Orange Man Bad: Part 2

 

It’s been a couple days and I’m still very sad about the 2024 US elections. A true one-party sweep has occurred, and it’s not the party I would have chosen. Neither party particularly represents me well, but the Republicans have taken such a dark turn in the past decade that I am truly fearing for the future of democracy and any semblance of peace the world may have been stumbling toward. 

Grappling with the ramifications for the country -and the world- is a big pile of shit to eat. 

Grappling with how people I love voted for this is also a big pile of shit to eat. 

I can think of three ways to digest these piles. First is the ‘ignore’ option. Push it all away, try not to think about it. Second is to rage against these facts. Lash out at the world and my loved ones who helped to bring this world about. (One of my sons is going through this process now) Third is to desperately hope that I’m wrong about all my presuppositions that build my convictions that lead me to believe that things are very bad and about to get much worse. Options 1 and 3 are the best way to ‘make peace’ with my loved ones, and option 3 is the best way to minimize my personal pain, worry, sadness and fear. 

Option 3 (hoping I’m wrong) matches my epistemic humility. I actually, truly do think that I can be wrong about anything, and I’m very confident that I’m wrong about many things. So it’s not a stretch that I could be wrong about the ramifications of this election and the nature of the people who brought it about. 

A lot of us are reeling because Trump’s evil and danger is so incredibly self evident, and many interpret a vote for him as an endorsement of his personality and willingness to accept the destruction of democracy if it means they get to win the culture war. That’s just plainly not true.  I can also empathetically understand how they would feel about me if the election went the other way. They would truly be despairing what they would feel is the loss of their country and the evil I had facilitated by voting for it. (That does not mean they’d be right, but it does inform how I try to interpret them.)

I’m also wanting to be very careful about ‘they’ statements. There is no single demographic, political impulse, or motivation that encompasses everyone who voted for this dangerous evil. I see a lot of folks in my bubble saying things like “For the people who voted for him, the cruelty IS the point”. And this is certainly true for some percentage. He’s a blatantly cruel person and that’s a natural draw for cruel people. But I’m also certain it’s not true for all his voters, because I know quite a few who in every other aspect of their lives are generous, loving, and kind people who put their money and time where their mouths are, helping others in the ways that they know best. People who taught me to be the opposite of almost everything Trump is and stands for. 

So how do I reconcile this dichotomy? I did my best steel-man for these people here, in case it’s helpful:

1 a. Premise: All the major news organizations are primarily staffed by liberals (in the US that means democrats)

1 b. This means they will naturally bias towards the left (Most of the people making this argument don’t know the difference between “liberals” and “the left”.) and against Republicans, therefore you need to correct for that by seeking alternative news sources.

1 c. This bias has been demonstrated to be true, especially in the case of Trump by exaggerations. Examples follow:..

2 a. Premise: The "mainstream news" (read: that staffed by majority liberals) demonstrate their bias in countless cases such as claiming that "Trump said" the following: Mexicans are rapists, There are good people on both sides, He could shoot a person on the street and people would still support him, He mocked a disabled reporter, etc.

2 b. All of these examples -and more- can be shown to be false, or at least unclear or more nuanced by providing accurate context. Media outlets that are not staffed by majority liberals provide this context. Therefore demonstrating a commitment to truth over ideology. This justifies ignoring any news about Trump from outside their media ecosystem.

3 a. Premise: The Bible does not give directions about voting for leaders in secular positions of power.

3 b. The Bible has many examples of very flawed leaders, including King David who was "Beloved by God". Therefore, God uses imperfect -even evil- vessels to do His will.

4 a. Premise: The country is moving further and further from the Christian values "we" associate with "true Christianity". Democrats are more in line with this cultural shift than Republicans. Therefore God's will would naturally be to have the opposite in office, even if they are vile.

4 b. Cultural moves to require acceptance of new cultural norms will inevitably come into conflict with "true Christianity" resulting in legal repercussions (oppression) for Christians. These concerns outweigh the moral opprobrium we may feel for Trump.

So I’ve accounted for the truely cruel people who voted for him and the truly saintly who voted for him, but I also know that most people simply don’t follow politics, understand policy, and they vote almost randomly based on vibes. And while there’s a lot of blatant cruelty and evil on display in the candidate and proposed policies, these people may not be seeing or perceiving that simply due to ignorance and political disengagement. 

While I think the ramifications of this election for the world are disastrous, (Hopefully mitigated by the collision of 3 massive egos -Trump, Musk, RFK- that will cause incalculable chaos to any coherent strategy) I do not think that this election indicates that the nation is more evil and cruel than it ever was. (Though the actually evil, cruel fringe has obviously been emboldened to push the overton window of cruelty and evil further.) I think there were a variety of cultural and economic factors that led to it.

I don’t care enough about the economic stuff to say more than this. The American public will almost always vote against an incumbent when they feel they and/or the country has financial distress. 

The cultural side is more interesting to me. It cannot be denied that the ‘libertine’ cultural zeitgeist in many institutions (entertainment and higher education especially) has swung far further and faster than historical norms. It has greatly widened the divide between rural and urban, college educated and non, religious and non, and several other fracture points. This bifurcated culture creates tension, just like it does in tectonic plates, and eventually the pressure builds to an earthquake. Those on one side look down on the backwards shameful dirt eaters, and those on the other side resent the cultural capital, perversion and arrogance of the coastal elites. 

I recommend this write up I did about the book The Righteous Mind for more insight into this dynamic and the psychological impulses that drive it. https://joshuaforeman.blogspot.com/2016/01/book-musings-righteous-mind-why-good.html

For simplicity sake I’m going to oversimplify to a 2-sided paradigm for the remainder of this blog with the obvious caveat that a binary spectrum is an insufficient way to model a cultural/political reality. But for clarity, my ‘sides’ are going to be the following conceptual slurries. (I don’t fit perfectly in either but I’m far closer to the Left.)

Right: Conservative, religious-coded, traditional, hierarchical, focus on personal responsibility

Left: Progressive, not-religious-coded, LGBTQ+ friendly, focus on systemic and structural problems

One way to relieve the tension between these groups is to point out the foibles of the extremes of both sides. But I’ve grown very wary and weary of both-sides arguments. The simplest reason can be summed up with this example: “Both sides bombed civilians in World War 2. I guess they were equally bad.” No. Both sides in a conflict can engage in bad stuff while one of the sides is more right and more good, and the other side is more wrong and more evil. Neither side of almost anything is going to be perfect. So I find this both-sides approach to be an intellectual and ethical dead end. (Though it’s obviously super useful for rhetoric and self-soothing via thought-terminating cliche.)

Another way to relieve this tension is to posit that one side may have people (Not all, but certainly some) with good hearts, but they are fooled or led astray by bad information, media, sub-cultural norms, worldview, etc. This is how I interpret my loved ones who have worked to bring about the evil and needless suffering we are about to experience. And I believe (hope?) it is how they interpret me. 

Assuming it’s possible to reverse the schism our culture is experiencing, I believe an attitude shift is the first step. I don’t think you have to pretend that the other side doesn’t have truly evil and truly stupid people on it. But I do think that for pragmatic reasons it’s helpful to simultaneously hold the fact that worldviews can cause good people to believe and do bad things. I think that the worst way to change a bigot is to shame them. And the best way to change them is to expose them to good people in the group they are bigoted against. At least, that’s how it worked for me and many others I know. I believe the shame that the democrats and the left weaponized against the right is a large part of the reason for the boat we find ourselves in now. (Yes, this is ignoring the endless stream of abuse hurled at them by the right) Granted there is a subset of people that are likely completely unreachable. The ones crowing now. The one’s posting “Your body, my choice” on social media. 

I’m just saying that it’s unhelpful to pretend that everyone who brought this about is ^THAT^ kind of person. 

I want to make sure there’s a distinction here between the project of attaining legal rights for the marginalized, and the project of the cultural groundwork that’s required to get there. Since I’m not in a marginalized class it’s not my place to say how far and how fast these projects should go. I’m simply offering my perspective and interpretation of this moment. A million factors went into these election results including algorithms, economics, sexism, racism, billionaire investments, etc. And maybe it’s too late to ever reverse our current polarization, but I think if we do not find a way then the inevitable conclusion is the destruction of democracy, war, genocide, etc. 

Since no one on the right will listen to anything I say, all I can do is appeal to those closer to my ‘side’. My appeal is simple. Let’s find a way to inspire with love and radical forgiveness. (Those who are under active violent suppression are excluded from this this call.) Some of those who are mired in worldviews that keep them closed to better ideas -and that constrain their love- can and do move towards Love. Certainly moreso than moving towards a side that belittles and shames them. It’s possible to believe that a good person is doing bad things because of wrong beliefs. I have to hope that for everyone, most of all myself. As I said, I’m sure I’m wrong about many things. But what underlies both the truths and lies that reside in my mind is a heart driven by a Fierce Love.