Despite Trump win, hope not completely lost

This column is to the progressives out there who, once again, saw their hopes for a better world thwarted by the election of Donald Trump. All is not lost. Trump could still self-destruct, especially if he actually does what he promised to do.

His affinity for tariffs is a good example. More than likely, they will raise prices and undercut American jobs, and that surely won’t sit well even with his MAGA base.

And his mass deportation promises will undercut our economy by taking away workers doing jobs that “true” Americans don’t want. If you think we have supply chain interruptions now, wait until the factory farmworkers disappear and no one steps up to replace them.

Or how about when massive tax cuts for the wealthy kick in and government offices are filled with cronies instead of competency; then we’ll see how “broken” our government really can be. Red tape frustrations and “deep state” paranoia will pale in comparison to the outrage people will feel when basic government services aren’t being met.

And don’t get me started on what a Republican repeal of the Affordable Care Act will do. It’s the best for-the-people health-care legislation to be enacted in decades, and if it’s dismantled, Americans will feel it down to their preexisting bones.

All this is to say that Trump’s base of support isn’t as immovable as one might think. It’s moving into a different phase now, and the real-world consequences to Trump’s policies might just make his supporters reconsider their support over the next four years.

We’ve been moving toward an oligarchy — when the superrich take over our government — for years now, but it’s never been more evident than it is now. Trump will pack the top echelons of government with billionaires, and you can be sure they won’t be there to serve us inferior masses.

But Trump will also demand loyalty among his billionaire buddies, and that will be a tall order. Take Elon Musk as an example: He and The Donald may be the best of buds right now but a clash of these two larger-than-life egos is inevitable. A coalition of the superrich will be hard to keep intact when the top billionaire-in-chief is an increasingly senile old man with a history of failed business and political relationships.

All that said, allow me three final points for the progressives out there to consider:

n Give Trump enough slack and he might just hang himself. His solutions to the nation’s problems won’t look so good to average Americans once they feel the true impact.

n Don’t underestimate Americans and their love for freedom, which will be undercut time and again as money becomes more important than people and their God-given and constitutional rights to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

n Whatever is done to counter this takeover by the billionaire class will have to first succeed at a grass-roots level, where people are still reasonable and generous with one another. The monied interests will start their internal squabbling soon enough; it’ll be up to people “on the ground” to take advantage.

A clash with the upper classes who seek to rule our nation is altogether warranted. The Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and ‘60s may have been more about race than class, but it serves as a great example of how nonviolent resistance can topple unjust systems not just through politics, but by changing the hearts and minds of the people.

Let the resistance begin.

Tom McDonald is editor of the New Mexico Community News Exchange. Contact him at:

[email protected]