Donald Trump is now the 47^th President of the United States.

Per his own words and policies, he will rule as a dictator on “day one.” Trump’s “presidency” will be a form of autocracy and personalist rule as shown by his Cabinet selections and the policies he and his allies have already outlined and are rapidly putting in place. The Democrats do not appear to be able to act as an effective opposition or resistance party. Moreover, to this point, Democrats have prematurely surrendered by announcing they will work with Trump and the MAGA Republicans on areas of common concern that ostensibly will help the American people, specifically the working class. The so-called Resistance that mobilized to confront Trump during his first presidency is, to this point, also silent. Both the Democrats and the resistance are still shellshocked and cowed by Trump’s easy victory in the election.  

Far from having overwhelming positive support, Donald Trump’s return to power is a function and result of an American democracy and society that is in deep crisis. Public opinion and other research show that the American people are generally unhappy, worried about the country’s future and overall direction and have low trust in government. In total, the 2024 election was a referendum on “the system.” The Democrats, as the incumbent party, were punished by a majority of American voters and the larger public who chose not to participate, even as they were told that the election was a referendum on democracy and Trump (and more importantly Trumpism) and supposedly an existential threat to the country.

In the end, Donald Trump and his MAGA movement were viewed as change — destructive change and “shaking things up.” Trump’s campaign and its allies were also smarter, bolder and more innovative than President Biden’s and then Harris’. In total, Trump and his campaign were, in many ways, a default option, a national protest vote and an authoritarian “populist” rejection of the status quo. Donald Trump won the same number of votes as he did in 2020. Kamala Harris and the Democrats experienced, by some estimates, more than a 10 million drop-off in the number of votes as compared to 2020. The Democratic Party was both defeated at the polls by Donald Trump and his MAGA movement and a victim of its own collapse. 

This rage at the elites is global and not isolated to the United States.

Trump’s victory and now second presidency has caused great emotional pain and collective grieving and mourning for those Americans who voted against and generally oppose him and the authoritarian populism of the MAGA movement. This pain and mourning and grieving are also intensely personal and immediate for those groups of Americans who will be targeted by the Trump administration and its enforcers as “the enemy within” and as the poison in “the blood” of the country to be purged. That Trump is being inaugurated on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Remembrance Day adds another level of pain and dismay. Dr. King was martyred for leading a movement to force America to become a multiracial democracy and a more humane and equal society. Trump is an enemy of that project and will reverse the won-in-blood gains of the long Black Freedom Struggle and civil rights movement.

Trump’s victory is a source of other forms of mourning. For those many (white) Americans who truly believed in American exceptionalism and that the American people “were better than this” so would never return someone like Trump, a proven aspiring dictator who has no respect for the Constitution and democracy, to the White House, this is all a great narcissistic injury. Today should be the death of those naïve beliefs and fictions.

Healthy healing and mourning allow a person to move forward in their life and to reconcile and learn from their loss in a productive and perhaps even cathartic way as they try to make themselves whole again. Unhealthy mourning and grieving are potentially destructive, whereby a person is not able to reconcile their loss and find proper meaning from it and engages in unhealthy coping behavior. They can be stuck in loss and pain — and in the worst instances direct that rage and anger outward to cause other people to have similar experiences. These dynamics are true of groups, societies and individuals.

In an attempt to make better sense of the emotional dimension of Trump’s return to power and the collective feelings of mourning, grief, fear and overall distress that many tens of millions of Americans are likely experiencing, I recently spoke to Dr. Gail Christopher, an award-winning social change agent and author with expertise in the social determinants of health and well-being and related public policies.

A prolific writer and presenter, Dr. Christopher has contributed to 14 books, hundreds of articles, presentations, publications and more. She retired from her role as Senior Advisor and Vice President at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, where she was the driving force behind the America Healing initiative and the Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation effort. In 2019, Dr. Christopher became a Senior Scholar with George Mason University’s Center for the Advancement of Well-Being and became the Executive Director of the National Collaborative for Health Equity.

This is the first of a two-part conversation.

Given the dire state of American democracy with Trump’s return to the White House, how are you feeling? What does it mean to be “healthy” in such a moment of extreme distress, anxiety and fear? 

Thank you for beginning with that question. Feeling and emotion are central to this challenge and era. Western conventional medicine did not understand, explore, or honor the power of feelings — psychologically and biologically, until the 1990’s. How we feel actually greatly determines how well we heal and ultimately how well we are.

I think it is critically important to learn to manage our emotions and feelings even during the most challenging times. I am feeling hopeful. I believe that hope can be viewed as a synonym for democracy. Democracy is about the hope that people can live their lives with freedom and to pursue happiness. Democracy is always forming; it is never complete. 

I often recommend the book, “The Slave’s Cause: A History of Abolition” by Manisha Sinha, because it documents the 100-year struggle to abolish slavery, but it does so in a nuanced yet comprehensive way, which helps us to understand the long view of forming a more perfect democracy in the United States. The aspirational ideas expressed by the Founders where just that – ideas.

The context in which they were introduced was a total contradiction to those ideas to the inalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, but that contradictory context was shaped by the belief system and mindset of the White male property owners of those times. They genuinely believed in a false hierarchy of human value that relegated people of color and women to have the least value in society. They lived with those contradictions for two and a half centuries.

It is important to note that the 100-year movement to end slavery was a broad-based multiracial, multi-religious, multi-ethnic and gender-diverse coalition, but at its heart were the efforts of those most directly harmed. Enslaved and free Africans led the abolition movement. So, I am reminded that the journey for justice is a long and hard-fought one, but I believe that victory will be ours.

How are you processing these events in different ways and finding a balance — if at all? 

I am spending quality time with my family and experiencing the absolute joy that comes from welcoming a new grandchild into the world. I have the benefit of a totally contrasting emotional experience to the negativity and uncertainty of this moment, but I also feel that it is my responsibility to share the insights that I have gleaned over the many, many decades. The recent birth of my grandchild has reminded me of the nature of life itself. It is always forming and becoming. This is why I think our system of government – a constitutionally based democracy, aligns with the natural forces of life. Just as the human being emerges from the fertilized ovum, the creation of the possible is a natural gift and phenomenon we have been given as human beings. There are certain principles that must be understood.

Biological life like a democratic form of government is based on complexity, redundancy, modularity, robustness, resilience, communitarianism and agency. Unlike authoritarian systems, our democracy is grounded in these natural principles, and again, it is always a work in progress. I highly recommend the recent book, How Life Works: A User’s Guide to the New Biology by Philip Ball. As I read it, I kept thinking about our political and social struggles for justice.

This political season, the presidential campaign and election results offer lessons about the power of what I call the “three M’s” in American society and those are Money, Media and Mindset. If Trump as president demonstrates one power, it is the power of the mindset. One of the most generous and kind leaders I met in the 1980s was a union leader in Chicago, and he would always say, “You really can’t beat a made-up mind.” Trump embodies this: he inherited an understanding of the power of mental focus and having grown up with financial wealth that insulated him from the consequences of the vicissitudes of life. Trump learned to apply his mental power as a means of achieving his desired ends. With enough money and enough media access to amplify his intentions, he successfully bamboozled enough voters to win. There are many aspects of work and change required now. Campaign finance reform and media regulation are critical areas for intervention.

Donald Trump will be inaugurated on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Remembrance Day. This is an abomination and a cruel coincidence of dates. The two men’s lives and missions are juxtaposed to one another. How are you reconciling these contradictions and the overlap of these days?

One of my favorite quotes of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is “Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.” This cruel coincidence gives us another focus. We should celebrate the legacy of Dr. King in our homes, with our families and with our communities, churches, schools and organizations. The King holiday should be our reason for getting up that morning. We might even avoid all media that distracts us from the power of Dr. King’s life’s work and legacy.

This will be the ninth year of the annual National Day of Racial Healing. We deliberately set that for the day after the King holiday so that we can be reminded of the work that is required to overcome this nation’s legacy belief in a false hierarchy of human value. For the last nine years, tens of thousands of communities and groups have commemorated the National Day of Racial Healing and they will do so again on Tuesday, January 21, 2025. 

Many Americans are in a state of mourning because of Trump’s victory in the election and now his presidency and what it will mean for the future of American democracy. What exactly is being mourned?

I think it is important here to recognize that this nation has elected 47 presidents and only a small portion of them have stood for justice and fairness and yet our system of governance has enabled continued progress.

I can’t say what Trump’s victory will mean. I can imagine based on the tone of the campaign, the people that have been selected to lead federal agencies in the new administration, as well as the policy priorities that have been expressed that there will be efforts to shut the borders, deport undocumented immigrants, and reverse efforts for equity throughout the government agencies. These efforts or executive orders will be challenged through our legal system and met with state and local push-back. I think it is very important to remain hopeful and to be as organized as we possibly can to meet the challenges ahead.

What is healthy mourning for an individual? For a collective and/or society? What is unhealthy mourning and grieving?

Whenever we experience loss, either real or perceived, it can trigger negative emotions of fear and/or helplessness. There is considerable research that documents the harmful health effects of negative emotions. Chronic states of anxiety and stress are associated with many of the debilitating chronic diseases that disproportionately affect communities of color. Hypertension, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, neurodegenerative conditions and inflammatory conditions are all associated with high-stress levels. An emerging and well-researched body of literature focuses on the health benefits of positive emotions. Healthy mourning includes a balance of positive thoughts to trigger positive emotions despite the temporary experience of loss. This requires meditation. Music can be helpful, and most importantly, positive social engagement with family or friends. In this moment of political loss, self-care in the ways I described above must be augmented with actual engagement in concrete activities that are working toward a better future. Community organizing, legal defense funds, voter registration, and activism of many types will help create a more positive mental and emotional state. These circle experiences may help to ease the sense of loss and replace it with hope and deeper more meaningful human connections.