Otto Von Bismark said, “Politics is the art of the possible.”

In the jungle, might makes right. It is hard to fathom that today, most humans are still governed by dictators and despots who rule through fear and force. Our Founding Fathers strived to devise a better system to govern ourselves with minimum violence. Notwithstanding the ugliness of politics, the backstabbing, cheating, physical fights on the floor of Congress, deadly duels, and a devastating civil war, the American system has survived 248 years and 47 presidential elections.

Though imperfect on many fronts, this is the best and longest-lasting system of government man has devised, which is why millions of immigrants risk their lives to join it.

To better understand Donald Trump’s historic comeback and sweeping victory, we must study the cyclical nature of our political system, allowing the pendulum of power to swing from Left to Right, Capital to Labor, Liberal to Conservative, and back.

Though the issues of abortion and immigration played an important role in the outcome of the recent election, I believe inflation and foreign policy played the most important roles. As to foreign affairs, after eighty years of America acting as a Superpower, people started noting that North Korean soldiers were fighting in Russia to kill Ukrainians using Iranian-made missiles. Iran was selling oil to China to finance a multi-faceted war against Israel and America. And the China, Russia, Iran, and North Korean coalitions started to look like the German, Italian, and Japanese coalitions of WWII.

On the home front, inflation further widened the gap between the rich and the poor. While the rich are protected against inflation because they own hard assets, wage earners who live paycheck to paycheck struggle to make ends meet. But, instead of bringing out the pitchforks to take down the regime, the deplorables used the ballot box to facilitate a sweeping and radical political change.

A reading of The Fourth Turning, End Times, and Saving America in the Age of Deceit makes me believe we are at the end of an eighty-year cycle. So, it may help to think of Trump as Kali, the Hindu god who embodies the power of destruction and creation in one entity and leads the path from death and destruction to creation, salvation, and fertility.

— Sina.