The State of America at Elections 2024

We’re less than a month out from another generation-defining American presidential election. In fact, the voting’s already begun. The question is: will we stay the course of reason by electing Kamala Harris, or flirt with devastation by putting Donald Trump in power once more? It’s fascinating, but oh so depressing, to me that this mendacious madman has kept a continuous allure to the conservatives of this nation, and has us all locked in this fascinating death grip.

Back in 2016, I excused America for the folly of electing Trump by giving us an out that it would be impossible to predict how he would truly govern. Despite him being a constant liar and using his platform to voice ugly thoughts, it’s undeniable that he has that wildcard appeal that drew in a lot of voters. Like moths to flame, we all watched (and some cheered on) the spectacle. I mean, most of us with sense and decency had our expectations low, but those limits were transgressed repeatedly. We cannot reprise those years, where the guardrails barely held our government together, all the while the denizens of this country swiftly grew further apart, or died en masse due to the poor response to covid. The madness we witnessed on Jan 6, 2021 should alone be disqualifying, not just to Trump as a candidate, but for anyone who would run under his banner, i.e. most of the current GOP.

The disinformation that is part of our modern internet and communication is definitely a factor in all this. Fox News, as awful as it is, is increasingly old hat these days as the internet has effectively siloed us into whatever we want to hear. People profit online more than ever from spreading lies as long as they drive engagement. Villains, like Elon Musk, who has turned Twitter into 4chan, are online all the time posting nonsense that Democrats are the threat to a stable government or spreading pernicious ills about immigrants all day. It’s disheartening that the leader of a social media network is also one of the biggest spewers of lies online, and so actively engaged in the political scene. Lastly, this behavior isn’t exclusively the purview of the right, but they just do it so much more vividly, it’s almost not worth mentioning that this misdirection is happening everywhere.

It’s with this ecosystem we live in that I’ve lost hope that we will see any sort of decisive action against Trump at the ballot box, as karmic and deserved as it would be. This election looks frighteningly close yet again, likely to be inconclusive for days unless there’s a surprise upset in Georgia or North Carolina. A lot of people unfortunately feel a bit of hurt as the country’s economy has struggled somewhat, something I’ve felt personally with the crunch tech is in. I’ve at least had some insulation thanks to having a savings I’ve been able to draw down from. The inflation sucks, but that’s been a global aftershock of covid that we’ve weathered better than many other nations, and is no need to change out a generally competent administration and its allies over.

One may remember that democrats were kneecapped in 2022 thanks to republicans eking out a win in the house of representatives. As I predicted, that has been a total shitshow. Their former leader, Kevin McCarthy, being forced out by his own rabble? A chef’s kiss moment. Besides those self-inflicted wounds, all that there’s been is dysfunction, save for an extra push at funding the war in Ukraine and trying to preserve that situation. Any other meaningful legislation has been impossible besides basic government funding. Do we really want to put these guys fully in charge? There’s nothing substantive or new being promised, just grievance piled upon grievance!

I’ve been a bit checked out on this cycle with all my time out and about in Asia. It was hard not to feel resigned earlier this year that we were sleepwalking into a Trump re-election, especially after Biden’s tragic stumble in the June debate, where he stood mouth agape and rambled, “we beat Medicare”. Thank the gods (& Nancy Pelosi) that he abandoned his bid then and that Kamala Harris has stepped up. I wish that we had a proper primary so it could have been a legitimate contest and mandate instead of a coronation, but at this point, I think her and her VP pick Tim Walz are compelling enough to compete and lead.

I have some lingering scorn for Joe Biden for being an 82 year old man upholding the farce of “only I can save democracy” against Trump for so long and dragging us all along with that charade. However, he ultimately did the right thing here, and his presidency has been mostly laudable despite enormous global challenges and wars brewing abroad. To see a leader make the unselfish choice for once and pass the torch has been a rare inspiring moment in politics, and it was similarly vindicating to see the polls responding to the change at the top of the ticket. Harris will at least win the popular vote, unfortunately the electoral college is our true decider, a mere seven states this year. I’m proud to continue standing my ground in Arizona.

Democrats don’t answer everything I want, and by merely electing Harris we shouldn’t expect any sort of meaningful change. But at least with her at the helm, I will feel like we have a competent administration to face the world’s challenges and the chance of making incremental progress towards climate action, income inequality, and gun violence. I would very much like to tune out the daily drama and stress that Trump brings. Biden has mostly succeeded here, alas with the notable failure of not acting further against the complex tragedy in Gaza. Our funding of Israel’s recklessly used munitions makes us an obvious foil to the world yet again. However, when it’s Israel as a democratic, ostensibly secular society against religious fanatics and terrorist regimes, it doesn’t come out as black and white as resisting Russia’s oppression versus Ukraine. Few actors in the Middle East are good, that’s what’s clear to me. Only the innocent people like the Oct. 7 victims, indiscriminately bombed Gazans or those displaced by settlers in the West Bank are free of blame to me. Democrats have been as evasive as possible here, to the rage of many on the left and their detriment. It’s still better to vote for them to keep this status quo than put a racist like Trump in with a bulldozer who will only feed the flames in favor of Israel.

It will be a very pleasant surprise if Kamala Harris wins election with a senate and house of representatives backing her. More likely we will be stuck with a house divided, since the senate seems particularly likely to fall given the whims of the six year cycle dealing team blue a bad hand here. Harris against a Republican congress will just be a waste of years and dysfunction, except that maybe even appointing leaders to federal agencies would be in doubt. But at least Trump, a convicted felon, would be facing the imprisonment he so richly deserves instead of continually dodging any sort of repercussion. The republicans truly deserve a period in the wilderness to purge this cult of personality once and for all, as unlikely as that will be.

Well, let’s see what goes down in a month. I’ll be writing soon about my last chapter in Japan, continuing my job search, and enjoying what I can of the Arizona winter before coming in with a postmortem about what this next era could look like as an inauguration nears. Hopefully we avoid double dipping on the darkest timeline. There are many issues in America and limited ability to fix them. Electing Trump the first time only made the world worse, I refuse to believe we can repeat another era of him and come out intact. Please, vote next month.