The Trump Effect and the Reckoning of the Left

This guest post on the U.S. election is by Pedro Teles, a physicist. Physicists see the world in a multi-dimensional way from meta to molecular levels that, applied to other aspects of life, helps us understand their most puzzling dynamics.

I guess Im part of the group that woke up to the news.

I spent most of Election Night with American friends at a bar, and then afterwards, in my bed (because it was that late), at home, watching CNN live updates, until I succumbed to sleep - and in hope - as Hillary still had a chance to win. I literally woke up to the words Trump won at eight. Im still trying to digest it, and just as scared as everyone else. And to be fair, I never really followed an American election this closely, but this wasnt just another American election.

I knew, from constantly checking several polling sites, that we were living in a sort of quantum state of three alternative realities, two belonging to Hillarys victory and one to Trumps. Little did I know that the fates had decided to wake me up in the less likely state that morning, to my chagrin. I can only imagine the relief of the two other mes living in the other realities, happily waking up to the expected Clinton win, and, believe me, I really wish I could be them. Unfortunately, I am stuck here, with this, and so are you and everyone else, and probably just like you and everyone else, I just cant believe it. Trump. Won. The. Election. Jeez.

Or perhaps we shouldnt be surprised. Perhaps everything was pointing in that direction, and we were too blind to see it, or otherwise focused on other things, to notice the rise of populists (and this isnt restricted to the US either).

But this is actually the scary bit. For decades now, we have witnessed a series of social achievements like never before: gender and racial equality, LGBTQ+ rights, protection of minorities and rights to the most vulnerable. Certainly, there is still much to be done, but I guess everyone can agree that we had never reached this far. And just when we thought this was actually something to cherish and celebrate, we realize that it isnt. It isnt cherished, at least not by a big chunk of the population. And this is what got me depressed. Perhaps the biggest problem is that many of these social achievements now taken for granted, were implemented in a top-down approach, imposed upon people who really cannot understand their importance, or believe that they are wrong. And unlike the abolishment of the death penalty or womens suffrage a hundred years ago, advocates of social progress are no longer the revolutionaries, but the establishment. And those who take a radical stance against them have become the fringes. Somehow, the roles have been reversed, and you just didnt notice, and, most importantly, you didnt even realize how bad it was. I mean, that kind of social progress tied up with the establishment? How bad could it be. Right?

This role reversal is what led to Trumps victory. Somehow, bigotry, and prejudice became tied up with a certain brand of anti-establishment, the allure of which became too strong to resist for some. I mean, you can all agree that theres a certain attractiveness to being a revolutionary, to feeling part of change. Overthrowing the elites. It is sexy to want change. Except that, in this case, this appeal was completely misguided. Suddenly, the white middle-class found themselves in the role of the revolutionaries, the ones fighting the powers-that-be and the corrupt caste of politicians ruling them from ivory towers, which somehow Hillary represented. And this is what is so innovative and, quite frankly, so scary, in this new world order. And probably where we failed too.

Democracy cannot be imposed upon societies, rather societies need to embrace it, just as everything else that comes with it. Societies were so eager to implement social equality and protect minorities, focused on creating a better world, that they forgot to ask the average man what he thought of it. And worse, we were so arrogant we didnt even care to explain it to him. Thats why he is rebelling against us.

It is no wonder that some of the flagships of the left have been taken over by populists with unknown agendas. Just think about it. When else has the left ever defended a globalist world order in which finance trumps all? It is in this contradiction of sorts that we have found ourselves in the past decade. Just as we started taking social progress for granted, we allowed ourselves to become the very thing we thought we stood against. And the very thing we stood against became our ally. We became subservient to the untouchable elites. Opaque. Arrogant. Dictatorial.

This is what got us this far. And this is where we need change. We need to redirect the left to where it should have always been. Sided with the people. Listening to the people. Engaging with the people. All of them, including those with whom we disagree. We need to understand these views, debate them, uncover the myths, separate fact and fiction. Talk over their fears, fears against which we were too disgusted to fight. And just like any other demon, for as long as we pretended they werent there, we were just making them grow uglier and over-inflated.

This void was so easily filled by the likes of Trump, with unseemly impractical and, at least at face-value, imaginary agendas filled with hatred and bigotry. But what else did we expect? The World just needed someone to galvanize all this hatred, and this someone just happened to be Donald Trump .

And this is where I stopped to think again. Perhaps this is not as innovative and different. Perhaps this has happened before. Theres actually another example in recent history in which the political left failed the people and something else immediately claimed the void. The only difference is that this time it is happening in the US, which makes it all the scarier, because not only have the US always stood up against this sort of thing, but the US also possess 1,000 times the destructive power of anyone else. And just as people couldnt believe it when Hitler invaded Poland, not to mention concentration camps for the Jews and all those who opposed him, perhaps we just cant believe what is happening now.

Some people have played it down to me. Said it wasnt that bad. That the US system of checks and balances would keep him at bay. All this was said of Hitler and Germany. Just go read the news articles published during his rise to power. And yes, I hope this could be a reductio ad hitlerum, but Im afraid it isnt. Although I really hope it is. Just in case, please allow me to be depressed. Just for a while.