BY ED FELIEN
What happened?
Why did the Democrats do so badly?
Was it that white male privilege was threatened by a Black, South Asian woman becoming President?
Or was it the Democrat’s refusal to condemn the Israeli genocide of Palestinians?
Or was it a general mood of “Throw the rascals out!” that cost conservative governments in Britain and France to be replaced by leftists?
Probably all of the above.
What does the road ahead look like?
Trump thinks he can settle the Russia-Ukraine war in twenty-four hours.
He would do this by ceding most of the Russian-occupied areas to Russia. Those areas, east of the Dnipro River, were always thought of as Russian. The people speak Russian. In previous Ukrainian governments there was always an informal accommodation of the Russian and European territories. One side got to be President, and the other side got to be Premier. This fell apart when the Russian-friendly President refused to sign the European Union trade agreement. Demonstrations in Maidan Square (led at first by neo-Nazis, but then supported by the left) forced the President to flee to Russia. Neo-Nazis in the Azov Brigade had been conducting a terrorist campaign in the Russian-speaking area around Mariupol. Russia annexed Crimea. Nothing happened. Then they began occupying Ukraine.
The best solution, in my opinion, would be for there to be an immediate cease fire, withdrawal of all troops, a referendum in the disputed territories, supervised by the United Nations, on whether to align with Russia or Ukraine. Russia should be forced to pay indemnities to Ukraine for initiating the hostilities and as compensation for damages done.
What Trump will probably do is threaten NATO and Zelensky that he will cut off supplies, tell Putin he can have all he wants of the Russian-speaking provinces, and then, he will nominate himself for the Nobel Peace Prize.
To introduce his claim for the Nobel, he told Netanyahu to stop the war in Gaza by the time he gets inaugurated. Netanyahu will stop the war, but he will have to keep an occupying army in Gaza to maintain order. This will end the Two State Solution because of “facts on the ground.” Of course, it will not end the war between Israelis and Palestinians. The war will change to a guerrilla war of resistance to the Israeli occupation.
Trump’s plan to cut the federal workforce, DOGE – Department of Government Efficiency – strikes a sympathetic chord with his supporters. They’re tired of an unresponsive bureaucracy, and they’re thrilled that Trump will cut the red tape that’s holding them back from government programs. Of course, the reality is that benefit programs for the poor will be cut, and the only red tape that will be cut will be to benefit Vivek Ramaswamy’s pharmaceutical companies and Elon Musk’s Space X rockets.
Of course, we face serious dangers in the next four years. Fortunately, we have people on our side.
