“Well, you see Willard, there’s a conflict in every human heart, between the rational and irrational, between good and evil. And good does not always triumph. Sometimes, the dark side overcomes what Lincoln called the better angels of our nature.”
Apocalypse Now (script by John Milius and Francis Ford Coppola)
After Donald Trump’s re-election it is perhaps hard to grasp that America is also the country that produced the likes of Francis Ford Coppola and Herman Melville; perhaps not so strange when one remembers that Russia has produced some of the world’s greatest literature too.
Coppola’s words, spoken by the general who is about to ask Willard to undertake the mission to terminate Colonel Kurtz’s command “with extreme prejudice” resonated with me when I heard the news on Wednesday. Immediately the usual shills kicked in: the mental gymnastics involved are clever – it is as if the failure to persuade people not to support a known conman vindicates the conman – and the voters. It really does not.
Rising inequality
The Schadenfreude of the pro-Trump podcasts, commentators and media is revealing, of course, showing that this was – for many – a victory for fear and loathing, though not on the scale of Richard Nixon’s win in 1972. Of course they will claim that the Democrats failed to address the ‘justified’ concerns of the voters, and there is some truth in this – rising inequality is a feature of American society in the last 50 years, but if anyone actually believes that Trump and his backers have the slightest interest in reversing this trend I have a bridge to sell them. He persuaded enough American voters that he can make their lives better, that he can ‘make America great again’ (and we know what people infer from that).
Only one group of American society was not persuaded – the descendants of the slaves freed by Abraham Lincoln. They alone rejected him decisively. Whites, mainly those outside the West and Northeast Coast and the big cities, backed him big time.
Memories from Ohio
Some 40 years ago when I was travelling in Kentucky I spent a few days in Owensboro, a small town on the Ohio River, where I met a charming Methodist minister, whose main problem was congregation size (it is still a problem for the Methodists, I am told). The locals were much keener on charismatic churches that promised easy salvation rather than the more nuanced message of the Methodists which is rather more about ‘we’ than just ‘me’.
Preachers would come to the town and persuade their new congregation to hand over their money and – you’ve guessed it – then would they moved on, leaving the established churches to deal with the damage done. “These are very vulnerable people”, he said wistfully. Kentucky is one of the poorest states and was one of those targeted by Franklin D Roosevelt’s New Deal but back then in 1983, I realised how poor, less educated and marginalised it still was. All the educated young people, and that included the minister, were desperate to leave. I am reliably informed that it hasn’t improved.
The inhabitants are still ‘very vulnerable people’, and where do they get their news these days? Fox and all the various online platforms subsidized by the right. Do you honestly think they follow ‘The MeidasTouch’, David Pakman or Brian Tyler Cohen? We must be honest about the challenges that face us in trying to reach such an audience with more moderate messages.
And in Britain?
Here in Britain, the lesson from the US election is that it is much more important that Keir Starmer delivers real change before the next election. He needs to make life better for people and, most importantly, make people aware of what he is doing and to do so he needs Europe’s help. It was always a fantasy to imagine that a trade deal with the USA and various deals elsewhere in the world could replace EU membership. Brexit was – as we all know – primarily about immigration, and clearly Starmer needs to address this issue.
The temptation to go for the ‘they’re eating the dogs’ narrative must be resisted, because we need more flexible immigration with the EU just as we need less trade friction; but this will require toughness and a readiness to counter the demagoguery of the right-wing press. Starmer must neither pander to or ignore people’s concerns – but he can only do this if people are getting a doctor’s appointment or a hip replacement on time.
Maybe the government needs to pay towards the cost of seeing a private dentist – 50% of costs of dental surgery is a possibility. Perhaps we need a mutual medical insurance to cover some of the costs of treatment – those who can afford it could and indeed should be paying more. Whatever the case, Starmer needs to do something truly ‘bold’ (a word much overused by politicians praising themselves).
A final remark courtesy of Lincoln:
I shall close with the words of Abraham Lincoln in his first inaugural address.
“We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.”
That did not stop the Civil War; the better angels of our nature do not always prevail, and setbacks will follow victories, but like Sisyphus we must keep up the struggle, for ultimately – as Camus pointed out – it is the struggle that gives meaning to our existence.
And here, as a footnote, is another significant extract from Lincoln’s great speech:
“A majority held in restraint by constitutional checks and limitations, and always changing easily, with deliberate changes of popular opinions and sentiments, is the only true sovereign of a free people.”
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