To quote Dr. Martin Luther King, “we have some difficult days ahead”. Yes, we just defeated Trump and elected Biden but, we didn’t defeat Trumpism. We still have political leaders in influential positions who backed Trump’s every move. Who made it okay for our leader to kowtow to autocrats, threaten our allies, promote racism, and show absolute disdain for decency, fairness, protocol, or ethics? These folks, the McConnells, the Grahams, the Jordans, they’re still in key positions and they’re still Trump acolytes. The folk with the flags, the pickup trucks, the proud boys, the white supremacists, they’re still around and they’re still Trump supporters. Corporate leaders who favor Republican economic policies, right-wing media who paint Democrats as socialists, conspiracy theorists, and those who are easily led and manipulated, they’re still around.

TRUMPISM /trəmp-i-zəm/

As long as we have people in power who either supported a maniacal president or just stood by and let what just happened to us over the past 4 years, as long as they’re still there we are still in trouble. There are obviously other Trumps out there. Others who might be smarter, shrewder, more politically savvy, more sophisticated. So, we need to fix the problems. The problems that allowed a Trump to surface. The fact of the matter is that Republican leaders and almost 50% of America’s voters supported Trump. Despite the xenophobia, racism, sexism, and unscrupulous behavior.

Trump is leaving the white house, but Trumpism is still here. We do still have some difficult days ahead.