How on God's Green Earth did Trump win again?
It's been a rough morning, since I woke to the news that Donald Trump pretty much won the election, over in the United States.
How on Earth could Trump have won, and by that many votes? Kamala Harris seemed far more competent, likeable and... somewhat presidential. And to the point I was convinced she'd win because Trump appeared severely wanting in comparison.
Trump's popularity itself isn't a mystery, though. In Britain, people are asking themselves why the political class spend £billions on pointless wars and climate change, while everything else, including living standards, are in decline because 'austerity'.
Many people would have voted for Trump for roughly the same reason Britain ended up with Boris Johnson as the Prime Minister: What passes for the political 'left' is as equally committed to neoliberalism, and has little to offer beyond a few incrementalist policies here and there. It dares not utter the words 'Make America Great Again'. Anything feels preferable to the political class, especially if that anything is blaming minorities for the state of the nation and offers authoritarianism as the solution.
Unfortunately things might get a whole lot worse under Trump.
The one thing I'm very concerned about is the degree of influence the Christian Nationalists, and the Heritage Foundation, might have on the Trump administration. Trump himself stated his intention to get rid of 'The Deep State' and 'Marxists', in a witch hunt against civil servants in government, education and the justice system who disagree with him. That's potentially just the beginning. Trump also stated his intention to abolish legal gender recognition, effectively outlaw the existence of transgender people and undermine their rights in the workplace. God only knows how other minorities will get treated, if he gets away with that.
In Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation shared proposals for undermining the rights of married gay couples, abolishing welfare for single mothers, incarcerating anyone not deemed pure American and the censorship of anything contrary to their religious morality. Basically they want an authoritarian theocracy through executive orders. How much of that happens remains to be seen.