I knew someone would say this, but I do think, despite your observations, that a majority of liberals still had enough faith in the American people that they would reject someone like Donald Trump, especially after Obama's two historic elections. Thus the clear shock that was evident the day after the election. I'm well aware of the dark side of American history, but it was also possible to see it as improving considerably over the past half-century, from the successes of the civil rights movement and legislation to the women's movement and gay rights movement.
Don't get me wrong--Trump is completely corrupt and unprincipled. Nevertheless, he managed to stumble into a stark rebuke of American imperialism in the 2016 Republican primary, the sort we'd never expect to hear from "decent" candidates:
”We’ve spent $4 trillion trying to topple various people that, frankly, if they were there and if we could have spent that $4 trillion in the United States to fix our roads, our bridges, and all of the other problems — our airports and all the other problems we have — we would have been a lot better off, I can tell you that right now.
We have done a tremendous disservice not only to the Middle East — we’ve done a tremendous disservice to humanity. The people that have been killed, the people that have been wiped away — and for what? It’s not like we had victory. It’s a mess. The Middle East is totally destabilized, a total and complete mess. I wish we had the 4 trillion dollars or 5 trillion dollars. I wish it were spent right here in the United States on schools, hospitals, roads, airports, and everything else that are all falling apart!”
In short, whatever the gains in domestic liberal rights discourse, the Democrat and Republican establishments routinely manage to excuse and win public support for the worst warmongering.
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