Five thoughts to sober up the morning after Trump

The morning after Donald Trump’s inauguration there a few things Americans should reflect on.

Trump speaks to diplomats at the Presidential Inaugural Committee (PIC) Chairman''s Global Dinner in Washington
US President-elect Donald Trump is to be inaugurated on January 20 [Reuters]

If you’re depressed, whatever you do, don’t go for the easy escapes. Don’t bother taking up yoga, watching soap operas or shopping for expensive stuff. And for all you disgruntled Americans, forget about moving to Canada. It’s too cold.

If you’re religious, don’t bother praying for divine intervention. As former senator George Mitchell famously remarked 30 years ago: “Although he’s regularly asked to do so, God does not take sides in American politics.”

And do spare yourself more of the same self-help nonsense. For the self-help nation that it has become, America’s helplessness today comes not from a lack of enthusiasm and drive; it comes from a lack of fairness and too much drive.

Hyperbole won’t bring about fairness.

What then could be done about the Trump presidency? That’s a long story; perhaps a four-year ordeal; perhaps more, perhaps less. At any rate, plenty of time to think for the long term. As for this week, here are few good reasons why good people shouldn’t feel too bad or mad “the morning after” the inauguration.

Driving conservatives mad

The Republican vote for the man their leaders called a vulgar, braggart lose cannon is the ultimate demonstration of how the liberal elites have finally driven conservatives totally and utterly mad.

Once upon a time, conservatives used to be the “reasonable” lot, the cautious, steady bunch. Those who deliberated, avoided abrupt change, and espoused “traditional values”.

But since FDR’s New Deal Society, Republican leadership have defied Darwin’s theory of evolution. Instead of choosing better leaders, they’ve consistently devolved, starting with Dwight Eisenhower and ending with George W Bush and Donald Trump.

Trump’s hyperbole and bravado is bound to accelerate this process downwards. Once, his base realises that the security, economy and wellbeing of the nation requires more than 140-character tweets, Republicans will understand they need change, AGAIN.

As will the country. Meanwhile …

Driving the liberal elites mad

Americans have turned to Donald Trump only after Barrack Obama failed to change a rigid American establishment because he acquiesced to the liberal elites with high stakes in the rigged system.

Despite their championing of liberal values, these elites are as equally responsible for squashing the “American dream” as their conservative counterparts. Clearly, much of the country has had enough of their hypocrisy, surplus morality and so-called political correctness.

Trump’s humiliation of the likes of CNN and The New York Times, the mouthpieces of the liberal establishment, is only the beginning of what promises to be a roller-coaster ride. But once all is said and done, humiliation might bring a certain humility to those snotty elites, and eventually make way for the more authentic liberal voices in American society.

Driving the left mad …

The left, which lost its way after Bernie Sanders lost to Hillary Clinton, has a chance to find its bearings again and return to its progressive roots. It can build on the momentum gained by Bernie, instead of lamenting the momentum lost by Hillary.

The left also has a chance to unify its ranks after it turned on itself over the past year. It tore itself apart in disagreement over whether or not to embrace “the lesser of the two evils”, Clinton over Trump, and over taking sides between Hillary and Vladimir Putin, and between Trump and the CIA.

OPINION: Small hands big missiles – Trump’s dangerous adolescence

OK, not exactly taking sides, but certainly getting politically invested in losing propositions.

As the Clintons depart and Obama no longer president, the left may finally focus on the ever-more needed progressive agenda as democrats try to find their footing in Trump’s America.

Driving white Evangelicals mad

The holier-than-thou attitude of white Evangelicals was exposed in this election to be no more than a false cliche.

Their 80 percent vote in favour of known-to-be a “serial liar”, casino owner, thrice-married women groper, who appeared in Playboy videos, is a testimony to their hypocrisy.

Yes, they hated Clinton and what she stood for in terms of abortion rights and women’s rights, but they also liked and embraced Trump’s xenophobic and indeed racist statements about Latinos and Muslims.

I don’t usually prescribe literal interpretations to theological terms, but Evangelicals, who think Trump is their saviour, might discover that he is in fact a version of their much-anticipated “antichrist”. 

Driving Obama mad

The Donald presidency will relieve much of the pent-up tension, bitterness and disappointed by the Obama presidency.

The no-drama Obama is telling his base that everything will be OK, when he knows nothing is OK with Trump reversing his legacy; or becoming his legacy.

He once remarked that Trump may only deliver the inauguration speech in a Saturday Night Life comedy sketch. Delusional. 

But as soon as he opens his mouth to deliver the inauguration speech, people of all walks of life will be nostalgic for the days of Obama, the commander-in-speech. Those who dislike disliking Obama will rejoice the morning after the inauguration for having someone they will genuinely like to dislike.

And as I always, say/cite, in the end everything will be OK, if it’s not OK, it’s not the end.

And one extra thought to survive ‘the morning after’ is to watch The Reckoning, from Obama to Trump, Empire’s film that is airing on Al Jazeera English the night and the morning of the inauguration.

Marwan Bishara is the senior political analyst at Al Jazeera. Follow him on Facebook.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial policy.