I wrote a large post about this but then i stumbled across Jonathan Pie's latest commentary on it and he just says everything I've been trying to say, but far more concisely. Have a watch!
Ultimately, it's about what matters to whom
The USA is a model of 'diversity' or 'multiculturalism'. If you're going to accept this as an ideology, you necessarily have to accept the bad that comes with the good.
The practical upshot of this is, people view the world through different lenses. Some people find Abortion to be an absolute moral evil. Others find banning abortion the malevolent choice.
This is why Abortion has been such a constant issue for literally decades in the USA. You can't say the people with opposite opinions are objectively wrong. Their experiences, their upbringings with or without religion, define the lens in which they see the world.
The same applies to issues among ethnic communities; Blacks, Whites, Hispanics, Jews, Muslims.
There are not an insignificant number of Muslims in the world who believe that to be martyred in the pursuit of slaughtering Jews is the ultimate moral good. They don't see the world how we see it.
Impoverished black people, persecuted by generations of racism and police brutality, look through a lense where Trump is the persecuted among the elites. They relate to that. Hispanics have repeatedly come out expressing frustration at being constantly patronised and used as an electoral tool of race, or DEI (Diversity, Equity & Inclusion).
The elites have obvious incentives, as do the poor. Those living in Southern States have markedly different priorities to those in Northern states. The more international people see international policy, such as in Ukraine, Korea, Israel as higher priority, or partnerships with Europe, rivalries with Russia, China.
The list goes on. The country is so diverse, that to sit around just saying 'everybody who voted against what I wanted is wrong and evil' is just setting yourself up for continuous losses in the future.
The goal is to understand one another. Not to agree, necessarily, but to just sit back and figure it out. You might hear their words, but without extensive listening - often due to fear and anxiety - you'll never figure it out and you'll always see it through the lense of Good vs Evil.
That's just not reality.
Nobody, not even Trump supporters - not even MAGA bros - think Trump is flawless or virtuous. Almost all but the very few conspiracy nuts and deniers of facts accept that he's a bad guy - as described in the video above. But this problem is low on the priority list when people care more about policies, their day-to-day lives, the international order, their ability to put food on the table.
Yes, some people don't understand his policies, such as his economic policies, but most his voters innately understand the art of the deal. This isn't unique to Trump at all. Politicians for time immemorial have used the tactic of bargaining with a strong first hand to get in power by capitalising on the further left or right of field.
Then they draw them back to the centre with negotiations. Trump, for example, stated he will remove all income tax and replace it with Tariffs. This is basically impossible. So you can interpret this as 'he's clueless and will destroy the country as soon as he's in power', OR you can interpret it the same way people have always interpreted politicians more extreme policies as, 'This is the starting point, he will likely reduce income tax and increase tariffs somewhat after making deals with other countries, exceptions, and so forth'.
Whether or not this is still unacceptable is then up to you. I personally think regardless this is playing a risky game with inflation either way, so if I were American, I wouldn't vote for him on economic policy alone. But that's ok, it's democracy.
Some policies will inevitably ruin the lives of many, no matter which side you're on. There is no economic or social policy which will solve all issues across the board. That's impossible. USA is extremely diverse.
That doesn't make that person a dictator.
Either way, the USA has a lot more going for it in the future than the UK and most other places on earth. People are dying in large swathes in the UK of cancer and other easily treatable illnesses, simply because there is no health service available. 7 million in line. Many people have been agonizingly pulling their own teeth out, or dying from a simple infection, because there's no dentist anymore.
The world is on a downward trajectory - except the USA. Trump or Harris won't change that. The people are too productive, too ambitious, too educated, to let the leader stop them now.
There is apparently a 57% chance of a recession just around the corner, practically by the time Trump gets in office. Historically speaking, when that number is 30% or higher, a recession has always followed so... yeah.
This is not Trump's fault, nor really Biden's. This is a federal reserve issue that's been bubbling for a long time, and unfortunately for Trump it'll likely land in his tenure, perfect for blaming Trump in the same way he blamed Biden for the economic issues resulting from Covid.
Politicising the non-political - classic.
So yeah, I don't foresee Trump's 4 years going as smoothly as he expects at all. But it will not be the end of America as people seem so sure of.
From my perspective, it's only fair the USA gets knocked down a notch. My homeland has been battered and bruised for 14 years, the memories of our once glorious Empire still stuck in people's minds as they shiver and stare hopelessly at their cold breathe spreading across their dilapidated, unheated rental homes, eating a bowl of flavourless noodles with the only fork in the shared flat, drinking a recycled tea bag and ignoring the banging on the door as bailiffs come to take their belongings for not paying the bills, and police coming to arrest them for saying something mean on the internet, while people speaking a strange language freely march past the window wielding machetes at each other.
Our solution was to vote in somebody arguably worse, so yeah. Come meet us down here, Americans!
