Despair and Incomprehension

This blog normally excludes any kind of political commentary, but on the occasion of the election of Donald Trump to the presidency, I cannot possibly pretend that the world is normal.  

David Remnick in the New Yorker puts it clearly:

"The election of Donald Trump to the Presidency is nothing less than a tragedy for the American republic, a tragedy for the Constitution, and a triumph for the forces, at home and abroad, of nativism, authoritarianism, misogyny, and racism. Trump’s shocking victory, his ascension to the Presidency, is a sickening event in the history of the United States and liberal democracy. On January 20, 2017, we will bid farewell to the first African-American President—a man of integrity, dignity, and generous spirit—and witness the inauguration of a con who did little to spurn endorsement by forces of xenophobia and white supremacy. It is impossible to react to this moment with anything less than revulsion and profound anxiety."

I cannot understand how the country I was born in can elect someone who is so manifestly unqualified to be president.   I can understand that people might have different political views from mine, and that in a democracy, people can choose to vote the issues that are important to them.    But I am ashamed to be from a country that would elect such a horrible person to be the president, and I really can't understand how this has happened.  
As Jennine Crucet in the NY Times put it succinctly after conversing with a Trump voting relative of Cuban descent,  "I cannot make sense of these choices.  There is no sense to be made."

The only positive thing I can think of in what is happened is that now that the right wing is totally in charge, they have nobody to demonize any more.   Whatever happens is a consequence of their policies.   Who can they blame for the next catastrophe?  The liberals have no power.   I only hope the people who were conned into voting for Trump begin to realize what they have done when the wall fails to materialize and the coal mines stay closed.

I will continue to write this blog and write about the things that I love, but with a deep-seated anguish about what has happened to the world I live in.    I have no choice but to go on and cherish what still exists.   And I treasure the experience of being in New York City, where, despite all the tensions of city life, I feel reassured by the enormous diversity of humanity around me.