Reactions to the 2024 American vote

While Trump and his supporters cheered/gloated/continued to relish victory, here are two initial valuable reactions to the 2024 American vote.

From Filipino Walden Bello, academic/former member, House of Representatives:

“… how I anticipated that Trump would win in "The October Surprise in the US Elections?

“It's really not rocket science. Inflation was just running rampant, with over 20 per cent cumulative inflation in four years.

“Then there was the sense people had that the Biden administration had lost control of the southern border, with constant television images of migrants streaming across unchecked from Mexico.

“Then --and this must not be underestimated-- there were very real worries about the expanding war in the Middle East that people felt could suck the US in, the sense that Washington had lost control of its Middle East policy to Israel.

“Inflation, unchecked migration, and war were a deadly combination for the Democrats coming into election week. Trump successfully manipulated people's fears on these three issues, while Harris was not able to distance herself from the perceived failure of Biden in dealing with them.

“This was an election in which people voted their fears, not their hopes.

“This was largely a popular judgment on the Biden record, against the Democrats' ineptitude, not an embrace of fascism or authoritarianism as some frantic pundits characterized it --though, of course, there was a far right wing component in the Trump vote.

“But I did not think a Trump victory would be so sweeping. Frustration and anger sweep the land.”

From Filipino Renato Redentor Constantino, a writer/artist: “We might call this year the period when the unthinkable became the norm. Yet we must also remind ourselves, apart from the daily fare of utter smallnesses in the Philippines, a Trump presidency is just but the latest in shocks that we know will come our way.

“While we might all wish for outcomes to be otherwise, we will not dabble in fantasies about what could have been and what should have been. We shall plant our feet on the ground, look danger in the eye, and start pushing the beast back into the abyss. Because this is who we are.

“Certainly, the rise of fascism in America provides the exclamation mark to our time. And it will shake the world to its foundations. Beyond the nauseating immediate reality - ugly,/brutish global politics onscreen over the next few years, displaying/spreading, the cancer of empire - is the implication of the result of US elections to the global poor: over the next decades, more, and escalating, climate violence.

“I do not underestimate much less dismiss the consequences of cumulative horrors.

“Many feel shattered and understandably so. It is shocking and it tends to bend back the ability to imagine a better world for the kids of our children. But breathe, friends.

“Inhale and steel yourselves. Clench your fists, then unclench them. Limber up. Sharpen your swords and bring with you the sheath of good poetry and stories.

“Rather than despair, this moment should remind us how deeply needed, how far more needed, our work is. Rather than swim in despondence, our resolve to change as much as we can in the shortest possible time must be greater.

“Rather than feel small, our sense of self must grow, and our sense of purpose must be far taller than the limits of our physical capacities. At no other time has our work become more important and urgent than today, right now, at this very minute.

“On our own we are unable to fix the world's ills, but we are many, and we will do what we have always done together --contribute everything we can to give shelter to the vulnerable even as we help make the world right again. Forward march. Onwards."