The World is Not Enough

If you and yours are still reeling from last week’s shocking presidential election results, trust me, you’re not alone. A night hasn’t gone by since Donald Trump was declared the next president of the United States when thousands of people have taken to the streets of various American cities, expressing their profound disgust and discontent with the outcome.

Obviously those protests can’t last ever, at least not in that form. But clearly America’s worst nightmare has come true in the form of a deeply unhinged, power hungry ego-maniac who, at the age of 70, has achieved his greatest quest beyond riches and fame.
More power than he ever dreamed of having.

It is a critical civics lesson for all of us to make note of. It doesn’t take much to capture the hearts and minds of those who were always raised to believe that they’re not sittin’ pretty as God intended just because the government is taking care of different folks who are not worthy. Doesn’t take much at all to convince folks that their place in the world, let alone their country, is no longer on cherished ground because their kind is no longer in charge.

Mix a little religious bigotry in there, add a healthy handful of racial bias, a shovel full of sexism, wrap it all up in an American flag, and voila – something Joe and Jane Sixpack have been hankering for.

I know, I know, there I go, one of those high-minded liberal “elites” making fun of the “real” Americans who “cling to their guns and Bibles.” Heck, the only thing “elitist” about me are the bubbles that spring out of my glass of ginger ale…on the rocks. Otherwise, I’m no more elitist than the school crossing guard up the block.

But I do consider myself intelligent enough to know a mass flim-flam game when I see one, and I saw a sure ‘nough big one last week. Over 60 million Americans, frustrated with whatever hardships life has dealt them not because groups of foreign color folk have taken their jobs, but because rich industrialists like Donald Trump have taken their jobs and shipped them overseas where the costs, and the salaries, are ten cents on the dollar. Then these same greedy pigs pay off politicians to keep the working class divided by race and class, angrily pointing at each other as the reason they just can’t make ends meet for their families.

No less than Sen. Bernie Sanders figured this out, and developed a strong national following during the Democratic presidential primaries. Problem was as good as Bernie was at pointing out the problems at their source, when you asked for a plan to deal with the situation at the source, he didn’t have one. You know, he’s like that guy from the commercials who is there only to tell you have a problem with termites in your home, but is not there to do anything about it.

That’s the tragic realization many a Trump supporter is going to arrive at. This guy promised lots of action, but is not going to be able to deliver on anything that will make the lives of the little people he suckered any better in the long run. Trump was slick enough to get folks to vote against their own self-interests, under the guise that they would be sticking it to “Corrupt Hillary” and those lousy Democrats in the process.

Who knows? This charade may last the full four years, maybe not. But one thing is for sure … it’s going to get a whole lot worse for everybody, before it gets better for anybody.

Cash Michaels is a veteran journalist who resides in Raleigh, N.C.