Sadness and Decadence in Our Election

Our fractured nation reflects how low expectations and divisive politics have led us to embrace decadence over virtue in our leaders.

By Jeremi Suri

This is so much worse than 2016. Then, Donald Trump was offensive and shallow, but many observers believed he would grow into the office of president. That obviously did not happen, exemplified by a long list of sordid acts: trying to extort the leader of Ukraine, negotiating business deals for his family while in office, and most startling, encouraging an insurrection to overturn his loss four years ago. Trump’s election again in 2024 was fueled by millions of Americans who have now voted for him three times! That record tells us that a very large proportion of citizens are willing to excuse his severe transgressions. One must ask, what more could he do to disqualify himself? And why do so many voters not care? 

I cannot accept that Americans have somehow internalized the behavior that Donald Trump exhibits. No person I know would lie with such recklessness, demean peers so cruelly, or exhibit such an oversized, caricatured ego. Who else on earth would say, with a straight face, “I am an even better president than George Washington or Abraham Lincoln.” Or, “I have such a beautiful body,” overweight and seventy-eight years of age. We are much better people – Republicans and Democrats – than Donald Trump. 

So, why do citizens keep voting for him? Maybe Kamala Harris could have done some things differently in her campaign, but we have to admit that she ran a sincere and inspiring race to unite the country in a better vision of itself. I thought she would win, but she didn’t. It appears that more than seventy-two million voters decided that they cared about things beyond character and unity in their leaders. The other issues are numerous – from border security to the economy to reproductive rights and transgender acceptance – but I think the inescapable point is that voters believed a basket of overlapping concerns would be better served by a felonious figure than a life-long public servant. They found the felonious figure, who happens to be a white man, less threatening than the public servant, who happens to be an African-American and an Asian-American woman. 

Disagreements over policy between the candidates were sharp, if only vaguely explored in the campaign, and I sincerely respect different policy points of view. But the willingness to give a “pass” to minimal expectations for character and integrity in our public leaders is, well, astonishing. We know as historians that the personality of leaders, at least as much as their policies, shapes our country. Think of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt, and Ronald Reagan. They left a clear mark on how Americans thought about themselves, and how non-Americans thought about us. They defined our national brand. Do Trump’s voters really want him to define how Americans think of themselves and how others think of us? 

This is what saddens me most. For a country obsessed with leaders, we have excused ourselves from electing a leader. We have chosen something else – someone who charges people up, speaks to citizens’ fears, and pledges to distribute benefits to chosen groups. A true leader brings out what Lincoln called “the better angels of our nature.” A demagogue makes us rabid, craven, and eager to vote for something less than a better country. 

In 2016 it was possible to believe that voters thought Trump promoted better policies and was a leader of high character. In 2024 it is impossible to believe the latter. The fact that more people voted for Trump anyway, tells us where we have become a lost nation – not in our partisanship or the behavior we expect of ourselves – but in the low expectations we have for our highest office. 

Many voters are satisfied, it seems, with a man they distrust who barks words they like to hear. We will only find our way as a nation again when we support leaders who bring out the best in us, leaders who truly reflect the character we wish to see in our people. This election showed that we have strayed very far into decadence; the road back to virtue will be long and hard. My hope is not extinguished, but my patriotic heart has broken.

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Jeremi Suri - Korey Howell Photography

Jeremi Suri holds the Mack Brown Distinguished Chair for Leadership in Global Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin. He is a professor in the University's Department of History and the LBJ School of Public Affairs. Professor Suri is the author and editor of eleven books on politics and foreign policy, most recently: Civil War By Other Means: America’s Long and Unfinished Fight for Democracy. His other books include: The Impossible Presidency: The Rise and Fall of America’s Highest Office; Liberty’s Surest Guardian: American Nation-Building from the Founders to Obama; Henry Kissinger and the American Century; and Power and Protest: Global Revolution and the Rise of Détente. His writings appear in the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, CNN.com, Atlantic, Newsweek, Time, Wired, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, and other media. Professor Suri is a popular public lecturer and comments frequently on radio and television news. His writing and teaching have received numerous prizes, including the President’s Associates Teaching Excellence Award from the University of Texas and the Pro Bene Meritis Award for Contributions to the Liberal Arts. Professor Suri hosts a weekly podcast, “This is Democracy.”