Post-election Condolences From a Mediator Perspective

Positives We Can Focus on

It was depressing that our options again came down to two candidates that most were voting against, not for. To clarify, I have nothing against Kamala, and she’s impressive in many ways. The post-election Honestly podcast episode makes a good case that it was the out-of-touch Democrat party that was voted against, not Kamala personally. (Hey “Progressive left”(ies), one of that podcast episode’s panelists is a trans woman, so maybe?)

I had been planning that I might need to reroute my thanksgiving travels an extra hour to go thru Meeker Colorado to comfort the dispossessed in proud Trump country, where the tattered version of thin blue line flags signified a belief the nation is in peril. I lived there the first five months of this year and knocked on doors to petition for RFK Jr. to be on the ballot, and I wanted them to not lose hope. To complicate the picture, I had also knocked doors for Obama in 2008. The people have spoken in a manner that I now must try to comfort friends on team blue.

Condolences

My friends in the disappointed side, let me emphasize that I understand how devastated you feel. Early during the first Trump candidacy I had read and was convinced by the comparisons with late Weimar Germany. I started my application for Canadian residency in 2015, undeterred by friends’ assurance that the polls were in Hillary’s favor. When I heard of the “basket of deplorables” comment, I knew she would lose. She was that out of touch with the “flyover states.” I was still around to show up at a women’s march protest of Trump. Then I spent 4 years in British Columbia. It might have become 5 years or more, but during that time I watched Canada, more than the U.S., become increasingly authoritarian.

My Preferences

As a green, I would love to have seen Jill Stein win. I would love to have seen RFK Jr. win. I would love to have seen Dean Phillips win. I will reveal the extent of my kooky outsider left idealism: I would love to have seen Marianne Williamson win, because she’s a good witch and would have cast some spells over Putin and Hamas. When asked prior to the election, I responded that I was neutral about the election, because I’m convinced some policy would be better under team blue and some would be better under team red. My intent generally, having overcome depressive tendencies of my past, is to focus on the positive and move forward to do what I can in my sphere of influence. That is the spirit in which I offer the next paragraph.

My brother says he did not vote for Trump the first time, but he did the second, and presumably the third. He texted me to ask how I felt about the election results. I did not vote for Trump, but I wrote back, “Hooray for the voice of the people over the establishment elite!...Hooray for Ukraine, ending the war and keeping their young people alive! Hooray for RFK Jr. getting to help shape the policy of health and farmland!”

Trump’s Personality

My conviction is that we are not now doomed. I’m not trying to be an apologist for Trump here. I consider him morally unqualified to be president. I’m simply trying to share my experiences and perspectives that were helpful to me.

What I've realized over time is that Trump has a similar personality to my former husband. We have peacefully co-parented for over a decade now. I’m the exact opposite temperament, but I’ve learned to value the differences. His MBTI personality temperament ESFP labels him as “the entertainer,” which earns him good ratings as a professor. He's a pragmatist, not an idealist. He values loyalty over principle. He's pragmatic, not to be counted on for the most noble acts, and in fact I used to be a scold about some of his choices. He stretches the truth. He doesn’t have a stellar credit rating. But at the bottom, he's decent and caring. He takes real risks for the people who he is allied with, including taking a stand for his Latino students back when he taught middle school, and nearly got fired for it. He’s generous to family and friends. The astute observer who has a balanced media diet will see parallels to Trump in each of those statements. Ironically, he is vehemently opposed to Trump, because he regularly listens to CNN, altho he sometimes listens to opposition news channels to get their take. My point is, Trump does not have the type of temperament that the fear mongering portrays. Hitler was an idealist. Trump is an opportunist. He won’t end democracy. Mostly Trump wants to be popular. He’ll make the rich richer, but so would have the current Democrat administration allied with Harris.

To Focus on the Positive

My text to my brother continued, “And I would have found some way to say ‘hooray for Harris’ if it was the other result. She would have made some things better, and some things worse. A lot worse. The Dems [their party elites] will have to regroup and say, ‘We should have supported Bernie or RFK Jr., and not foisted yet again onto the public a candidate they did not choose.’….It will be interesting to see what Vance is about and if he emerges as the next president. Hooray for hillbillies!” I felt similar to one friend who voted for Harris. I wrote back to her: “I agree that Kamala is—as far as is apparent—a more noble person. But it seems she wouldn't really be calling the shots. I agree ending the wars is even more important than the U.S. economy and abortion rights. I want to see world peace restored even if it takes a blustery sexist racist guy to do it. Even tho it was a peace reliant on exploitative trade instead of outright takeover, still it's better to not have war.” Let’s look at the positives and push for those. We can all get something out of the next four years.

Pew Research Center Survey

A Pew Research Center survey of the U.S. general public, in 2021, showed nine clusters of political beliefs and values. The origin of these Pew labels and type descriptors are detailed in an earlier post. Taking a mediator stance, I can see how in some ways the upcoming Trump administration can benefit each of the Pew types.

The Anti-establishment

This election was somewhat about culture wars. Team blue hoped that right-to-choose would carry the vote the way it had in 2022. But even more it was about class wars, about a level of income inequality that has been steadily and disproportionately squeezing the working class and young adults. The following quotes from Democrats indicate the appeal of an anti-establishment candidate.

"Stagnant wages, job insecurity, widening inequality, and mounting wealth at the top are the result of political choices. The system is rigged and must be un-rigged" (Reich, 2019, sec. 4). 

“Our country is rapidly becoming less a capitalist society and more a feudal society" (Hanauer, 20214, para. 5). "If we don’t do something to fix the glaring inequities in this economy, the pitchforks are going to come for us. No society can sustain this kind of rising inequality.…You show me a highly unequal society, and I will show you a police state. Or an uprising. There are no counterexamples. None." (para. 7). "What everyone wants to believe is that when things reach a tipping point and go from being merely crappy for the masses to dangerous and socially destabilizing, that we’re somehow going to know about that shift ahead of time" (para. 9).

Trump voters are not a bunch of racists and sexists voting against their own economic interests. That’s a trope of the left establishment media owned by a powerful elite who prefer the status quo. They point to an unequally distributed GDP and say, “Look, we’re doing fine.” As indicated in the quotes above, at least some influential Democrats see thru that narrative.

Thanks for reading. Here’s a related post about the political realignment of Pew types and my sojourn in Canada.

References

Hanauer, N. (2014, July/August). The pitchforks are coming… for us plutocrats. Politico Magazine.

Reich, R. (2019). Robert Reich: America's economy is unsustainable. Truthdig. https://www.truthdig.com/articles/robert-reich-americas-economy-is-unsustainable/

Repeat of Quadrants Content

This section repeats the writing in the quadrants, for any who have difficulty reading in that format. Groups are presented in order of political party size.

Auth-left Quadrant

Pew type: Democratic mainstays

This type is racially and ethnically diverse but moderate. While liberal on economics and the social safety net, they are more conservative on immigration, crime, and military. They are reliable voters and likely tipped this election due to their working-class males angered about wage deflation.  

Pew type: Establishment liberals

These prefer gradual change, not revolution. Time to develop better-liked blue candidates.

Auth-right Quadrant

Pew type: Committed conservatives

This type is pro-business and favors well-managed immigration. Hooray, tax cuts for the rich! May their wealth trickle down, cuz it hasn’t yet. It will erode from inflation.

Pew type: Faith and flag conservatives

This type is deeply conservative across issues and believes Christianity belongs in public life. Hooray for getting to decide on pro-life policies in your own states! Everyone who doesn’t like them can move.

Lib-right Quadrant

Pew type: Populist right

This type is the least college educated. Hooray for hillbillies! Trump is not much like their rural base [except superficially such as preferring fast food]. He won’t pander to their wish to tax the rich more, but he will try to stop wage deflation with border control.

Pew type: Ambivalent right

This type is largely young, not religious, want limited government, want stricter immigration policy (tho not a top issue). They lean liberal socially. Elon is their man!

Lib-left (Green) Quadrant

Pew type: Progressive left

This type is younger and highly educated, more than two-thirds white, extremely liberal, and very politically active. Go grass roots! Support your local circles of care! We will overcome some day-aa-aaa-aa-aay!

Pew type: Outsider left

This type’s especially liberal on issues of race, immigration, and climate. Many identify as independents. Go RFK Jr.! Let’s expose more corruption, clean the rivers and farmland!

Anti-establishment but not placed in the quadrants

Pew type: Stressed sideliners

This type is the least likely to vote. Their hard lives don’t change depending on elections, but the undocumented immigrants do compete for public funding intended for this group.