It is not the end of THE world but the end of A world.

An electoral victory is not full absolution of the past and nor should it be.

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The Prophetess Cassandra

For most Democrats and those who valiantly supported Harris in the presidential election, the day after is one of broken hearts and broken minds. The red wave that was announced for 2022 was merely delayed, and it was unleashed yesterday on the unexpecting Democrats. Trump’s victory is clear and absolute. He will enter the Oval Office on January 20th as the most powerful President ever to occupy the role, and he will wield

quasi-absolute power thanks notably to the Supreme Court’s recent decision to confer immunity for all official presidential acts.

Trump and his supporters will claim that the mandate they have received from the American people allows them to implement their program without restraint. Expect no moderation or so-called unifying message from Trump. He is incapable of unity and bringing the country together; he has no desire to do so, and those who think that this time around, he will be a more consensual President are deluding themselves. Elections matter, and the consequences of re-electing Trump will be felt both in the US and abroad. Pity the American women, the immigrants both legal and illegal, all minorities in the US and all those who have previously stood up to Trump in the past.

However, an electoral victory, as impressive as it may be, does not and should not confer full absolution of past acts. Trump is no less of a liar today than he was yesterday; no less of a convicted felon, no less of an adjudicated rapist and twice impeached former President. More importantly, despite his empty promises, he will not suddenly become the President for “all Americans”. He will merely defacto be the President of all Americans, which is fundamentally different.

The second Trump presidency will be very different from the first one. Trump is much better prepared to assume the role of President, and he is surrounded by a group of loyalists who have done their homework, from JD Vance down. They have a clear American fascist agenda, and it will be implemented through thick and thin. We know what Trump intends to do; he was clear about it before the election. Democracy has not died overnight, but it is very much on life support and has never been as vulnerable as it is today. The risk of having the US become a new American fascist oligarchy is no longer merely a bad dream; it has become a reality. Elon Musk and other less-known oligarchs will soon feast at the very private tables of the White House.

The Democrats would be wise not to indulge in useless finger-pointing and squabble incessantly over why they lost. The simplest answer is sometimes the best, as per Occam’s Principle. Fear, hatred and lying are more potent in today’s world than in old-fashioned politics, where decency still plays a role. We should resist the ill-advised temptation to pretend that the racist, sexist, misogynistic and bigoted campaign conducted by Trump was a mere reflection of the typical political game. It isn’t and should never become so. To claim that Trump is a Nazi is not accurate. But he is the modern incarnation of a fascist, and winning the election doesn’t make him suddenly a democracy-loving politician. He won the election precisely because he could jump on the horse of modern fascism and tame it – for a while, at least. The American people fell to the myth of the Big Lie and were faced with the choice of a Strongman and a black woman; they chose the former. Fundamental racist and sexist undercurrents were deliberately stoked and promoted by Trump’s bigotry, and the battle was not fought on equal terms.

Much blame will be placed on Biden as he, according to some, should have accepted to step down much earlier and allow for a more traditional primary process. But even if he had, there is no guarantee that any Democrat could have resisted the tsunami of lies and misinformation from the Trump campaign and Trump himself.

Elections have consequences, and the American people may very soon have buyer’s remorse even though in the face of the inevitable hardship and difficulties of the new Trump era, Trump will be sure to place the blame elsewhere and manage to stay squeaky clean. The only wild card in the game is Trump himself, as he is eminently unpredictable based not on his alleged superior intelligence but rather on his paranoia and warped, uninhibited personality. But let there be no false hope; he will be surrounded by intelligent and competent minders and loyalists who will ensure he will not stray too far from the promised path.

Yesterday’s results have guaranteed that Trumpism is here to stay and that it is the fundamental new political philosophy of the 21st century in what is still called the free world. Trump’s success will galvanise like-minded politicians in Europe and elsewhere, creating a permissions structure to elect far-right and fascist governments (for example, in France and also potentially in Germany). In this respect, we are witnessing the end of the hitherto liberal democratic model. A new Trumpian US, promoting fascist policies and hell-bent on implementing an America First agenda, is the resurrection of the isolationist pre-second World War impulses that will fundamentally change the world order and, through a chain reaction of butterfly effects result in a new world that is more protectionist, more nationalist, more unstable and thus by definition more dangerous.

The potential for armed conflict is much higher today than it was yesterday. Trump never was and will never be the President of Peace. He will be the President of Appeasement, and the new axis of dictators that goes from Moscow through Pyongyang to Beijing is the single most important beneficiary of Trump’s election. Those who naively punished the Biden / Harris administration for their support of Israel, rightly fuelled by their condemnation of the quasi-genocide in Gaza, will soon discover, to their dismay, that a Trump administration will be far worse for the Palestinian cause than the current administration.

Likewise, Ukraine will soon be abandoned to its sorry fate as Trump will withdraw US support, and Russia will be able to impose a negotiated “peace” entirely to its advantage. The guns of war may be silenced for a while, but at what price? If the past is prologue, and it generally is, the rise of fascism in Europe under Putin’s dark shadow will continue at a faster pace than ever. It will risk engulfing Europe with a more significant and even more bloody conflict than what we are witnessing today.

Trump’s triumph is not the end of the world. It is merely the end of a world and the “new brave world” that is destined to replace it will not be a pretty sight. 2024 rhymes, unfortunately, with 1984.