Trump Won. Now What?

Now what?  We can start by feeling sorry for many different groups of people, mostly here, but some abroad as well, who will experience terrible consequences of Trump’s re-election, either directly or indirectly.

Americans Directly Affected  

Muslims

Women who may need abortions

Sick people covered under Obamacare

Immigrants and their young children escaping grave physical danger

Active duty military and their families

Those who work in industries aimed at decarbonizing our energy and transportation sectors, e.g. the 300K U.S. families whose weekly paychecks come from the expansion of solar energy

Those whose jobs derive from the CHIPS act and the Inflation Reduction Act

People of color

The working class whose taxes will increase to cover further handouts to the billionaires and huge corporations

LGTBQs

Those living in poverty

People living on Social Security

Consumers of products and services that are made affordable by migrant workers who pick fruits and vegetables, work in restaurants, etc.

Those concerned about climate change and other forms of environmental degradation due to slashed EPA regulation and an increase in the extraction and consumption of fossil fuels.

The growing number of parents and their children who can’t afford private schools

The future of America’s knowledge-based workforce, e.g., its engineers and physicians

Non-Americans Directly Affected:

Ukrainians, Taiwanese, and other people around the world who are under attack or threat of attack by Putin, Xi, and the growing list of authoritarians and war criminals

Europeans worried about what Putin is likely to go after once conquering Ukraine.

Indirectly Effected

Those who believe that America benefits greatly from its adherence to the rule of law, i.e., single set of laws that apply to everybody equally

People whose connection to all this is minor, but who are compassionate human beings who care about the well-being of others.

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Concerning this last group, I explained to my son when he was younger, “For you and me, involvement in politics is important, but not because it affects us personally.  We’re not poor, Muslims,  uneducated, black, gay, immigrants escaping danger, or women.  We need to be connected to politics, but only because we care about other people and hate to see them suffer.”

Side Note – The Winners

To be fair, there are many groups whose stock just gained a great deal of ground:

Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas, who appeared to be headed toward expulsion from the U.S. Supreme Court

A large range of criminals who will benefit from the evisceration of the Justice Department

A few hundred insurrectionists now serving prison time

Trump’s high-level co-conspirators in his attempt to overthrow the U.S. government following the 2020 election loss

All would-be dictators around the globe who have renewed hope after seeing authoritarianism come to the most powerful country on Earth

The evangelical Christians, book-banners, and proponents of the Ten Commandments in classrooms

Fox News and other ultra-right-wing “news” sources

Corporate CEOs who will now be under less pressure to offer employees a living wage