While the votes of the elections in the USA are still being counted, one thing is apparent. Donald Trump did surprisingly well. So well that he might even win the elections. No credible predictor or poll suggested that it might be a tight race. Trump was given an outside chance of between 3% and 15% of winning a second term. Now it looks like the odds are even, and the dream of a “blue wave” is shattered.
More worrying than a second term of a Trump presidency is what the election reflects on the society of America. One would have thought that a president who is accused of rape, who talked about groping girls, who paid less income taxes in the last 15 years than a primary school teacher and who blurs the lines of his own businesses and the state should have had a torrid time at the polls. There were so many books written about his chaotic style of management, his impulsive decision making and his love for dictators and kleptocrats, but hardly a word praising him. He used teargas on innocent peaceful demonstrators for a photo opportunity and called true American heroes of his own party (like John McCain) cowards. Trump has lied too many times to count and seems to be a blatant racist. Instead of defending the ideals of the free world, America has become the laughingstock of the world.
Any president with that track record would have, in normal times, not had a chance to gain any support. Yet, because of the massively increased voter turnout, there are now probably more people who voted for Trump than in the last elections. That is astonishing and worrying. Do voters even care if their leaders have characters to look up to? Why do so many believe his blatant lies? Besides Trump, Majorie Taylor Greene won a seat in Congress. She is a believer and promoter of the QAnon conspiracies which are at best far-right wacky ideas which make the Nazi propaganda of the 1930’s look like a bad b-grade movie. Why do citizens believe in this non-sense and support leaders who clearly have lost the moral high ground? It is a dangerous slope when minorities are being singled out as delinquent, and the leaders viewed as “a messiah sent by God”. Where is our society heading to?
But then should we be surprised when we live in a world where most do not read content that is longer than 280 characters, never mind a book. We adore stars not because of their acting talents, but because their willingness to expose their private live on TV. Life ambitions are not formed by your family and those you grow up with, but by complete strangers flooding you with posed pictures on Instagram. And your child makes more money in a year investing their pocket money in some arbitrary code called a cryptocurrency than you do working 5 days a week, 9 to 5.
It is a very turbulent world where we need leaders with a strong moral compass. Instead we are voting for clowns, Rambos, reality TV personalities and fools. It is a sad state of affairs.