Arick Wierson: America's standing in the world took a big hit on election night / Amanda Marcotte: What does it mean to be an American?
Presented with an opportunity for a wholesale rejection of a highly divisive, race-baiting, xenophobic, media-hating, anti-science, lying, juvenile incumbent, a sizable swath of America's voters decided to take a pass and pull the lever for Donald Trump, and that speaks volumes about who we are as a nation. But all this didn't happen in a vacuum; the world has been watching. Joe Biden may still end up winning this election, but no matter how you cut it, it was clear here and around the globe that roughly half of America believes that the character of our President doesn't matter all that much, an impeachment is meaningless and the Department of Justice really should serve as the chief executive's personal law firm.
It's now more than obvious that a good chunk of American voters are OK with a President who desecrates symbols of American power like the White House, where he has told countless lies, promoted endless false truths and broken a host of norms that have transcended politics for generations. Western audiences can now see that the majority of voters across most of America's South and much of the Midwest are seemingly just fine about having a leader who is willing to look the other way when the CIA concluded that a journalist, who wrote for a prominent American newspaper, was ordered to be killed by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (Bin Salman has denied any involvement)....
Trump voters will walk off a cliff rather than admit they were wrong
Amanda Marcotte: What does it mean to be an American?
the fact that Democrats tend to win the popular vote in presidential elections over and over and over - with the 2020 result, that makes seven of the last eight - is evidence that the America that Donald Trump and his fans hate, the America they don't even want to admit is American, is mainstream America. And frankly, Trump and his minions know it. Indeed, it's exactly the mainstream nature of this more liberal, cosmopolitan strain of American culture that explains why we're seeing such fierce, outsized anger from Trump voters. It's the reason for the flag-festooned truck caravans, video tantrums about having to wear face masks in public places, lurid conspiracy theories painting Democrats as blood-drinking pedophiles and the "MAGA" slogan. It's why they are willing to back a confessed sexual assailant who is obviously a sociopath, eagerly and enthusiastically.
It's because they see Trump as the vehicle to "take back" an American culture that they believe is being stolen by the rest of us, that is, the actual American majority. Win or lose in 2020, Trump has done remarkably well for a president who let 232,000 Americans die and is abandoning millions more to sickness or poverty. That may seem inexplicable to many people who despise him, but it's ultimately because his voters see themselves locked in an existential battle with the rest of us over who gets to define what kinds of people and things are truly "American." …
