What Now?

I had intended to write about the election results a lot earlier, but extenuating circumstances forced my absence for several months. Nevertheless, I feel that, as the nation and the world braces for a second Trump presidency, I should give my thoughts on what the results of the 2024 election mean, and what we should do now that Trump is once again returning to power.

Osho once said of democracy, "[it] basically means government by the people, of the people, for the people, but the people are retarded" - and since November 6, 2024, I can't help but think more and more about what he said.

Former President Donald Trump spent the past year running a political campaign founded on hate, racism, malice, and retribution. He and his allies have vilified and dehumanized political opponents and minorities, spread fearmongering propaganda targeting immigrants and LGBT people, and spouted authoritarian and fascistic rhetoric that should have indicated in the clearest terms how important it is to never allow him or his minions anywhere near a position of power again.

Unfortunately, this was not to be the case. Not only did Trump win the electoral vote, he also became the first Republican in 20 years to win the popular vote in a presidential election, defeating Kamala Harris and securing a second term as president of the United States.

I remember when Donald Trump won the first time in 2016. I was only a teenager just beginning to become politically active, and I saw his election as a call to action. I participated in protests against neo-Nazis, became involved in following current events, and even started this website to publish my thoughts and opinions on various topics and pressing issues.

But this election seemed more hollow; rather than feeling like a call to action, the results left me reeling in a sort of silent shock and disbelief.

What makes it different this time, I think, is that we no longer have the excuse of not knowing what a Trump presidency will bring. We all saw the corruption, the racism, the xenophobia, the lies, the isolationist cynicism, the disregard for civil rights and LGBT rights, and the contempt for pluralistic democracy that defined the first Trump administration. We all saw the damage it did and the damage it continues to do. And yet, for some reason, the voters - by a MAJORITY this time - chose to vote for Trump again, in spite of everything he stood and still stands for.

I think what makes it even worse this time is that Trump's campaign was built on basically nothing. There was little, if any, coherent policy in his presidential campaign this time besides vague platitudes, bitter whining, and - most notably - open racism and hate propaganda. There was no mystery as to what Trump stood and stands for. Everyone knew. They knew he was an authoritarian-minded demagogue with no respect for pluralistic democracy. And yet they voted for him anyway.

I think my biggest fear about a new Trump administration is the future of aid to Ukraine, which has spent the past three years fighting a brutal war against Russian aggression that had killed tens of thousands of people and has caused a humanitarian and geopolitical crisis in Europe not seen since World War II. Trump and his running mate, Senator JD Vance, have trafficked heavily in isolationist rhetoric, spreading conspiratorial non-interventionist propaganda for years. Ukraine has held out against Russia in no small part due to billions of dollars worth in military aid from the United States. And now the future of that aid is in serious question as the United States once again is poised to fall into the hands of the isolationists. 

But it's not just Ukraine. I also fear for the future of immigrants - legal and illegal - who reside in the United States. The Trump campaign was defined by openly racist, dehumanizing, and bigoted lies directed towards immigrants in the United States. Trump and his sycophants smeared immigrants as "rapists" and "murderers", spread vile hate propaganda targeting the Haitian community in Ohio with baseless rumors about them spreading diseasea and eating cats and dogs, and promised "mass deportations" of immigrants on "Day 1". Now, Trump and his administration have been given a blank check to conduct these mass deportations they've been itching for for years. And if the first Trump administration's immigration policy is anything to go on, the future for immigrants in this country is very bleak.

There are so many other issues I'm worried about. LGBT rights, voting rights, the economy, civil liberties, freedom of the press, income inequality, healthcare, the environment and climate change, NATO, education - all things that are threatened by Trump's return to power.

I sure hope those 15-cent-cheaper eggs are worth it to the people who voted for this.

I won't lie, I'm afraid. It's natural to be afraid in times like this. But it's imperative right now that we do not give up hope, and that we keep fighting.

For me, the first glimmer of hope came from one of my heroes, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who in the aftermath of the election responded not with cynicism but with optimism, saying he looked forward to working with Trump and complimenting his "peace through strength" approach. Indeed, Zelenskyy has put on an aura of confidence and optimism for Ukraine's future under a new Trump administration - and he of all people has every reason to be cynical in the wake of Trump's victory.

In times of crisis, where things seem bleak, I like to look to my personal heroes. I keep a list of them.

There's Alan Berg, the liberal talk radio host whose sharp wit and fearlessness in confronting neo-Nazis on the air cemented his legacy as one of talk radio's most iconic commentators.

There's Mel Mermelstein, a Holocaust survivor who lost his entire family in Auschwitz but - despite his anguish and harassment from Holocaust deniers - went on to successfully sue a Holocaust-denial organization for defamation, which resulted in a US court ruling for the first time that the Holocaust was an indisputable fact of law.

There's Isambard Kingdom Brunel, a brilliant Victorian-era British engineer whose genius, optimism, and innovation in the field of designing bridges, railways, and massive ships - most notably the massive SS Great Eastern, a precursor to the ocean liners of the 1900s - revolutionized the industrial era and silenced his critics and naysayers.

There's Paul Rusesabagina, a hotel owner in Rwanda who, during the Rwandan genocide in 1994, took it upon himself to shelter over 1,200 Tutsi refugees from the extremist Hutu death squads who were slaughtering over 1,000,000 innocent people while the world stood by and did nothing.

And there's Mbaye Diagne, a UN captain who, like Paul Rusesabagina, took it upon himself to do the right thing in the face of evil, going against orders and personally rescuing hundreds of Tutsi refugees in Rwanda from Hutu extremists - a selfless act of bravery that tragically cost him his life.

These are only a few of my heroes. They're the people who I want to model my life after.

I'm not going to sugarcoat it. The next four years under Donald Trump are going to be bad. Very very bad. And the effects of it will long outlast Trump even after he is gone. But that's all the more reason that we should seize the initiative to fight for what's right in an immoral world.

I, for one, refuse to surrender my hope. The next few years will be hard, but I promise to do my best to make the world a better place - even in the face of those seeking to tear it down.

I will call out hatred, racism, and bigotry when I see it, as Alan Berg did.

I will do what's right in the face of evil and inhumanity, as Paul Rusesabagina and Mbaye Diagne did.

I will fight for truth and justice, as Mel Mermelstein did.

I will continue to be optimistic, open-minded, and innovative in the face of cynicism, as Isambard Kingdom Brunel was.

And above all, like Volodymyr Zelenskyy, I will never give up.