Trumpocalypse

Whether Donald Trump wins or not tonight, the message is clear. Much of the electorate does not want an establishment candidate and is not prepared to settle for more of the same.

Had the Democrats nominated Warren or Sanders, this would not have been a close race; Trump would have lost. But the party misunderstood the degree to which they (and their Republican colleagues in Congress) were perceived as having betrayed the working class with false promises of the benefits of globalization. And now the political establishment is, deservedly, paying the price. (Regrettably we may soon be too).

While it's unlikely that Trump can actually do anything about the corruption (about which I have written often here), the Republicans have already been split by Trump (the elites no longer represent the majority of their party) and the Democrats are now going to have to face up to the same issue, post November 8th. Whether Trump wins or looses by a whisker the signals is the same; the status quo is not longer acceptable.

One possible outcome is that this will lead to even greater polarization. If so we can expect a fairly horrific disruption until the mid-terms and possibly then a return to gridlock. And that pattern may repeat, da capo al fine.

Alternatively--one can only hope--there will emerge two new dominant forces, one in each party that understands that they have more in common in dealing with issues germane to those who both have left behind, the working class, the "poorly educated" (Trump's terms), those for whom the knowledge economy was never really a possibility. They will discard the discredited Chicago school of trickle-down-lessaiz-faire policies and actually do something to lift 46 million people, last I looked, out of poverty.

We do indeed need to "drain the swamp". Whether Trump is the right person for the job remains to be seen. But either way, we are never going back to the way things were yesterday.