U.S. 2024 Elections: Ignorance is a Choice
In 2017, after Trump’s inauguration, David Frum called him “the worst human being ever to enter the White House, and I include all slaveholders.” Today, we are once again witnessing Donald J. Trump assume the presidency, echoing Thomas Jefferson’s warning: “When the speech condemns free speech, you are hearing the words of a tyrant.”
This election was not just another political cycle—it was a watershed moment for the American experiment, with democracy and autocracy both on the ballot. The electorate’s choice was one of willful ignorance, as though the chaos of Trump’s first term and the trauma of January 6th were easily forgotten. Ignorance once again defined his campaign, as did a pursuit of self-enrichment and disregard for science, human rights, and alliances. Trump, who cozies up to autocrats—Putin, El-Sisi, Duterte, Erdogan—rather than his NATO partners, has blamed the Constitution itself for his failures. With each day in office, he further tarnishes the U.S.’s global standing, undermining its values and influence.
Congratulations, America. With Donald J. Trump as your 47th President, you have embraced a loud, narcissistic autocrat who routinely threatens opponents, disregards democratic principles, and wears his disdain for constitutional limits as a badge of honour.
The media, unfortunately, played a role in normalizing candidate Trump, largely wearing self-imposed shackles. They rationalized his behaviour, failing to counter his attacks on free press and the judiciary. We are, in some ways, living in Orwell’s 1984, where critical thought and truth have become endangered species in the struggle for survival.
For those wondering how Nazi Germany could have happened, Trump’s approach provides unsettling clarity. His methods echo the 1932 German playbook, cultivating a culture of lies that invites nihilism, fascism, crony capitalism, and authoritarianism. Sadly, American society has chosen nationalism, self-isolation, and racial animus—deepening the divisions that fracture the nation’s unity.
To my liberal friends: Some of you bear responsibility for Trump’s return to power, having underestimated or even enabled this autocratic threat. By taking the rule of law and a civil society for granted, you’ve squandered them.
To my conservative friends: The Grand Old Party, once a defender of democratic principles, has struck a Faustian bargain, sacrificing country for party. Like sheep to the slaughter, you’ve followed a path blinded by hate, ignoring the rot beneath the surface, the malignant cancer eroding both the Republican Party and democracy itself. In this hunger for power, you have chosen to support a would-be autocrat who destabilizes both the nation and its institutions.
With this election, America—and the world—becomes less safe, more polarized, and more vulnerable. Existential threats like climate change will continue to go unaddressed. The electorate has chosen to disregard its self-interest, and with it, inherits the authoritarian winds they have invited. The responsibility for the disasters ahead falls on each voter, for they have compromised not only their future but that of their children.
This election has empowered racism, anti-immigrant rhetoric, and emboldened European demagogues like Le Pen, Orbán, and Wilders. Like a disease, this autocratic strain threatens our societies on both sides of the Atlantic. We must remain vigilant against nationalism’s return, lest we witness fascism rearing its head once more.
Thank you, America. The world shall inherit the winds of your choices.
As we face this pivotal moment, the world must now brace for the winds of America’s choice. Yet, we must not yield to despair. Just as history has shown the dangers of unchecked power, it also reveals the resilience of those who oppose it. This is a time for vigilance, unity, and unwavering commitment to democratic values on both sides of the Atlantic. Autocracy may threaten, but it is ultimately the resolve of individuals—guided by truth and conscience—that determines the course of societies.
Let us remember: history does not repeat itself, but it can rhyme. In this critical hour, it is up to us to ensure that the echo of past mistakes does not resound as our future.
WJJH – 6.11.2024
📌Blog Excerpt
The 2024 U.S. elections mark a critical juncture where willful ignorance prevails, echoing past authoritarian regimes. Trump, in 2025 president, embodies a threat to democracy, nurturing divisions and ignoring global values. The electorate’s choices have empowered racism and nationalism, necessitating vigilance for a resilient democratic future. History’s lessons must guide society’s choices.
In what kind of world do we wish to live 
That is what democracy is all about. Time to celebrate. Winner of majority vote won the election.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you for your comment, but we all have our own analytical framework and I tend to look more at the bigger picture and for me there is nothing to celebrate with the election of this snake oil salesman. But then, there is a old saying the people get the leaders they deserve.
LikeLike
We will see how it works out! ut whatever he foes, we will know if Harris would have done better, or worse. Seventy one million or so voters have said they believe Harris would do worse.
done worse.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Excellent comment, to the point and revealing the real truth of why, sometimes, democracy is a burden. It takes a lot of preparation to understand the process, to gauge the difference between my lizard brain and the needs of my neighbors…. A country that has as much power as the United States needs a deep sense of responsibility. The Trump electorate has obviously none. For them, it’s apparently all about “owning the libs,” and they have done it twice now. The first time might have been fun. We dodged the bullet, leaving a few hundred thousand Americans to die suffocated as a virus ate their lungs. But the Magats didn’t care, as long as they had their Pretend-Führer feeding them ridiculous conspiracy theories and proposing the ingestion of Chlorox to kill the virus “in a minute.”
What remains extraordinary with these people (and I have detected a few in my family), is their fundamental envy, snobbishness, aimless anger at simply being told what to do for the greater good. Suddenly, something as easy as wearing a mask became a Big Thing, something to be compared with wearing the yellow star.
And they openly said: Only old people will die… A “friend” of mine told me the same thing. So I said: So you say, if I die, you think it would be OK, just so you don’t have to wear a mask? He answered: “I did not mean you.” So I said, do you mean my neighbor who is 72 and has cancer? Do you mean the colleague of mine who almost died of Covid because of his bad heart? Are we all expendable, so you don’t have to wear a mask?
We haven’t spoken since, but I would have welcomed a convo with him… I wrote him that I had covered the trial of two doctors who had been active in Hitler’s Aktion T4 program to kill people in asylums. Their lawyers were still arguing, that it was mercy killings. In the first row at the trial sat a group of young women who had stunted arms… Thalidomide poisoning. What is going on in their heads? I don’t know.
Your statement though is perfect: “With this election, America—and the world—becomes less safe, more polarized, and more vulnerable. Existential threats like climate change will continue to go unaddressed. The electorate has chosen to disregard its self-interest, and with it, inherits the authoritarian winds they have invited. The responsibility for the disasters ahead falls on each voter, for they have compromised not only their future but that of their children.
”In meiner Brust, zwei Seelen: The one is the human being who thinks of his neighbors, of the refugees, of the migrants who’ve been called all sorts of names. For a time, I worked with an organization that took care of them as they made their way up north, losing their lives, their limbs (falling off the trains and getting caught in the wheels). Then there is the fury, that some people can just be such patsies, as if Trump and his ship of fools like RFK Jr. will fix anything: They are enriching themselves, and selling out the country, that’s all. Trump has been running a scam, and all the other scammers are demanding their racketeering rights.
And then there is the journo, who has been examining the phenomenon of a country gone mad. Germany, in 1933, at least, had the excuse of being deeply impoverished and organically divided still licking its wounds from a devastating war, followed by inflation, and facing a renewed economic downturn thanks to the American suckers who bought into the Wall Street scammers. And even then, the Nazis were not elected. They had the largest party in the Reichstag. I will never give up on democracy. It is a great system, if you can keep it. But maybe, just maybe, Americans, especially those people who think it is funny to be vulgar, cheap, oafish, selfish snobs and want to own the libs will have feel Trump good and hard, once again. Many others will suffer, but many have died fighting for self-governance.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Marton, indeed well said. Looking at the victory of democracy, I was reminded of what the Bundeskanzler of Germany Konrad Adenauer noted “In view of the fact that God limited the intelligence of man, it seems unfair that He did not also limit his stupidity..” This summarizes my view on the these people who should be reminded of the fact Trump has been a one-trick pony. Lies, bankruptcies and lawsuits are his trademarks. For his next bankruptcy and recession the American people are going to pay the price. Given the erosion in Congress, institutions, society and education deficits of citizen, the US should be careful not to follow in Rome’s footsteps.
LikeLike