Having just recently come back from a few weeks in the US and being reminded what a fantastic, unique and complex nation it is. And having been treated with pretty much universal hospitality and kindness, no doubt by supporters of both candidates, I just feel so terribly sad that they've chosen on majority to go with such a venomous, entitled capricious man who will not make any effort to better the lives of those who've put their faith in him.
It's easy to shout 'racists, bigots, idiots' - are there plenty of those who voted for him? Course there are, but this an inflection point decades in the making as swathes of the population have seen the American dream slip further out of reach while corporate power and money concentrates wealth. Both parties hold the blame for that.
The republicans are just better at leveraging a frustrated population to their own ends, Trump has been a perfect vessel for them for 15 years.
I hope the republic holds fast and this administration is an end in itself, keeping that felon out of prison, rather than a means to a deconstruction of the US political and functional apparatus - my Instinct is it's a far too complex and embedded machine to be derailed by a bunch of childish fantasists, although the damage the likes of Miller, Johnson, Bannon and Musk may inflict would be significant and long lasting.
Millions have rejected MAGA, and I very much doubt the millions who embrace it will see much RoI over the next four years.
