I was utterly devastated by the news of Trump's re-election this morning.
Not just because of the US electorate's apparent ambivalence towards pretty straightforward moral norms, like telling the truth, respecting women, not sexually harassing (or even, by verdict of at least one American court of law, sexually abusing) people, or maintaining a healthy awareness of one's own flaws and limitations. Nor even just because of the precedent this sets in the world's most powerful democracy for the rule of law, respecting democratic outcomes, and ensuring the peaceful transfer of power (indeed, these implications now stop me from calling the USA the world's most powerful liberal democracy!)
No, my biggest concerns are not just about what has come before but about what comes next. As a Brit, I particularly want to know what's next for the UK's and our allies' defence and security, with US membership of NATO having underpinned this for decades?
I want to know what's next for the Ukrainians defiantly fending off Putin's imperialist ambitions? What's next for the Palestinian people brutalised and massacred by the Israeli state, even whilst senior Israelis call for peace? And what's next for your, mine, and the whole world's wallets if Trump's planned universal tariffs slow trade and dramatically push up prices for everyone (as most economists predict will happen to the world economy if the forthcoming Trump administration ploughs ahead with his incredibly ill-thought-through tariffs plan)?
I have no answers to these questions. I don't think anyone does, certainly not yet. But there is no doubt that the world is fast becoming a more complex and dangerous place, and the choice of a majority of US voters this week does nothing to change that - quite possibly making it much, much worse.
However, I believe in democracy. And when results like this happen, as they did here in the UK back in December 2019 (albeit with less truly global consequences), I take the view that those of us who were fighting against the populist conservative demagoguery - especially those of us standing for the alternative, liberal parties offering a different vision of the world - really must take the blame for having lost the argument.
In Britain in late 2019, we clearly had both a personality and a policy problem. In my own party, we solved that by replacing the ideological Jo Swinson with a more pragmatist Ed Davey as Lib Dem Leader, focusing on specific issues of concern to voters (including those who'd voted both for or against Brexit) rather than cultural dividing-lines (e.g. Remainer vs. Brexiter). And, obviously, Labour went through a deeper transformation still, from being run by the Corbynistas to led by Starmerites.
But, as I look now to the US and compare the results this week to those of 4 years ago, I can't help but get the feeling best described by that immortal phrase "there, but for the Grace of God, go I". This is all the more so when I remember how successful Reform UK were in July's General Election, even if not in seats, definitely in votes (including coming second in a lot of places!)
So, rather than thinking 'job done, the liberals and progressives have won the country back from the conservatives and populists', I think we - both Liberal Democrats and all those active in British politics, regardless of party affiliation, who share our vision of a world in which truth matters and we care for fellow human beings as if they were our own neighbours - we should think long and hard about whether we are really being responsive to and answering the concerns of voters across the UK, and doing so more and better than our populist conservative opponents (including not just Farage's Reform Party, but much of Badenoch's Conservatives too).
And we should focus every bit of our political energies these next few years, right up until the next General Election, making sure that the answer to that all-important question is unflinchingly 'YES', even if that means changing how we do things.
Or eise, where the US goes, we might soon find that the UK may very well follow.
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