The 2016 election has reduced America to a house divided with a wild narcissist running about the living room burning the last standing sticks of furniture. Republicans are in disarray trying to cobble together a cohesive strategy to keep their seats in the House and Senate. While Democrats are scurrying to diffuse WikiLeaks’ email bombs before they explode in the press. Amidst the chaos, the county hasn’t had the bandwidth to consider what its neighbors think of this domestic disturbance. Today, a British Magazine released a brilliant cover that shows exactly what’s on their mind.
The Economist’s most recent cover story “The debasing of American politics” poses a question many Americans are scared to face: How do people learn to accept what they once found unacceptable? The Economist believes that Donald Trump’s campaign has normalized attitudes that were previously taboo. Specifically, the magazine takes umbrage with Trump’s claim that he’d jail Clinton if he wins the presidency. “In a more fragile democracy that sort of talk would foreshadow post-election violence,” the article says. “Mercifully, America is not about to riot on November 9th. But the reasons have less to do with the state’s power to enforce the letter of the law than with the unwritten rules that American democracy thrives on. It is these that Mr. Trump is trampling over—and which Americans need to defend.”
Throughout the campaign, Trump has introduced a barrage of ideas to the political discourse that would never have been acceptable in single servings years previous: Muslim bans, a border wall, mocking the disabled, calling his competition “Crooked,” etc. The Economist believes this massive onslaught has temporarily blinded many Americans’ sense of decency. “Daniel Patrick Moynihan wrote that when many bad things happen at once, societies define deviancy down, until the list of what is unacceptable is short enough to be manageable.” So one question remains: After the election, will America be able to get its house back in order? Or have its political foundations rotted beyond repair?
