Trump and the 'self-correcting' America

Alfred Lela

Donald Trump's victory, in terms of size and scope, is a political event and lesson not only for Republicans and his supporters but also for his detractors and haters and the American left.

Rarely has a candidate become President by winning the White House by popular vote, the Electoral College, the Senate, and the House of Representatives and beating the statistics and predictions of professional pollsters.

Not to forget the '12th player' in the political playing field: the mainstream media, which was unanimously pro-Harris.

It should be noted that Vice President-Elect JD Vance will very likely keep the Republicans in power eight years after Trump.

This triumph of Trump also breaks down, metaphorically, the protective barriers erected and enhanced in Washington DC as a warning spin of a defeat of Trump and the ensuing violence of his supporters against the American capital and the constitutional order.

Now, with the tables turned, Democrats need to repeat back to themselves the tune of nonviolence that they so persistently demanded of Trump.

The American Left must reflect on its rhetorical choices and policies so heavily based on woke-ism and cancel culture, vibes more than issues, platitudes more than certitudes.  

Constructed as falsehoods of identity politics, they were proven as such, not only by the subjects for which they were erected (ethnic and social minorities) but also by a candidate like Trump, who is authentic even when wrong. And this contrasted sharply with a heavily scripted Harris.

There is a lesson for Donald Trump, too: he should reflect on the refractory message after losing in 2020 based on the idea of ​​a rigged election.

With ephemeral evidence of this claim, Trump broke an old and sanctified trademark of American political ethics, the defeated congratulates the winner, and life and battle go on.

It is still too early to discuss the implications of Trump's triumph, but it is spectacular as an event in itself.

In the words of businessman Kevin O'Leary on Fox News, "When things go to shit, America corrects itself."

That may be so, but political experimentation, with the hope that the self-correcting mechanism of both the founding fathers and the American spirit will set the balance, may turn into a cynical experiment.

The November 2024 election proved that there are two Americas. One is that of the Bible Belt, Rust Belt, and Sunny Belt, and in front of it all, the 'Elite Belt' is complacent and arrogant but not electorally self-sufficient.

Main Street achieved a temporary victory over Wall Street; the most important thing is that the latter understands why it lost.

Great America, the one between the two ultra-liberal bands of the East and West Coasts, put its own man in the White House. Yes, he is a product of the elites it opposes today, but this is further evidence of the American self-correcting mechanism.

Despite the winning and losing sides, all Americans should be proud of their country: it is still the 'great city on the hill.'