Trump Certainly Knows America Well

As a young primary school student one of the first things I was told about America is that anyone can become president of that mighty country. If this was true following the elections of 2016, it is even more so today, November 6, 2024. Imagine this?

Donald Trump, with some 34 felony charges being made the 47th president of the USA! We have to remember too, that he was twice impeached! Most of us who followed the electoral campaign have been focused on the wrong direction. We were looking at a man we considered erratic, constantly making outlandish statements. Our focus should have been on the American people (Of course, I have to generalise). There was certainly method in Trump’s apparent madness. As I stated in a previous article, what we had coming from Trump was the maniacal rants of someone who had lost touch with reality. He doesn’t hide what he has to say, regardless of how outrageous it is. He bellows it out and lets them know that everything about him is genuine. His maga crowd loves this, including of course those who were sent to prison for their participation in the January 6 insurrection and whom he promises to release from prison. So, what went wrong? Certainly, he had not lost touch with reality! For the second time he seemed to be indicating that he knows more about American reality than others. He is the oldest president to be elected. It is also the second time someone has won two non-consecutive terms; the first being Grover Cleveland who served in 1884 as the 22nd president, and in 1892 as the 24th president. His professed wealth, his ego supreme, his pledge to protect women whether they liked it or not. He was (is)Macho himself! Remember his reaction when he was shot at!

Many commentators were in full praise of Harris’ campaign, particularly in the last week when she drew cheering crowds wherever she went. The enthusiasm seemed high. While her campaign pushed a positive message, Trump sought to denigrate America, making room for him to make his MAGA push. It is still early to arrive at definitive conclusions. To what extent did sex and race play a part? It is always going to be difficult to arrive at firm conclusions on this. Obama had race working against him, but still prevailed. With Kamala, race and sex combined. She, of course, got into the race late but rallied splendidly to the call.

Someone sent me a table showing voting-sex by race. I put it here for what it is worth although I have not been able to verify it. It seemed to have come from the black enterprise magazine :

I have always said that if we were to look beyond the headlines and the glamour, we will see another side of America that will shock us. I had made reference before to a book MYTH AMERICA- Historians take on the Biggest Legends and Lies about our Past, edited by Kevin Kruse and Juliann Zelizer, published in 2022. Charlie Sykes, editor in chief, The Bulwark blurbed about this book. “If you want to cling to your most cherished myths about history, this is a dangerous book. But at a time when both truth and history are under siege, MYTH AMERICA, has given us a blunt fact-check of many of the fictions that have come to dominate our political and cultural debates. An immensely important contribution and indispensable reference tool for confronting both the wish-casting and the disinformation about our past.”

While we analyse and reflect on what happened on November 5, we should be preparing for what is to happen with a new Trump presidency. His pledge to deport thousands of illegal immigrants, to have Robert Kennedy (Jr) as part of his administration and Elon Musk, his chief consultant, it would seem. He promises to be a Dictator for at least one day. Maybe what America needs most at this stage is a taste of Dictatorship. It doesn’t appear as though the checks and balances and ‘Guardrails’ as some call them that we long took for granted would be able to stop him. Then of course, there is the Middle East and Ukraine. Those in at least two areas of Michigan that did not provide the support they might have given in the past because of the war in Gaza, will have to wait and see what Trump will do. The issue of Ukraine is tied up with US relations with NATO from which Trump last time around threatened to distance himself.

I suspect that America will not be the same again after a second Trump term. What did he mean when he said that Americans will not have to vote again. Some of his ‘mouthings’ go beyond his MAGA crowd. Interesting times ahead!

• Dr Adrian Fraser is a social commentator and historian