state of mass denial at a time when our collective situation could not be more dire. In an era of deeply dysfunctional politics, we were given a choice of two candidates, and we chose the greater of two evils. Now we enter a new year with many feeling deep apprehension.
For the first time in American history, Americans elected a convicted felon to the White House. We elected a man who engaged in white collar financial crimes centered on his effort to conceal a relationship with a prostitute. He was also convicted of sexual assault by a New York jury and must pay millions to his victim. Further, his potential crimes related to trying to overturn his loss in the 2020 election did not go to trial before the election. It is possible he could have faced more felony convictions for those federal charges had he lost the election. I reject his toxic claim that these charges were contrived by a corrupt judicial system.
Having won a narrow majority of the public’s vote, he now claims a broad mandate for radical change in America. He won because 9 million democrats stayed home on election day, a fact that could cause deep soul searching among Democrats. In a country of 347,275,807 people, he won the popular vote by just over 2 million votes.
Trump’s victory is a gift from President Biden who said he would be a one term president in 2019 then ran for reelection when he was feeble. Once forced to admit he was no longer up for the job he endorsed Kamala Harris, foreclosing the possibility of an open Democratic primary. Democrats could have been seeking a strong candidate starting in 2020.
Now we have a new president appointing federal agency heads who are conservative billionaires, television propagandists, and ideologues. First priority; tax cuts for themselves and other wealthy people. They said that they will fund renewed 2017 tax cuts by slashing food stamps, ending federal education programs, defunding renewable energy programs, increasing student loan costs for millions of students, and putting tariffs on imported goods that will reignite inflation. They want to cut the already understaffed IRS so that the government’s revenues fall, greatly increasing the federal deficit and hamstringing federal agencies.
Trump put Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswami, two conservative billionaires in charge of choosing federal budget cuts to recommend to Congress. Musk is involved in far-right politics in Europe. Do these men share the values of most Americans or the 74 million people who voted for Vice President Harris? What will happen to our public lands, or to Los Alamos National Laboratory that employs 17,000 New Mexicans? What will happen to head start and programs to develop critical drugs and help fire victims?
Mr. Trump has long said he doesn’t believe in climate change, and he urges Americans to discount renewable energy in favor of more oil use, which he wants to mine from federal lands in the West. His willful ignorance on this topic will cost millions of lives and hundreds of billions of dollars as America faces increasing climate driven disasters across the country. Already New Mexicans are losing home insurance because of fierce wildfires. Already hurricanes of unimaginable proportions are wrecking the Southeast. Already drought is parching the Southwest, imperiling the water supply for tens of millions of Americans. Scientists are certain of ties between these growing disasters and climate change, but Trump refuses to listen.
The new year will be a time of reckoning for a country in denial.
