“Trump 2.0 Begins – Reflections on the US Elections of 2024”

It looks like the Republican party under Trump is about to do a clean sweep in the US election as the

vote counts near completion. They have secured the Presidency, with a resounding majority of both

electoral colleges and also the popular vote. They have secured a majority in the Senate. And, at the

time of writing, look set to secure a narrow majority in the House of Representatives.

It is interesting that 7 whole days after the election, there are still outstanding results in 16

congressional districts. This speaks to how closely fought some of these races have been but also

to some challenges the US system is facing with the speed and reliability of their vote counting

systems which can vary by State.

With Republican control of both lower and upper houses of the US legislature, Trump 2.0 will be

able to implement its policy agenda without always have to make concessions to an opposition

controlled House or Senate. However, it appears that the battle for position in the Trump 2.0 inner

circle including chair of the Senate majority, cabinet appointments and key personnel is going to be

critical for the success of their administration.

Even though Trump seems focused on putting US interests first, it would appear that if he makes

sensible appointments there is a good possibility that the wars in the Middle East and Ukraine can

finally come to an end. We hope and pray this can happen without any further loss of life while still

minimizing the impacts of longer-term destabilisation and displacement of people.

From the outside perspective, it has also been interesting to observe some unique trends during

this US election cycle. These include:

• Election campaigns have become information wars. The legacy media have long lost their

credibility and reliability as sources of accurate and objective information. This is a sad

state of affairs. We need to see the restoration of the independence of the media, from the

paid channels to the informal podcasters. But it needs to go with the ability of the

electorate to think critically and sift through fact from conjecture and narrative, so that they

can make up their own minds.

• This is one of the biggest political comebacks of all time. Love him or hate him, tolerate him

or pragmatically embrace him, Donald J. Trump has done what many said was impossible.

With the help of some influential friends (such as Musk and Carlson) and interesting allies

(such as RFK Jnr and Gabbard) he has prevailed against an onslaught by media, lawfare and

political machinery that few would have been able to overcome.

• America remains sadly divided, but it is not the death of democracy. Many pundits used the

line that if Trump was elected it would be the death of democracy and the rise of

authoritarianism. This narrative was unrelenting. There is no doubt that the US still faces

some serious challenges in their electoral processes and their varied state laws that govern

these processes. This was evident in 2000 and again in 2020. They have work to do to clean

up these processes.

But the fact that a majority of ordinary citizens can elect a Donald J.Trump shows that democracy is alive and well in the US. However, the task of healing and uniting the nation is going to be his greatest challenge, not to mention the minefield of priorities and policy positions to navigate through. The big question is: does he have either the character or the leadership style to do this? What will it take for leaders like Martin Luther King Jnr, Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Gandhi to emerge again. More recently we have seen Angela Merkel serve as chancellor of Germany from 2005 – 2021 with impeccable integrity, modelling true humble servant leadership. None of these leaders were without flaws or lead political formations that had the perfect policy positions. But they stand head and shoulders above so many we see today. The world longs for ethical and competent leaders who are able to unite the nation and call us to live for something bigger than

ourselves.