I have read and listened to a bunch of analysis of what happened in the 2024 election. Honestly, I have probably engaged too much with it.

This election did not go the way I had hoped nor the way everyone in my social bubble had hoped. My bubble is probably part of the reason I feel so rotten currently.

What happened in 2024 is a combination of all the factors the analysts have pointed to in addition to some we cannot even imagine. Inflation, global anti-incumbency sentiment, nativism, cult of personality, flawed candidate, etc.

From studying history, I can tell you that people like to make things a simple cause and effect. Events like this are not caused by one factor.

Speaking historically, I think we can call this the Trump era and it is probably some inflection point akin to FDR’s New Deal.

What America “is” and what America “means” has shifted.

And I am coping with how my family and my values fit within it.

  • edited 2024-11-07