BY JED JALECO DEL ROSARIO
AS OF November 6, 2024, Donald J. Trump was elected the 47th President of the United States of America and by a large margin, too.
The latest polls say that he had managed to get over 300 electoral votes, bigger than the 270 required to win. By the time this article is published, the election would be a past event, but I doubt the excitement would have passed. Trump’s re-election is a renunciation of the American Empire by the American Nation.
Regardless of his flaws and personal beliefs, Trump has become an avatar for certain ideas. He embodies America as a nation with a specific people, rather than as the center of an informal global empire.
He represents the idea that Americans should pursue their own interests, and separate it from the interests of the “post-war/law-based international order.”
He is seen by both his supporters and his enemies as embodying the will of Americans, often at the expense of refugees, immigrants or even American allies – however they wish to define themselves.
In this sense, Trump becomes more than just a political figure. He has become a figure of history that transcends ordinary politics, a character of a great drama.
Consider his story. The man made an enemy of the US establishment for almost 10 years, got almost assassinated twice, demonized by the media, charged by the courts and still, he managed to make a comeback.
That is the kind of story that stirs people’s passion, and from that passion, the creation of new myths. Trump and his movement are creating a new myth, a new story for the next stage of US history.
Through his victory, Trump and MAGA (Make America Great Again) had hurt the old globalist, right-side-of-history consensus. It was already weakened in 2016 but now, its obsolescence was made clear by Trump’s victory./PN
