As ridiculous as it is to write these words, Donald Trump is president again. His second term was propelled, as was the first, by a massive group of aggrieved individuals whom the Democratic Party abandoned in recent decades. These are members of American society’s forgotten and forsaken tribe of mostly blue-collar union workers whose jobs disappeared due to the fun practices of global capitalism.
We already know that whatever Trump does, he does poorly. But we know he will try to stack the deck in favor of future generations of his billionaire oligarch friends, not the people who put him in office, again. If he were the kind of person who put his “customers” first, he wouldn’t have stiffed and been sued by thousands of his company’s tenants, suppliers and employees for the past, oh, 40 to 50 years. He is a bad actor.
So, here is what he will not do: He will not serve those who elected him. He will not propose ideas to create business-driven economic growth that benefits all Americans. His oligarchs will not, in turn, support policies that advance a pro-growth and pro-worker agenda to help build a better economy over the long run.
They will not do so because they are stupid and don’t care. Duh.
They will not recognize that there is a robust business case to be made for increasing the economic status of the lowest-paid workers in our society. This used to be the work of the Democratic Party during most of the 20th century, until we kept electing cocktail party people like Nancy Pelosi and Bill Clinton, who, it turns out, worked to increase economic inequality by focusing attention and energy on the politics of identity instead of doing their jobs.
Low levels of economic inequality correlate with higher overall economic growth that benefits every member of our sick, sick society, even the same shareholders of companies who placed the warm pile of yak shit we call Trump in our laps again. Companies that take seriously the economic welfare of their employees create sustained long-term value for their shareholders. This has always been the case and always will.
But let me be clear: This is not going to happen. The people in charge will do the opposite because that’s who they are. It will take decades for this country to recover.
Craig Corsini is a writer and grandfather in San Rafael.
