I guess I was a little premature in my earlier post (“America is back“). I knew that Trump could still cause problems, but I was not expecting an attempted coup — or whatever we call what happened on Jan 06.
Biden has now been in office for two days. And already, things seem to be moving in a good direction. It’s not that Biden has great expertise that Trump lacked. Rather, the difference is the Biden has the good sense to seek advice from experts who understand the problems. Trump was never willing to take advice, and that was the real cause of his downfall.
The deep state
The Trumpians, and other right wing reactionaries, have long complained that there is a “deep state” that actually decides what happens. They are right about that. The deep state is just us, the American people. And the deep state — that is, we — defeated Trump’s attempts to change the nature of America.
Republicans
Trump has, in effect, unmasked the Republican party. They have long claimed to be the party of law and order, the party of patriotism. But our eyes have been opened. We can now see for ourselves, that they are the party of crooks and traitors.
At the start of the the Trump presidency, I has assumed that principled republicans would protect the nation against the worst of Trump’s instincts. But they failed us. Instead of acting on principle, instead of using the system of checks and balance built into the constitution, they repeatedly aided and abetted Trump in his crimes against the state.
We have, in effect, learned that there were very few principled republicans. The few that there were found that they had to oppose the Republican party, such as happened with the Lincoln Project people.
The churches
The churches have long claimed that they provide the basis for morality. But we did not see that. The bulk of Trump’s support came from conservative churches. It leaves me wondering whether those conservative churches are even Christian. I would have expected true Christians to have opposed Trump from the beginning. But, instead, they supported him. And they continued to support him, even when many of Trump’s actions were contrary to the teachings of Jesus.
The future
Things should improve for the next few years. But, long term, things do not look so rosy. There are still millions of Americans who supported Trump, and who believed ridiculous conspiracy theories. When a significant portion of the population is that far out of contact with reality, it does not bode well for our future.