Republican Donald Trump will be America’s next president. The election of this anti-Democrat is an unmistakable warning to the world.
The 45th president of the United States will be Donald Trump. The election was hardly over before the shock waves crossed the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans from North America, causing the world to hold its collective breath. Would Trump observe the traditional rules of play of American politics or would he prove to be an anti-democratic destroyer of U.S. democracy in line with the public statements he uttered before Election Day and thus bring about utter chaos?
On early Wednesday morning, his acceptance speech was delivered with a new and more moderate tone and was characterized by a hint of reconciliation. But he had already promised his radicalized fans a break with the system. He attracted supporters because he refused to respect the hated system of the Washington establishment. He has provided no basis for anyone to suddenly believe his new, gentle words. Donald Trump has promised hatred, and hatred is what he will deliver.
What do we have to lose? Two days earlier, Harry Belafonte told us exactly: “Only the dream, only everything.” It’s not enough to simply look at colorfully pretty America; the entire nation has much to lose. Trump has promised economic protectionism in an attempt to give the illusion of returning to the security of a Fordistic world in which the dominant figure was the white male.* But the tectonic shift caused by a digital economy plus global migration has completely caught up with America. Vast portions of the nation are now structurally dependent on hypermodern made-in-Silicon-Valley capitalism.
American society hardly has a chance of survival other than becoming a modernized, diverse economic construct. That’s the opposite of what Trump envisions. Racism and hatred will have to serve as a substitute for keeping promises.
The election has drastic implications for the wars in Syria and Ukraine, and beyond to endangering attempts to stabilize the world climate. The election of an anti-democracy racist and chauvinist must be an unmistakable warning to the world. Those impacted not only economically by global capitalism but those who philosophically object to it as well deserve solutions. Such a victory is therefore also a plea to liberals to oppose the disintegration of our united democratic society.
*Translator’s Note: Fordism sought to combine workers and machines as one unit and emphasizes minimization of costs instead of maximization of profit. It is named after its famous proponent, the U.S. automobile pioneer Henry Ford.
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