The End of American Exceptionalism
Two anti-Trumpers debate the demise of the Democrats
Mookie is me, Your Friendly Medium Blogger. HP is a former colleague and current friend. Both of us are politics junkies, and both of us are aghast that Trump is back for another term — and perhaps a third. Here we decompress and ruminate after the sweeping loss of the presidency and both Houses of Congress, all beneath recently granted SCOTUS immunity…
HP
Ninety-nine percent of the pundits are finding everyone to blame for Harris losing other than the voting electorate. At the top of the list are Biden, Harris, elite liberals, “woke” progressives, wealthy Democrats, complicit Dems-in-name-only, and so on. Doesn’t each American bear some personal responsibility for their choice for President, including those who voted for Trump, chose not to vote, or voted for a 3rd party candidate?
Mookie
Well, Biden never should have run for a second term, and even if his hand-off to Harris seemed inevitable and smooth enough given circumstances, her campaign made significant and in retrospect lethal blunders. But even if we acknowledge the many missteps, are you actually asserting that we should “blame” the American people for voting for the candidate of their choice?
HP
No, it’s not about blame, but it is about personal accountability. Prior to 2016, my progressive pals and I had endless debates about the causes for GOP control of the electorate, and the bogeyman in those days was the Koch brothers, and “dark money,” and other nefarious actors. Even in those days, I argued that a measure of responsibility has to rest on the individual. But because there was a real understanding that dark money was manipulating people behind the scenes, I could appreciate that a lot of the blame had to rest there. There was also a perception that many American people are under-educated and under-informed, that they didn’t have the necessary tools to understand what was happening behind the scenes.
Then Trump came along and began openly saying terrible things, like racist and misogynist comments on national television, and openly doing terrible things, like caging children, sexually abusing women, attempting to overturn a free and fair election, and instigating a deadly riot at the nation’s Capitol.
The key word here is “openly.” Everyone can see exactly who he is, what he is doing, and what he wants to do. And yet millions of people have decided to make themselves believe that he is a strong, tough guy who will help them (he won’t). They’ve decided to believe that the lies he spouts about immigrants taking their jobs and eating their pets are true (they’re not) and that he cares about them (he doesn’t).
You don’t have to have an advanced degree to see Trump for who he is–a narcissist, a blowhard, and a conman fit for Pro Wrestling or The Apprentice but not fit to be the leader of the free world. I like Eleanor Roosevelt’s quote: “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” I think the same holds here. No one can make you freely elect a wannabe dictator without your consent. Well, unfortunately, a majority of the American people gave their consent.
Given how incredibly transparent Trump is in everything he says and does, at this point we have to ask ourselves: Are most Americans “good” people? Are they able to know who is basically a good person from a bad person “by their fruits,” as the Bible says? If yes, then they are incredibly uninformed, willing to be conned, willing to give a pass to a criminal. If not, then they are allowing their anger and frustration to make them actively complicit with someone who admires dictators. I think we are seeing that it is probably a combination of both.
Mookie
Not too many years ago, America elected President Barack Hussein Obama, remember? And for two terms, no less. Many of those who voted for Trump in 2016, and an even higher percentage across every voting segment, in Red states and Blue, except, amazingly, “white people,” voted for Trump in 2024 — so what happened to them? Did they suddenly become less informed and in a state of denial? Did they flip from enlightened humanists to raving maniacs? Or arguably both, as you suggest?
One can allege that the increasing role of social media and misinformation had a stake, but the digital noise cuts both ways. Instead, I think we need to hold a mirror to the evolution — some would say degradation — of the Democratic Party, the middle and mostly most disadvantaged classes left in the cold going back to Bill Clinton thanks to NAFTA, crime and medicare transformations, and of course more recently the actions and non-actions of the Biden administration. We need to specifically consider the implications of failed border policy, economic hardship, and yes, alienating identity politics, which seems to have spectacularly backfired.
Case in point: Up until a few months ago, I lived on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, paid six grand a month in rent, and lived in a neighborhood rife with homelessness, vagrancy, crime, and hooliganism, and shopped at a CVS where most things were locked up behind plastic and glass to preclude shoplifting, which was no longer a felony in most Democrat-controlled municipalities. Only a few blocks away, migrants were housed, on taxpayer dime, at a hotel, in front of which were set up open-air BBQs, and ongoing parties and gambling games. My neighborhood’s experiment in diversity, equity, and inclusion had failed, and nobody cared or was accountable.
Yet I of course voted for Harris, largely because I didn’t want Trump back in power, and recognized the existential threat he indeed poses to the checks and balances of our government, and even the rule of law. I voted for Harris, because the alternative is not only to welcome a rhetorical anarchist back to DC, but an isolationist who will tank Ukraine and likely Taiwan, a kleptocrat who will create a new class of American oligarchs, modeled from his buddies in Russia.
I held steadfast, but many of my fellow big city moderates swung to Trump thanks to years of these and other liberal urban policies that have been total failures. And the post-election results bear this out for enormous swaths of independents and former-Democrats, a multiracial faction fed up with the status quo, many of whom embracing the vile Trump bombast, too, because it channels their own anger and frustration at a country and a party they believe have gone off the rails.
So while I agree that Trump truly is an existential threat to democracy, millions of American voters were sick and tired of dysfunctional government bureaucracies unable to keep promises, build, improve, secure, or protect things. Lacking confidence in reform coming from within, these voters opted for a radical anti-institutionalist to tear it all down. All nuance has of course become lost, one extreme shifting to another, but we’re not talking about uninformed and misinformed voters, we’re talking about pissed off voters who think the Democrats have fucked things up, and only a bomb-throwing political anarchist like Trump is able to at least begin the process of sweeping reform.
And finally, let’s not forget that incumbent administrations the world-over got walloped this election cycle. Post-COVID, flush with hand-outs and the inflation and institutional distrust it engendered, the Dems were swimming upstream, and needed extra headwinds, which they didn’t receive with Biden dropping out too late and the White House lying the whole time, and Harris unable to sufficiently differentiate herself from an unpopular administration. Trump repeated his playbook from 2016 by over-hyping and over-simplifying problems in a compelling way, and offering radical but exciting solutions, painting himself as the true American Superhero, here to save the country, make it great again — again.
HP
I hear you about the institutional dysfunction, which is being driven by both parties. Republicans historically are the party which, as Grover Norquist once famously said, wants to reduce government “to the size where I can drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub.” When one party wants to destroy the government, they have a huge advantage over a party that wants to build government into an institution “of the people, by the people, for the people.” On a steep and winding road, it’s much easier to throw a stick in the wheels of a bicycle than to ride the bicycle.
On the other hand, the Democrats are also to blame. It’s pretty clear at this point that if you want to build something, it’s a lot easier to do it in a red state than a blue state. Dems in blue states have enabled so many progressive special interest groups, so much red tape, so many ways to block ANYTHING from getting done, that progress in many areas has ground to a halt. The housing crisis is a prime example. The no bail laws and crime waves that resulted are another.
But what just happened in this election goes beyond all of that. The American people have elected a serial criminal, someone who is a threat to America and to the entire world. His crazy and dangerous Cabinet selections are already signaling the mayhem that is about to ensue.
And so, tying back to accountability, you could create a chart and show a progression in which an individual’s personal accountability becomes obvious. At one end of the chart you could have an example of a non-violent, complicated crime that no one witnessed and for which the evidence is flimsy. It would be understandable if a crowd of people asked about this incident might not be able to agree that the perpetrator is guilty. On the other end you could have Donald Trump order the US Military to shoot some unarmed enemies (US citizens who are marching in the streets in protest outside the White House) and the entire murder scene could be captured on live television.
It would stretch credulity for bystanders to state emphatically that Trump did nothing wrong. But that is basically what happened after Jan. 6th. Even Kevin McCarthy, the most political animal in the world, was caught on tape saying he was “seriously thinking” about urging Trump to resign. But then, miraculously, the MAGA crowd stood behind Trump and McCarthy had to limp down to Mar-a-Lago and kiss the ring. And, of course, corrupt Senate Republicans failed to convict Trump of impeachment, even though they knew he was guilty. McConnell admitted Trump was guilty in his book, then supported him in the 2024 election. This is an example of the people leading, and the elected officials following.
It’s one thing when morally bankrupt, lifelong GOP politicians refuse to do the right thing for the good of the country. We’ve seen that with politicians throughout history. But when 60+ million Americans refuse to do the right thing for the good of the country, we have a constitutional crisis.
Mookie
Maybe those 60+ million Americans were doing the right thing for the good of their checking accounts, and the safety and security of their own communities, which they considered under threat from more than 10 million undocumented immigrants entering under Biden and Harris? And maybe a majority of American voters even felt excited by the bloviating bombast of a raving racist, because he was insulting The Other and not them, was forceful, unambiguous, and unapologetic — none of these qualities displayed by a Harris campaign fraught with contradictions, hesitancy, and moral confusion.
Whereas I agree with you that the electorate is under- and misinformed, I also allege they are misled and manipulated from both sides of the aisle. I also allege that they’ve been under- and misinformed forever, the current digital maelstrom perhaps exacerbating the trend.
But where I strongly disagree with you is in placing the blame on the American voter for a second Trump presidency — I mean, seriously, think about the implications, which are in essence dismissive of democracy as a viable system of government.
To me, the only “constitutional crisis” is Trump over-reaching, not the electorate under-performing. As such, the blame needs to go squarely onto the shoulders of the Democrats, who need to reboot their strategy and messaging so as to actually resonate with a majority of Americans again. They blamed Trump for being unAmerican, and Americans couldn’t have cared less. Instead, available and affordable housing, cheaper groceries, and better paying jobs might have won the day.
HP
I don’t think I’m being dismissive of democracy, just the opposite. I think I’m sounding an alarm about the health and vitality of our system of government, which is based on the concept that people won’t willingly choose leaders who could destroy the country, tear apart the fabric of democracy, and de-stabilize the world.
The Founders had a concern about mob rule and the potential for tyranny. They specifically designed the American system as a representative republic rather than a direct democracy. This was intended to ensure that “enlightened delegates” would serve the public good rather than allowing direct rule by the masses. But what happens when the masses elect an autocrat, someone who is so far from an “enlightened delegate” as to be unrecognizable as a democratic leader, and much more recognizable in the company of his pals Putin, Erdoğan, and Kim Jong-un?
The bottom line, in my opinion, is that some things should be deal breakers. Some choices should be unsupportable, no matter what the other considerations are.
In debates about Utilitarianism, there is an example of a transplant surgeon who has five patients who will die without organ transplants. A sixth person, who is healthy, comes in for a routine check-up. The surgeon realizes that this healthy person’s organs could be used to save all five patients. From a utilitarian perspective, the question is whether it would be morally right for the surgeon to kill the healthy person to save the five patients. In my opinion, the answer is an emphatic no.
Same goes with a vote for Trump. No matter what the perceived short-term benefits might be (mass deportation of illegal immigrants, better economy), it can’t be right to vote for someone who is openly saying he will be a dictator on “day 1,” ignore the rule of law, and dismantle our democracy.
Mookie
Who, then, would you empower to make this sweeping decision that Trump is unfit for office? Who, then, would take action to preclude an obvious tyrant from taking control, if not another tyrant?
If the GOP leadership is behind him, and a majority of Americans voted for him, then only another form of autocracy can supersede the established norms of party-led politics, and free and fair elections, which then begs the question of whether or not we believe and actually put into practice the same general principle of “democracy”.
Instead, I have continued faith in the American electorate, essentially because I have no other choice. Like Churchill said, the system is bad but still better than all the others. Let’s consider another level of checks and balances, one fueled by the tolerance and curiosity of the people themselves, who will benefit from or endure the consequences of their decisions in the voting booth.
In a recent post I argue that the election was fair and square, and we therefore need to “Let the Trump Out.” The only way to convince more than half the country that we are right about Trump and they are wrong is to let his policies and actions play themselves out. If the country veered too far to the Left, now it will veer too far to the Who Knows Where with this narcissistic fiend.
HP
I agree we have to “Let the Trump Out.” We have no other good choice right now. If anyone were to take action to overthrow the rule of the people, they would be as bad, or worse, than Trump himself.
But I do think we have to go beyond a Monday morning quarterback review of Democratic strategy. This is about more than what media messages the Dems broadcast or didn’t broadcast, or what podcast Kamala Harris should have joined or not joined.
It goes beyond blaming Biden, although he made monumental mistakes selecting Merrick Garland as Attorney General and “anointing” Harris instead of allowing a Democratic process to select the strongest candidate.
It goes beyond blaming woke progressives for making working class Americans feel judged or canceled for getting their pronouns wrong, although I do think that was a huge source of resentment.
And it even goes beyond blaming Dems who took their eye off the focus on helping working class Americans, as Bernie Sanders has rightfully pointed out. I agree with Bernie on this 100%.
But I think we have to look beyond these Dem mistakes and ask ourselves some hard questions.
How do we encourage Americans to respect their personal freedoms and the freedoms of others, respect the value of a democracy, respect the rule of law, and respect basic principles of character (something which the GOP supposedly once held as a core value, haha)?
How do we encourage government officials to be courageous leaders instead of sycophantic followers?
How do we encourage people to seek credible sources of information, rather than the distortions of social media, and the pandering of podcasts?
How do we encourage people not to reward Trump for being “authentic” because he says all of the quiet and ugly parts out loud? And conversely, how do we encourage people not to accuse politicians of being “phony” if they stumble when answering a question about a difficult challenge they faced?
How do we help Americans see and accept the simple and obvious truth about Trump?
When my kids were young, I read the entire C.S. Lewis “The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe” series to them. In the final book, “The Last Battle,” Aslan, the magical lion, has disappeared from Narnia for a long period, as he does from time to time. During that period, a talking orangutan (yes, you can’t make this stuff up) named Shift finds a lion skin in the river and convinces his friend, Puzzle, a talking donkey, to help him impersonate Aslan, convincing him that it will be for the good of the citizens of Narnia.
The orangutan starts holding nightly fireside chats, in low light where no one can see him clearly, and gradually crowds gather and increase in size. He convinces the crowds that he is here to “lick them into shape” and issues a number of orders for special foods and riches to be brought to him. Near the end of the story, Shift’s duplicity is discovered, and chaos begins to spread throughout Narnia.
Finally, the real Aslan appears on the scene. But by now, many are cynically convinced that this is another trick, another illusion. There is a scene at the end in which Aslan appears directly in front of a group of dwarves who are seated on a beautiful grassy area. Aslan speaks to them, and they cover their ears, hearing only a roaring sound. Aslan offers them sumptuous foods, but they just pick at them, thinking that they are moldy turnips and onions.
I fear we are in a cycle where many Americans are unable to see or grasp what is so obviously standing right before them — a tyrant and dictator in waiting who is threatening to create an autocracy that he and his powerful friends can hold onto for decades. This dire situation warrants a real fight for democracy, perhaps of equal importance on the global stage to any of the World Wars from the 20th century. Are enough Americans up to the task?
Mookie
You make great points about the need to educate and empower the American electorate to think, feel, and do what’s ostensibly in their best interests, driving them to holding the Founders’ truths to be truly self-evident. And I agree that the Narnia parallel is striking. I’m still at a loss, though, how this can be orchestrated beyond the boundaries of the messaging and policies of our two-party, binary system.
What’s evident is that the American electorate is essentially no different from others throughout the world. People are people, in objective fact and good fiction. They are swayed by emotion over reason. That means we can’t blame them for making bad choices, instead try to provide the best education, information, and incentives possible — while most communication is being accelerated and subverted by social media, and what looks like the imminent dissolution of the Department of Education.
In lieu of pragmatic, effective, and timely solutions, we can only rely on improving Democratic political strategy and messaging to better excite them, and motivate them to action on the side of more democracy, more checks and balances, and not less. Perhaps the best and only viable form of education will be the results of Trump’s second term, which might act as the best motivation to change course.
That all said, what I think we can both agree on is the end of American exceptionalism, signaled by the embrace of all-things-Trump. Going back to John Winthrop’s “city upon a hill,” to the advocacy of universal truths such as the rights to individual liberty and self-governance in our Declaration of Independence, to ideas around Manifest Destiny and Wilson’s directive of making the world safe for Democracy, Americans have considered ourselves special.
Central to that feeling of exceptionalism is the fundamental belief that we are different, and that our core values are worthy of fighting to protect, and proselytize through inspiration — and force, if necessary — to the rest of the planet. In contrast, Trump’s shattering of balance of power and other norms, coupled with his isolationism and love of authoritarians, turns our conventional and traditional American worldview upside down.
So in summary the American people aren’t to blame for this degradation of values and norms, nor can the government somehow impose a “Utilitarian Mandate” — I believe the Democratic Party is to blame for failing to provide the American people with a counter-narrative that’s sufficiently inclusive, compelling, functional, and inspirational. The Clinton and Obama Eras are officially toast, and a new generation of younger, adept, personable politicians and strategists need to take the helm.
Say what you will of Trump’s norm-destroying excesses, he won fair and square, and we both seem to agree America needs to let his style of leadership and stewardship of the government play itself out. As such, we shouldn’t indict the voters or democracy, but his opposition’s failure at the polls. Every loss beckons an opportunity for a recalibrated win. Crisis fuels revolutions, and our current crises will recreate the Democratic Party, hopefully in a manner that is more compelling for the electorate, and more functional and effective in terms of actually governing.
The sad end result, at least now, regardless of the blame game, is, as we both acknowledge, the deterioration of our democracy, and our institutions. We’re entering a dangerous and destructive era where Republicans want to burn the government to the ground and recast it in their own image, and Democrats blindly support institutions obviously in need of serious reform. For our country to survive and flourish, a middle ground must be found between extremes.
The only way to get there is to let this other extreme express itself fully, and America to face the consequences, most of them bad, but I bet some of them favorable. Only that way can we ever reclaim our self-described mantel as “Exceptional” — until then, we run the unavoidable risk of descending into becoming a Super Power Banana Republic, run by American oligarchs.
HP
I agree that the Democratic Party is to blame for failing the American people. The GOP, of course, is also to blame for their corrupt and spineless pandering to Trump. But there is a larger constituency that needs to do some self-reflection, and that is the American people, including everyone who voted in this election, and everyone who sat it out. What is happening to our country? Are we allowing bad actors to take over because we are filled with grievance and anger? Are we holding ourselves accountable for what is unfolding right in front of our eyes?
In the meantime, American Exceptionalism is, indeed, currently on life support. Let’s hope Americans can come together around common values and turn things in the right direction. The world may depend on it.
What do you think? Comments welcome!
And here’s some more reading:
