Trump being elected is a National embarrassment.  If I were a US citizen I would be deeply ashamed, it is an indictment on the state of the nation.  If you voted him for him you are some combination of gullible, paranoid, ignorant and those at the extreme, hateful.  For those people that see through him and very rationally didn’t vote for him there is cause for severe pause for thought.  While those at hateful end may be irredeemable, there will be many in the mere gullible and ignorant camp who have genuinely been neglected.  No significant increase in median income for 30 years will come home to roost at some point. There may be jobs but what are the quality of those jobs, are they jobs that provide a career path that can support a family, a large proportion are not.  Globalisation does raise productivity and income in the aggregate but the challenge is how those gains are distributed and whether the losers are supported through the disruption caused.  On both those fronts the response from society at large and the government seems pitiless indifference. It is every man/women for yourself, if you are on the wrong end of these macro forces it is your fault.  More than that, it is fend for yourself when the rules of the game are increasingly being rigged to favour the rich and powerful.  Trump has exploited this opportunity, the neglect of the last 30 years has created it.  He will not deliver significant improvements for the people that voted him in, he  will bungle his way through the next 4 years without any coherent strategy.  The US does have real problems to solve, if you think Trump has the correct diagnoses, the vision and leadership qualities to solve these problems, you are setting yourself up for disappointment.

The solution?  It’s time to grow up, it’s time to identify and solve real tangible problems in practical and pragmatic ways and do so together.  It is time to stop labelling, pre judging, ignoring, exploiting and speaking to each other.  It is time for one side to stop using the other as fodder to entertain and titillate the home crowd.  It is time to stop entertaining and get real.  It is time to start really listening and seeing each other.  Most people want the same things, to feel respected, to have a place in society and to work to provide a decent standard of living for themselves and their family.  This election was not about Trump, it is about the people that voted for him and against him. They have the power, it is they who if they are so inclined can continue to make America great.