Statecraft

I think it’s pretty clear that the people who wanted Trump never really changed or decreased much, and that now they’re calling the shots.

I don’t think there’s any value in going much deeper than that. They seem to have done it fair and square. There just weren’t as many people who supported Harris.

Not that many of their reasons are genuine, of course. The economy? Please. He’s awful for that, he swore he’d make things worse. We know what that looks like.

But they’re the majority this time. It’s almost a Reagan level victory. It’s exactly what he always wanted. And part of our system is this: if you get the votes then you’re allowed to dismantle things. Because you convinced enough of us to go along with it.

I’m not sure what the next steps are, really. It won’t be pretty. But blame doesn’t seem appropriate, and neither does any effort to “do the work” and learn to try harder next time. The system will not be the same and the tactics we’re familiar with are no longer relevant. Change is here and it’s the bad kind.

So what we need to figure out is how to adapt to whatever that change ushers in. We’ll have to acquire new ideals that fit within the new constraints and we’ll need to do what we can in the service of those, and we’ll have to accept the diminished nature of some of our ambitions.

What are our new values? What does it mean to throw away so much that we’ve made? Who are we going to become? Who will we be able to keep at our side? Who will we lose? Who will we betray?

We’ll find out.