Letter from DC: The United States doubles down on the devil it knows

As I was walking near the White House on Tuesday afternoon, a loud pickup truck roared by, flying an enormous US flag, alongside two smaller ones with “Jesus lives” and “Trump” embroidered on them.

As it sped by, I passed a crowd praying on the pavement around a large wooden cross. I wondered what biblical judgement they were calling for on such a beautiful late autumn day in Washington.

Hours later, I would be reminded of the words of the author Sinclair Lewis: “When fascism comes to America, it will come wrapped in the flag and waving the cross.”

I drove home past the naval observatory, residence of the Vice-President and saw extra security in place: Kamala Harris was at home. She must be feeling good, I mused.

As Tuesday wore into evening, and the first polls closed on the East Coast, I settled down in front of the TV with my charts. I looked forward to witnessing what I fully expected was to be Trump’s political Waterloo.

A few friends were heading to Howard University where Harris was to address the crowds gathered at her alma mater, as the first graduate of a historically black college to be elected president of the United States.

Then the early returns started to come through, and North Carolina and Georgia were too close for comfort. Florida was a Trump blowout.

I remained frozen in front of the TV and the laptop for the next agonising seven hours as the full horror of the Trump victory rode into view until Pennsylvania was called – and then it was the only reality. I would not be able to sleep and wake up as if it had never happened.

I had refused to believe that, after everything that Trump had done, the felonies, the indictments, the insurrection, the sexual assaults, the endless stream of whoppers and the crudeness, the public would again vote him into office, granting him carte blanche to exact vengeance on those who have dared to cross him.

I was not alone in failing to see that this might actually be what the US wanted. That this is actually what America is.

The podcaster Wajahat Ali cautioned that “maybe the simplest explanation is that Americans don’t want a female president and many live in a right-wing information ecosystem that dominates how people see the world.”

President Joe Biden must take a lot of the blame. Had he decided to step out of the electoral contest a year before he was forced out in August, the Democratic Party would have had a much more robust primary contest.

Kamala Harris might still have been the candidate, but she would have had to prove her mettle against California Governor Gavin Newsom, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro.

In a normal world, one could draw some comfort from the talent that is ready to step up for the Democrats – but will there be a next time?

The Harvard political scientists Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt warned in their seminal 2018 work, How Democracies Die, that Trump presents a textbook case of an authoritarian who uses the system of democracy itself to subvert democracy.

This time, his accession to power has been propelled by unaccountable oligarchs like Elon Musk, who will demand their pound of flesh.

In that, he is in “good” company. Vladimir Putin, Viktor Orban and Benjamin Netanyahu must all be in a celebratory mood.

What his victory means for the rest of the planet is something we still have to grapple with. The road ahead will be tough and might go in unexpected directions.

Amid the gloom and despondency, the comedian Jon Stewart struck a note of hope, telling his fellow Americans not to give up and that this was not the finale.

“We will continue to work day in and day out to create the better society for our children, for this world, for our country, that we know is possible,” he urged his audience.

That’s the American version of a luta continua. DM