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Trump wins. American voters have just re-elected cruelty and hatred

Online Niel November 6, 2024

We are a country that just elected—that just intentionally elected—one of the most ruthless, unscrupulous, and transparently political figures in modern history to be president. Again.

I never want to hear the words “America is better than this.” I never want to be told about America’s better angels.

I want honesty. I want us to recognize exactly who we are as a country and be damn clear about that definition: We are a country that has just chosen – that has just chosen on purpose – one of the most cruel, unscrupulous and transparently political figures from modern history to be president. Again.

Just us chose a convicted felon who normalized bullying, spread hate like an industrial sprinkler, and showed us over and over and over again that he sees laws as irrelevant and self-enrichment as sacrosanct. Faced with an ocean full of red flags – from charges for attempting to subvert the 2020 election TO comforting dictators who rule enemy nations – most Americans cast their vote for the man who is a totem of the worst in all of us.

So spare me the wails of “This isn’t us!” I have bad news for the sane and decent among us: that’s just who we are.

America just chose mass deportations, chaos and hatred

We are a supportive country mass deportation of immigrantsa promise Trump has made and will undoubtedly keep. When families are torn apart, towns and cities are raided by federal law enforcement, and people who once worked in the communities and made their homes there—some for decades—are locked up in detention camps, the voting public is the one who approved such a thing.

If law-abiding citizens are engulfed in chaos, so be it. It was the choice of the voters.

When a troubled and unqualified billionaire ca Elon Musk is tasked with cutting the federal government to pieces, that will be what America chose.

When The Department of Education is abolished and our education system is falling into the hands of right-wing ideologues and religious fanatics, this is the result of the choice made by the American voters.

When Trump’s tariffs have hit and are driving up prices across the board for consumers, it won’t be the fault of the countless economists who told us what would happen. It will be the thing that most Americans chose. It will be the economic pot they chose to be boiled in, even if the Biden-Harris administration has the economy in shambles.

That The New York Times reported on October 30: “Consumers are spending. Inflation is cooling. And the US economy looks as strong as ever.”

Trump will clear himself of the charges and turn the DOJ against his enemies

When Trump drops his own legal cases — destroying the rule of law his party once claimed to uphold — that will be what the people wanted. When he returns The US Department of Justice on its so-called enemieswhen he goes after Democrats and others with malicious intent and calls the military to suppress any form of dissentshut up he’s not american It is now 100% American, because it is exactly what the people of this country have willfully chosen.

I don’t want to hear a damn word—ever—about someone who doesn’t realize how bad things could get. I don’t want to hear about how food prices were too high so you figured voting for Trump couldn’t hurt. I don’t want to hear how you didn’t like either candidate so you dropped out of the 2024 election.

The stakes of this election could not have been clearer and could not have been conveyed louder. Vice President Kamala Harris ran as smart a campaign as we’ve seen. She reached across the aisle and offered a large tent for people to seek shelter. She was qualified — as a former prosecutor, former U.S. senator and vice president — in ways Trump could never have imagined.

Face it, America. We are a country that elected Trump – the second time.

But America chose the knight type he said he would be dictator for a day. Voters elected the guy who denounces our allies and cheers on our enemies. The voters elected the guy who is a convicted rapista role model for no one, an often incoherent and always hate-fueled loon who turned Americans against each other in ways we never thought possible.

The voters elected Trump. He won. Cruelty won. Bullying won.

And that’s America right now. We are Trump and we will own every one of the shameful, hurtful, and embarrassing things he does. We are not “better than this”. We lost our right to make that claim the moment the presidential race was called.

Follow USA TODAY columnist Rex Huppke on X, formerly Twitter, @RexHuppke and Facebook facebook.com/RexIsAJerk