I have spent many of the final week on Zoom calls with accountants in New York, attempting to determine the private finance implications of shifting to the UK – lugging twin citizenship behind me. (Quick model: they’re not good.) Since these conversations cope with financial outcomes it has felt, as a matter of kind, vital to say that given the US simply elected a maniac, at some stage – don’t we expect? – all bets are off. Joking not-joking: we are able to discuss pensions or school financial savings till the cows come house however actually, why aren’t we screaming? A comment that has elicited, to a person, both clean appears to be like or cheerful entreaties to not be so alarmist.
It’s three weeks for the reason that presidential election and, loopy cupboard picks apart, Individuals are in that unusual interim interval the place normality resumes, and it’s potential to persuade ourselves that really this may not be so dangerous. The markets are holding regular, helped by a wise choose for treasury secretary (in contrast to different Trump cupboard picks, Scott Bessent, a billionaire hedge fund supervisor, has – as far as we all know – by no means been accused of sexual assault, had a white nationalist tattoo, or taken half in an exhibition wrestling match). Trump’s threats to tear up the script on tariffs and immigration on day one are unnerving, however his follow-through abilities might be weak. Technically, he’s a lame duck president. And so forth. In the meantime, actual life continues.
These rationalisations are partly essential to keep away from panic or paralysis, however after all additionally they serve an exculpatory objective. The spectacle of Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, co-hosts of the fiercely anti-Trump MSNBC present Morning Joe, beetling all the way down to Mar-a-Lago to fulfill with the president-elect as quick as their little legs might carry them, was offered by the pair as a vital piece of journalistic engagement. (Neither reported on what was stated on the assembly, though presumably it was sunnier in tone than the time Trump referred to as Brzezinski “low IQ loopy Mika”, and described her as “bleeding badly from a face-lift”, or the time the Morning Joe group referred to as Trump a fascist.)
Clearly the hack a part of me understands the explanation for going – simply as, 20 years in the past, I’d fairly wish to have learn OJ Simpson’s mea culpa I Did It, earlier than all 400,000 copies had been pulped. Nonetheless, in sure corners of the New York media, there’s an unmistakable glee – a gimlet-eyed relish – afoot about what a drama-filled Trump presidency will do for scores. These are individuals who backed Kamala Harris however, discovering themselves equally if not higher served by a Trump administration, can’t fairly include their pleasure.
And whereas, as David Lammy came upon, diplomacy is now a vital a part of defending a raft of pursuits, there’s nonetheless sleight of hand at play. Underneath the auspices of pragmatic engagement, or “holding Trump to account”, or the affordable lodging of a brand new American actuality, there’s the standard sucking as much as cash and energy. Regardless of Trump’s conviction that the complete mainstream media is towards him, it appears unlikely that he shall be sitting alone in a ballroom on the Whitehouse Correspondents’ dinner subsequent April whereas the US information media takes a stand. Laughing-face emoji, crying-face emoji.
What then are we alleged to be doing, now we’ve got moved on from Jimmy Kimmel’s massive swimmy-eyed face and Stephen Colbert’s this-is-serious-kids voice the day after the election? Whereas Democrats regroup and check out to determine the place to go from right here, the remainder of us stay in limbo. For these within the privileged place of not being in Trump’s instant crosshairs, “make as a lot cash as potential,” was the suggestion of Scott Galloway on the podcast, Pivot, final week. He pointed to the Onion’s $1.75m bid to purchase InfoWars from conspiracy theorist, Alex Jones, and switch it right into a car for mocking Jones and different pro-Trumpers – an instance of how cash allows motion.
And it’s true: sulking or ranting does nothing. Getting on with issues might represent a small act of resistance. And private enrichment as a car to counter Trump pursuits can, from sure angles, make sense – though after all a) how handy! And b) it’s such a quintessentially American answer to an American drawback you could’t assist however smile.
Whether or not or not this era of relative stability lasts, my gloomy muttering on Zoom calls this week felt out of step with the vibe of chin up and whistle. I couldn’t assist it. As a matter of pragmatism or realism, enterprise as traditional is smart; then again, can we nonetheless acknowledge how bizarre this all is? “If America goes down, you’ll take Britain’s economic system down with you,” I stated to 1 accountant, who replied cheerfully: “If America goes down we’ll be speaking about the place to get water, not fluctuations within the economic system.” Honest level and one which – for now – we’re at liberty to interpret as both reassuring or chilling, in accordance with style.
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