Voters remorse: What have we done?

What have we done?

In the novel “Great Expectations” by Charles Dickens, one of the characters, Miss Havisham, carries out several actions that harm some of the other characters. When she realizes the harm she caused, she repeats several times, “What have I done? What have I done?”

With the election of Donald Trump as president, tens of millions of Americans must now be asking, “What have we done?” I suspect that it isn’t just people who voted for Hillary Clinton, but also many Trump voters.

▪  Consider his cabinet appointees: billionaire corporate and oil company CEOs, Wall Street executives, climate-change deniers, and his vice-president, who has consistently favored and promoted measures harmful to women.

▪  Consider his open admiration for authoritarian leaders such as Vladimir Putin of Russia. Consider his condescending and dismissive attitude toward America’s intelligence-gathering services.

▪  Consider his stated belief that human activities have little to do with global warming.

▪  Consider his investments and the money he owes in Russia and China, and he won’t release his taxes so we’ll never know if his policies pursue America’s national interest or his own financial interests.

▪  Consider his casual attitude toward nuclear weapons.

Even if you didn’t vote for Trump, we Americans have to ask: What have we done? What have we done?

This story was originally published January 17, 2017 at 2:12 PM with the headline "Voters remorse: What have we done?."