AT the 11th hour it was really too close to call but, frustrating the pundits and saddening many
Americans, Mr Donald Trump had the strategic numbers cracking the so-called “Blue Belt’ with wins in Wisconsin etc.
His supporters are delighted but many minorities and especially women will be disappointed. The USA will need time to heal and we should pray for that healing and a more sober tone to their national conversation.
Personally, I was not so surprised. I felt that the mood was swinging in the direction of Donald Trump. As with Brexit, the election of Rody Duerte in the Philippines and the ongoing popularity of Mr Putin in Russia, there is a loss of faith in the ‘establishment’.
This is, I suspect, code for political, economic, bureaucratic, military, academic and media elites, which are viewed as self-interested and entrenched.
They have failed to deliver economic and personal well-being in an age of globalisation (blurred identities) and an exaggerated pluralism (no hierarchy of values).Concretely, millions of white Americans, who did not vote for Mr Obama, turned out to vote for Donald Trump. Their uncertainties were angry and precise.
While many people, better qualified than me, will have their commentary, I wonder whether we, as a Church community, do not also risk harbouring our own elites. Australians too look for authenticity and they expect leadership not just governance.
They are looking for a gospel that is lived not just preached. In a sense, Pope Francis is, in part, an ‘outsider’ and that is part of his appeal and generous popularity.
But there is an ongoing drift away from an engaged Catholic life towards nominal faith and tokenism. This is certainly a discussion that brighter minds than myself need to have.