"... we know the answer to that already by the other consistent feature of his life story: the power, prestige and prosperity of Donald Trump and his family."

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America just came to a fork in the road, and wow, did we take it
By Tom Toles, November 21, 2016

The 2016 election was like a raindrop landing nearly exactly on the North American watershed line. A quarter-inch to the left, it ends up in the Pacific Ocean; a quarter-inch to the right, it ends up in the Atlantic.

The difference was between the solidification and extension of the Obama presidency, or alternatively its eradication. To say the least, these are two very different futures for the United States. On top of that, the eradication of the Obama presidency may also include the eradication of a lot of long-standing American democratic norms. The orange-flavoring of the Trump campaign was distinctly authoritarian, from its threatening talk about lists and deportations and torture and strongman politics to its unprecedented and blatant mixing of the American presidency with a private business empire.

The voters spoke, and voted to extend the Obama presidency, but due to a quirk in the vote tabulating system, the result went to the Republican candidate, for the second time in 16 years. That’s quite a quirk, and it fits nicely with the quirk that gives Republicans a built-in advantage in the Senate, and the quirk that allows gerrymandering that has given Republicans a built-in advantage in the House of Representatives, plus the brand new quirk that allows the Republicans to never vote on Democratic nominations to the Supreme Court. Talk about a quirky system!

In any case, the difference in our future now from what the voters actually selected is about as profound as it gets.

A reader accused me of whining about the electoral college, but I feel it more as genuine dismay. Whining is unfortunately all too accurate. The Democrats accepted the results so fast and supinely in both 2000 and 2016 that barely a ripple of discontent registered in body politic.

Contrast this with the body-blow that President-elect Donald Trump was threatening to deliver if he lost. Lawsuits, accusations of rigging, and marshaling his voters toward the invalidation of American democratic mechanisms. Does this tell us anything?

It tells us that in addition to the two often-cited explanations for Trump voters — economic anxiety and racial animus — there is a third, hidden one. There is an apparent widespread voter desire for ruthlessness.

This was the real Trump campaign platform. The policy contradictions added up to nothing particular, and his on-again, off-again stigmatization of groups may or may not have been actual beliefs. But the one constant throughout was ruthlessness, and voters liked it. They assumed, of course, that the ruthlessness was aimed away from them.

And this will be the defining trait of the Trump presidency. Hope you’re ready. And who will it be aimed at? Who knows? Who have you got? The only determinant will be for whose benefit it will be aimed. And we know the answer to that already by the other consistent feature of his life story: the power, prestige and prosperity of Donald Trump and his family.
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