A pall of defeatism has descended over those who used to trust the status quo. It is easy to forget about hoping for the best when you are always expecting the worst. It is one thing for Trump, Farage, Le Pen and Hofer to try to fix a narrative which fuels anti-immigrant sentiment and normalises far-right populism; it is quite another for the left to go along with it. Liberals are talking themselves into apocalypse now.
Those who voted for Hillary Clinton or Remain need to take a step back and breathe. Yes, Trump and Brexit were major, seismic events, but they were based on very marginal results. Clinton won the popular vote with a lead of more than 2 million over the President-elect. Those who wanted Britain to Remain in the EU were 48% of the vote, not 4%. These results do not represent a comprehensive routing of liberal, tolerant views. Defeat on the day should not translate into defeatism forever…
In the US, Jill Stein’s bid for a recount in Wisconsin shows that there is fight in the liberal cause. Even if it comes to nothing, it is a way of letting the Trump administration-in-waiting know that they don’t have the sweeping mandate they believe they have.
Let the psychological battle be joined.
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