Elections Have Consequences#
CONTENT WARNING: There’s plenty of raw emotions and language some might find objectionable. If you cannot handle that, read no more
Hang in there with this message, I have a hopeful message here and I think it’s well grounded in reality. Until we get there it’s about to get brutal. For everyone. I never asked for this, but you did. Have fun getting what you wanted.
Let’s start with a brief recap of what’s happened and what will happen: Trump won the US election. He will be President on January 20th 2025. While we cannot predict exactly what he will do as president we can look to his campaign promises and last term as president as a prediction of what we might see, combined with some conditional changes in American Democracy, the electorate, and the man himself.
Policy Promises from Trump#
- Eliminate legal abortions and reproductive care
- Repeal the Affordable Care Act
- The Dollar will lose it’s power and the USA will no longer be trusted in global politics
- Dismantle the so called “Deep State” of career civil servants in Government
- Dismantle the Department of Education
- Dissolve Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security
- A 10% to 60% tariff on all imported goods
- A woefully inept and actively hurtful Department of Health and Human Services (will need to many disease outbreaks, and general poisoning of you)
- Massive deportations of people that are deemed by the administration as illegal immigrants (your current personhood or citizenship status will likely not matter at all in this determination)
- Tax cuts for only the super rich where they will be outright stealing from taxpayers’ tax dollars and perhaps literally stealing from you as well
- The news media will go from bad to worse and will likely be mostly dis and mis-information
Downstream effects of many of the above will include#
- Estimated 10%-50% price increases in all goods and services you buy including gas and groceries
- Mass layoffs of government employees
- Mass layoffs in companies
- Massive shortages in workers for all jobs especially manual labor
- Families being torn apart, people dying of preventable and treatable diseases
- People getting more chronic and life threatening illnesses
- More foreign wars we already couldn’t afford
Surely They Won’t Eat MY Face!?!#
This meme refers to a sentiment that parodies people who regret voting for cruel and unjust politicians or policies, as in the case of Trump’s first term in America or Brexit in the UK.
Fuck Around; Find Out#
Many MAGA people are freaking out right now because they are already seeing the social blowback of their rash decisions. Latino men that voted for the president-elect didn’t realize that Trump said he would deport lots of illegal immigrants. And mark my words when I say it won’t just be Latinos who are here illegally. Have you met a discerning bigot? Yeah me neither. They don’t care, if you’re brown, you’re gone. Your VA benefits are about to go away. Prices on everything are about to go up. And sane, liberal, progressive or just normal humans that don’t support Fascism aren’t here for it. When the face eating Leopards come we’re going to be too busy protecting ourselves and our own.
Paraphrased from a man in the video: “Liberals are only intolerant of one thing: Mind your own business and don’t force your lifestyles and opinions to be the law for everyone. Or liberals are only intolerant of intolerant people.”
Partners are intentionally cheating, divorcing, and even swearing off unrepentant MAGA people. The Korean trend of 4B is coming to the US in a big way. 4B is a cultural and politcal movement that comes from 4 verbs that in Korean begin with B but stand for: No dating, No Sex, No Pregnancy, and No Marriage. So men if you’re looking to find women on dating apps or in person that were already difficult for the same reasons, then get ready for a lot of lonely nights with pornhub as your only partner. At least until that gets banned. I think what the kids are saying now is “Go fuck yourself.”
Meanwhile the rest of the country and world who aren’t part of the MAGA cult are cutting out people that are. It’s not because who they voted for, but because they were already toxic.
It’s too late to change your vote now. Voter’s remorse can’t save you from the consequences of the shitty people you elected.
It’s the devil’s way now There is no way out You can scream and you can shout It is too late now Because
You have not been Paying attention Paying attention Paying attention
2 + 2 = 5 by Radiohead
Damned if You Do; Damned if You Don’t#
I’ve often given Trump credit for being the perfect politician for this era because he literally promises anything and everything to everyone (equally sarcastically and earnestly as it’s fully both). He’s probably also dumb enough (or full of himself) to fully believe himself when he says it. So he’s not lying to you. Or at least not in his own mind.
But when presented with realities, facts, evidence, most of these claims crumble as dust in the wind.
Part of my theory here, which is advised by many other political thinkers out there, is that Trump will either do one of two things with each of his policies and promises: fail to accomplish them, or accomplish them and enrage most Americans by doing them.
This time around he has surrounded himself with loyalists. A posse of yes men. They will all be 100% loyal, but they won’t necessarily be competent. Nor is the man himself. He has seriously floated ideas that are as dumb as Mike Meyer’s Dr. Evil character and had the same level of ability to achieve them.
God money’s not looking for the cure God money’s not concerned about the sick among the pure God money, let’s go dancing on the backs of the bruised God money’s not one to choose
No, you can’t take it, no you can’t take it No, you can’t take that away from me No, you can’t take it, no you can’t take it No, you can’t take that away from me
Head like a hole, black as your soul I’d rather die than give you control Head like a hole, black as your soul I’d rather die than give you control
Bow down before the one you serve You’re going to get what you deserve Bow down before the one you serve You’re going to get what you deserve
Head like a Hole by Nine Inch Nails
Damned if You Don’t#
This section is less about what Trump will actually do because precisely the point is to think about what happens if he doesn’t fulfill his promises or achieve his stated or implicit goals. So we’ll focus more on why he’s unable to accomplish those goals and what the implications are.
If there’s something Trump’s good at is marketing to people and conning them. If there’s any virtue to him it’s that he is comically inept. Things like trying to nuclear bomb a hurricane, putting shark with lasers on their head and alligators in a moat at the Southern border of the US. He’s not nearly the brightest bulb in the Christmas tree.
Then there’s his advisors: people like RFK Jr. who literally had a brain worm but actually has dumb and hurtful ideas like taking flouride out of tap water which has been proven to just give people teeth cavities. Or Matt Gaetz who stands credibly accused as a child sex trafficker is supposed to be the head of the Dept. of Justice? And then to make government more efficient he’s appointing Vivek Ramaswamy and Elon Musk! Two more comical baffoons who’s bravado and wealth inheritances along with one being the literal beneficiary of Apartheid exploitation are the only things that made them wealthy.
Okay so what happens if this nincompoop gang fails to accomplish any goals because they are too inept?
Backlash from their voters! Remember “Build the Wall” and “Make Mexico pay for it”? Yeah promises made, promises promptly ignored.
It’s possible that happens this time, but it’s also possible it doesn’t. Because not only is Trump surrounded by “Yes men” he’s got a Supreme Court, and both houses of Congress on his side.
Damned if you Do#
They lie when they say we matter Lies are a whole new chapter Smile when you reach your master Lookin’ in the eye of the rapture They lie when they say we matter Some’d rather believe in a liar Pride in the hearts of believers While the city ignites on fire While your life hangs in the balance The innocent caught in the violence Silence everybody that ain’t like us Devising words to divide us Fear in the heart of the millions One percent with their billions Savage politicians got the whole world ripe for the pickin'
All hail to the chief Who came in the name of a thief To cease peace (He be comin’ around that mountain!)
Hail to the Chief by Prophets of Rage
Here’s the real panoply of chaos. Let’s say that Trump and his cabinet of chaos are actually successful at getting their way on issues. What’s next?
This is going to hurt really bad. Depending on which ones of those policies above get implemented it could really hurt you and your loved ones but let’s first take a look at the necessary steps to get us there.
Trump needs his cabinet of chaos appointed by congress. There are rumors that many Republicans already won’t support his picks. So this is either a lie and he proceeds as planned without congress in the way, or they stand in the way. If they do there is a constitutional provision for him to declare a recess and appoint whoever he wants. If the latter happens that’s a big sign that we already live in an autocracy that has no functional democratic parts left.
Okay so he’s a despot now. Now what?
Here’s where the real fun, the real reign of terror starts. I’m going to group some of the similar categories together to make discussion easier here. The reality I suspect will be a combo of failures to achieve and failures from achieving his goals.
Mass Deportations#
If this happens at any level it’s hard to imagine that it will be anything apart for genocidal cleansing of a mad dictator. It is likely that Trump uses the National Guard from sympathetic or supporting states to invade other states and enforce these deportations. Also a friendly reminder that Fascist bigots are not ones for nuance so it doesn’t matter your racial identity nor your citizenship nor your legal status in the US. If they think you are an illegal immigrant, supportive of someone who is, or just someone they don’t like; away you go! It is said that the states without sympathetic local leaders (think Governors, Mayors, legislatures, or municipal councils) will likely conscript their local police forces to defend people against this invading army.
But that’s not really where this policy will be most brutal. Instead it will be when the protesting/counter-protesting chaos errupts and Trump declares martial law. It will be the civil unrest of the 1960’s all over again this time with the result of ruining lives and taking away your rights. This could well break out into a Civil War, but at very least will literally tear apart communities all across the country with force and violence.
Further fun fact (sarcasm): Because many predominantly Latino immigrants work in food production, construction, and other manual labor jobs you can count on the prices to raise or skyrocket depending on your area.
Dismantling of the Government and its Agencies#
Government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.
Ronald Reagan
Congrats bitch, you got what you wanted. Might be a couple decades after you left this world but here we are. Eventually we got here.
This is what happens when your political opposition has all the power and charm of the dead fish handshake. You’re the proverbial dog chasing the truck that finally caught it. What do you do now? Well in this case you’re going to be thrown into hardcore reactionary mode with a fight for your survival.
I’ve heard the era we are entering being characterized by Darwinian “Survival of the fittest” and I think that’s right. And not the actual Darwinian concepts, but the bastardized versions that everyone has been wrongly taught more like Social Darwinism.
This will look like what it says: the federal government will be dismantled. Lots of government workers will lose their jobs, the agencies will cease to adequately function, funding will dry up (including federal funding sent to states like with schools), social safety net programs relied upon by millions of Americans will no longer provide any benefits (Veterans Administration, Affordable Care Act, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, SNAP, Food, Affordable Housing, Government Subsidies and incentives, no more protection for big businesses poisoning your community with pollution, no protection or preparedness for pandemics and illnesses, cut off funding for research)
Trade Wars while You Get Robbed#
Trump clearly has stated multiple times that he wants tariffs on all imported goods, and especially high ones from goods coming in from China. Reporting has them at 10% to 20% across the board and up to 60% on China. Tariffs are super simple to understand. Tariffs are taxes. They are charged at the port of entry for goods that are imported into a country. And then the companies that get charged with these taxes raise the prices of their goods. So you pay the tax.
Tariffs = increased taxes and prices for you.
Okay, where do my tax dollars go you might ask? Great question! In a functional democracy they would go to services that help the country’s people. These are things like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, the VA, the ACA, affordable housing units, research grants. But wait I thought you said Trump’s Administration is going to cut and dismantle those benefits?
Bingo! Now you’re catching on. So that still doesn’t answer the question: “Where does the money go?” This one’s actually more obvious and easy than the tariff explanation. Your money goes to Trump and his cronies, and fat-cat rich robber barons. The American Oligarchy. So if your money gets taken without your agreement and ends up lining Trump’s coffers what do we call that? I know there’s a word for it somewhere around here…
Theft. Stealing. Robbery. Grifting. Fleecing. Swindling. Fraud. Corruption.
And yet he gets away with all of it. Why? Pay no attention to the men behind the curtain. They’re just cleaning out your savings account, stealing wages, crashing your retirement funds, charging you an arm and a leg just to live your life.
It’s the classic slight of hand you see. You were focused on something wild or outrageous and they’re in the vault cleaning your clock. You see tariffs at the levels proposed will absolutely trigger retaliatory policies from other countries. Now we’re in a trade war. Whether it’s war of physical violence or economics the fog of war remains. The chaos and confusion will distract you and they will keep on stealing and stealing and stealing from you until you’ve nothing left to give.
Buckle up and keep your eyes on the prize. You’ll have more than enough distractions and they all want you to forget what’s really happening: you’re getting robbed!
It goes without saying that this won’t be popular with the American people, or will it? If you stay distracted you won’t even realize what’s happened until it’s too late.
What Comes Next?#
[King George] They say The price of my war’s not a price that they’re willing to pay Insane You cheat with the French, now I’m fighting with France and with Spain I’m so blue I thought that we’d made an arrangement When you went away You were mine to subdue Well, even despite our estrangement, I’ve got A small query for you:
What comes next? You’ve been freed Do you know how hard it is to lead?
You’re on your own Awesome. Wow Do you have a clue what happens now?
Oceans rise Empires fall It’s much harder when it’s all your call
All alone, across the sea When your people say they hate you Don’t come crawling back to me
You’re on your own…
What Comes Next? by Lin-Manuel Miranda from Hamilton
At this point it should be obvious that Trump will fail by anyone’s standards. He’s made too many promises to too many people. He will either fail to fulfill those promises causing people to admit that he’s incapable of the job they elected him to do or worse, he will achieve his goals and it will ruin the lives of millions of Americans.
There’s plenty of people who argued over the approach to fixing problems in our society with two main proposals:
- Incremental improvements
- Accelerationism which suggests to destroy, dismantle, or tear the whole thing down and start over.
Well that argument is over now: we’re going off the rails on a crazy train!
Crazy, but that’s how it goes Millions of people living as foes Maybe it’s not too late To learn how to love and forget how to hate
Mental wounds not healing, life’s a bitter shame
I’m going off the rails on a crazy train I’m going off the rails on a crazy train (Let’s go)
Crazy Train by Ozzy Osbourne
Hope, What Hope?#
These days I’m seeing hope more like it’s presented in the Hunger Games: A dangerous feeling that others use to manipulate and control you. But there are still things that we can hope in and from the inevitable failure of Trump and the US government can spring forth something new.
“Destruction is a form of creation.”
Paraphrased dialog from the film Donnie Darko
Where there is destruction, failure, and death, there too is the opportunity for creation, success, and life. And perhaps this time around the MAGA crew have taken their wrecking ball to the slower incremental change that the Democrats offered while preventing transformative change that’s so desparately needed.
So if their reckless behavior paves the way for new possibilities in politics and life that were impossible or inconceivable before, thanks for that I guess?
Let the past die, kill it if you have to. That’s the only way you’ll become what you were meant to be.
Kylo Ren from Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Tabula Rasa#
What’s left is a clean slate for those of us who survive and advance. I wish my life weren’t so often characterized by merely surviving but I didn’t ask for any of this. My only job is to determine how to proceed.
“I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo. “So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”
from Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien
When the going gets tough, the so called ’tough’ are already long gone. They lost interest, conviction, disciple, vitality, endurance to continue on when their false gods show who they are no one and nothing of importance and cannot support them. It leaves more elbow room for the rest of us to carry on while those so called ’tough’ people have checked out.
Trump will fail. How he fails will be determined by how things play out in the upcoming years. But he will fail. The world we will inherit will likely be shaped greatly by his ruinous actions. But you get to determine who you are. Now, tomorrow, and for every day that you survive and advance. You bring who you are to the new world. It will be a world that all of us survivors get to shape in our image and serve our values. So what are your values? I’m not advocating for you to actively harm MAGA or anyone who disagrees with you. That’s not my style and it shouldn’t be yours. But no one requires you to spend any time or energy on people who literally can’t be bothered to care if you live or you die. So cut ties with anyone who holds back your personal growth. Join me in shaping a reality that we want to live in. Be honest about your needs and desires. Be bold with a future that is truly better for all. Be ready, when our enemies defeat themselves the world will be ours for the making. And we will re-create it not as it is now. No more will there be the brokeness, the corruption, the greed, the selfishness, the bigotry, the scandals, the thievery, the enslavement, the exploitation, the pain, the suffering, the sorrow, the mourning, the capitalism, the colonialism, the contempt, the grief, nor the shame.
To be continued…#
I’ll leave everyone with my two great sources (more to follow in upcoming posts) for how the world will be re-created both by Jesus and through a better economic system:
Jesus tells us about our heavenly father’s kingdom which has already come for those who have accepted him in their hearts and lives:
18 Now I say to you that you are Peter (which means ‘rock’), and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it. 19 And I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. Whatever you forbid on earth will be forbidden in heaven, and whatever you permit on earth will be permitted in heaven.”
Matthew 16:18-20
11 “I tell you the truth, of all who have ever lived, none is greater than John the Baptist. Yet even the least person in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he is! 12 And from the time John the Baptist began preaching until now, the Kingdom of Heaven has been forcefully advancing, and violent people are attacking it. 13 For before John came, all the prophets and the law of Moses looked forward to this present time.
Matthew 11:11-13
And the one sitting on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new!” And then he said to me, “Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true.”
Revelation 21:5