Donald Trump. Sower of Storms and the Rest of the World

America wants the cleansing rain. It wants it now more than ever.

Donald Trump won this election. Beyond any doubt, without question. And it happened despite the polls, despite the predictions, and above all, despite our vision of America. Because how is it that a man who took the reins of the world’s largest democracy is a billionaire, a celebrity, a man charged with crime, a speaker who did not mince words at his rallies, throwing insult and accusation, who promised pie in the sky and that he would fix the planet in 10 minutes? How is that possible?

First, let’s look at this retrospectively. Trump served as president for four years, and he neither broke nor repaired the world. Remember? So maybe now we should lower our emotions by four or five notches , look in the mirror, and consider curbing any overreaction. Yes, it’s a thoughtful therapy, except it doesn’t answer the question of why Trump – no matter how you look at it, a symbol of an arrogant, white and dominant America – has won election again. How was it possible, and why?

What Has Happened to the American Dream? Today, America Is Hurting

Let me tell you about the America I got to know in the early 1990s, in the heyday of her distant, glorious past. What kind of America was it? It was still a land where the American dream came true before our eyes. But it was still a country dominated by white people and their order. A country that discreetly swept ethnic issues under the rug, but those issues grew increasingly more apparent. I remember Washington, D.C., where you couldn’t go any farther than 13 N.E. Street. Beyond that lay a district where no one could guarantee that a tourist would be safe. It was a white America with crime and unrest in its neighborhoods, but one that lived with the illusion that where we were, the world is run according to our values and our rights. According to our security and our culture. It’s not like that anymore.

The America of the 1990s also fed itself on other myths. The most important was that this was a country chosen by God, The sole superpower. Without any rival in China or India, still stuck in the Dark Ages. America, which had ultimately the economic and civilizational race. That was easy to believe. It was Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush who brought the Soviet Union to its knees and liberated Central Europe. Francis Fukuyama, The bard of American politics, assured us that this was the end of history, and that this state was meant to last. America was great in every dimension. In Florida, another space shuttle took off into orbit. The automotive industry was exceptionally vibrant. In California, geniuses like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs developed technologies the world had never seen. Nike moved all production from the U.S. to China, and hundreds of thousands of students from the Far East studied American democracy at Harvard or Berkeley in order to bring it back to the country ruled by the gentle hand of Deng Xiaoping.

And, we should emphasize, that this all took place before the fateful events of 9/11, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and at a time when Osama bin Laden operated under the discreet umbrella of the CIA.

This was the America of 30 years ago, where young people from Poland were taken to follow in the footsteps of their Chinese peers to learn about democracy. This author himself was part of this educational epic and, to this day, carries this nostalgic image of the U.S. in his heart. But 30 years later, it is just a fairy tale. A hazy memory. Thirty years later, nothing remains of that idyllic picture. America is crippled by failed wars, the rising tide of poverty and bankruptcy. Massacred by acts of terror. The states once rich with heavy industry have become the Rust Belt. The mythical middle class is undergoing pauperization, plagued and terrorized by gangs and teens with firearms. Fentanyl has created a new phenomenon of homelessness that has moved to the centers of big cities. Political leniency has legalized petty crime. Illegal immigration has increased poverty. Americans face problems with their health care and welfare systems. And there are hundreds of other challenges that Russia and China have deliberately created for the world’s policeman. Wars in Ukraine and the Middle East. Global competition with Chinese graduates from Harvard and Berkeley.

No wonder 70% of Americans expressed their dissatisfaction with their situation before the election — including 90% of Republican and 50% of Democratic voters. That is why the opposition message resounded with such force. It was a call, and also the expectation of a real shock, to stop here. Did anyone really believe a nice and perpetually smiling Kamala Harris could deliver any of it? No. She promised to make a calm and diligent effort to effect change within the rules. She had no idea how to appeal to social demands. Let’s not be deluded. It was Trump who knew how to do it. He is believed to be a harbinger, the herald of a storm. And America yearns for such cleansing rain. It wants it now more than ever. But while Trump may be the father of such a storm, he certainly won’t bring salvation to America. A return to the bucolic past is not possible anymore. He can demolish America, or he can mend some of its mechanisms. Let us hope for the latter.