Thoughts for prayers

The day this goes to print, that’s the day before chaos.

Trump will take office on Monday, and while many believe Trump 2.0 will just be a tired rehash of his first presidency, I think they’re ostriches who will find themselves rudely yanked back to reality.

His first time taking the helm was just to prove he wasn’t the weakling buffoon that Obama had roasted. Then, after his victory, he preened and lapped up the adulation that came with the position. World leaders, business men, politicians from all corners --they came to him and licked. Lavishly and loudly.

That assumption into power had no accompanying ingredient of him having been prosecuted in multiple jurisdictions, or of losing in several fronts. He had not been running scared that he might be meted jail time, he had not been browbeaten by judges, and he had not been humiliated by women he considered beneath him --Fanni Willis, Letitia James, and E. Jean Carroll, to name a few.

This time, though, Trump will stroll whistling into his office holding grudges. Plenty of them. His first day will see a slew of executive orders designed not just to deliver on his campaign promises, but also to serve as payback against the many oppositionists who stood against him. Analysts will be overwhelmed with digesting the nasty things he’s been cooking up with his advisers and cohorts these past few weeks. And real people will soon be feeling the effects of his malignant presence.

Also this time, Trump is surrounded by even more sycophants from the oligarchic crowd. Elon Musk is just the most visible, but Mark Zuckerberg and the rest of the tech titans are now fawning over him, ready to lick away. We saw the same thing when Bongbong Marcos won the presidency, and suddenly, all these tycoons that likewise funded the campaigns of his opponents were now proudly posing for photos with him.

These oligarchs have their own agendas to pursue. It’s going to be all about how to make the business environment more favorable to them, and less favorable to their competitors (bye TikTok). It will be about getting the regulators off their backs, like the SEC and the environmental authorities. And of course, it will all boil down to making more money, which they will then use to grease the halls of power. Those in power, will favor the moneyed, so they can also make more money. Sounds familiar?

Justice Antonio Carpio has just issued his own alarm about our politicians who have designed a budget that will impoverish the minds of our young while enriching their own pockets. They have also packaged a vote-buying scheme into charitable grants for the poor, whom they have kept poor, so they are seen as compassionate benefactors. But that is another column.

The schmoozing in Washington, or should we say, Mar-a-lago, has apparently gotten so bad that Biden had to include a warning about the dangers of tech oligarchs in his final speech. Red flags. Alarm bells. After all, technology and algorithms are proven potent tools in shaping the minds of the voters. Which politician wouldn’t mind getting into bed with them to shape the narrative?

In an era where competing visions for the future America were battling, it was the fantasy spun by media and tech that won the voters over. Should we then include a requirement for voters that before they can vote, their minds will have been scrubbed clean of propaganda they saw on their gadget?

America will suffer the consequence of this choice. And not just ordinary Americans will feel the bite of reality. Neighbors Mexico and Canada are bracing for the impact of Trump. 2.0. Panama and Denmark have reasons to be wary. China awaits, and it won’t just be because of TikTok. World economies are watching to see if the same financial debacle that attended Liz Truss’ woefully short stint as prime minister will be replicated with Trump’s promised tax cuts.

So enjoy this peaceful time. It’s Sinulog, after all. Prayers offered by the mass of faithful devotees who have gathered in Cebu might want to also include even a tiny sliver that we might ride out the chaos to come. Pit señor.