Rick's b.log - entry 2020/11/09

Where does America go now?

That, sadly, does not include Camp Trump who is still tossing around meritless sueballs and tweeting endless accusations of corruption and illegality. In other words, the big orange inflatable baby tossing toys out of his pram. But, to be honest, I think all of them became irrelevant when they started with the illegal votes rhetoric. It's just embarrassing the Republicans now.

But the future is definitely not rosy. AOC was right to call the Democrats out. They nearly lost. To lose against somebody like Trump once is horrendous, to do it twice should have been the end of the party. And while they won, they only just won. Wasn't Georgia something like a thousand votes in five million?

The Democrats, as a party, are going to have to take a long hard think about some things now.

Why did roughly half of the electorate look at that mysogynistic racist bible-hijacking super-spreader manchild and think "yeah, he's my man"?

Why was his support so strong within the working class? You know, the people most likely to be screwed by getting rid of affordable healthcare in the midst of a pandemic.

How can they even begin to start to put right the godforsaken mess that they're about to inherit?

But, perhaps most importantly, how can they talk a narrative that works for both the left and the right without alienating too many of either? America is deeply divided right now. Shades of Brexit Britain there, too. Plus the situation that more and more people are holding on to views that are increasingly extreme.
It's lazy to paint the opponents as feckless, stupid, and delusional (even if you believe that they are). What needs to happen now is to understand their point of view.
Just like the working class in the North of England, people didn't apparently vote against their best interests because of sheer stupidity. Something else is going on. A twisted media narrative (like Fox News suggesting that the legislature of Pennsylvania should overrule the will of the state's voters and install their own electors - Republican, of course)? Foreign influence (Russia, again, no doubt)? Steve bloody Bannon and his neverending parade of bullshit? Or perhaps just them simply deciding the devil they know is better than yet another change that won't be for the better?
Understanding this is important to understanding how best to lead the country over the next four years.

But most of all, real change. I've heard a lot of people saying that they like Trump because he gave jobs back to Americans. The truth is that his gross mishandling of the pandemic left him with a net loss (in September, Trump was down 4.7m jobs compared to when he took office), but it seems that a lot of his policies and hamfisted putzing around with China (costing the average household an additional ~$800 a year) were intended to bring American jobs back to American citizens. Is this what people want? I would imagine so, especially after the shock of the Covid lockdowns. So, then, how can it be achieved without alienating the rest of the world?
Real change. Not words, or blaming opponents, or talking about the previous administration. Real change.

One more thing

It seems to me that an increasing number of places have men using the Bible to justify banning abortions. That we're even having such a discussion makes me wonder what is going on in a supposedly progressive, modern, first world superpower.

We have angry armed male religious zealots who will not be satisfied until they have complete dominion over a woman's body and the right to foist their views on everybody else.
So, apart from the name and a few other changes, how is this any different to the Islamic State?

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