Since Donald Trump has been chosen as the successor of Barack Obama we have to face a big change in our world. It is a challenge to deal with this change.

Let us start with an analysis of people, who are surrounding Trump, because he can’t make this shift by his own. He needs other people. What is their thinking? But also we have to be aware that the way of thinking is often determined by experience in life, especially when they were underaged. For the most we don’t know this, but psychologist Alice Miller made a lot of research about this issue. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Miller_(psychologist)

People, who have undergone a trauma, need help to overcome this trauma, otherwise the trauma will determine their life and by this lives of other people. They can become dangerous for other people, if they manage to get a position of power. They can work for getting power in order to take revenge for the suffering they have undergone as a minor.

So, what's going on in the US? I discovered for me new concepts such as paleo conservatism or alternative conservatism. This represents old conservatism. With Google you can read more about it. Trump is a representative of this movement.

There are two people that we need to keep in mind: Stephen Bannon from Breitbart News and the son-in-law of Trump, Jared Kushner, who, incidentally, cannot hold any official post, because he is a relative of the president. There's a law against this in the US as in many other countries. But who knows Trump circumvent this law.

It struck me that the new US administration religion will play an important role, both Jewish and Christian, especially Catholicism. Stephen Bannon has relationships into high circles of the Vatican. See https://www.buzzfeed.com/lesterfeder/this-is-how-steve-bannon-sees-the-entire-world?utm_term=.nfqeo05vq#.hpVJQZy5m

In this link from 2014 you can read how Stephen Bannon thinks. For me the question is, which emotions are hidden below the surface, based on experiences in his life. Such a question is difficult to answer, but it is important to provide at stake. His actions are based on this. Ideology can disguise undergone traumas.

Another factor is the appeal that this movement of Christians do on the Bible. They refer to 2 Corinthians 3.17 in the Christian Bible: "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." But what does the Spirit of the Lord mean? And what does liberty mean in this text? Such a text can be abused for an ideology that conceals something else, as I have just written.

I read again the book by Erich Fromm "Escape from Freedom" It's a fascinating book, written by a man from orthodox Jewish background, who has studied Christian theology. The book was published in 1941. He was born in Frankfurt Main in 1900. So he saw the rise of Hitler very closely from the beginning.

In this book he describes the development of European society from the Middle Ages to the present day. In the Middle Ages everyone was tied to a fixed place in society, but he was assured from a safe place.

In the Renaissance, people became free from these bands. But then they discovered that they were alone and powerless. This makes him scared and alone. He starts to seek support from a strong man. We saw this in the thirties of the last century and we do now see it again.

Finally, I am afraid of the new vice-president Mike Pence. From the first moment that I saw him: I wondered, who is this man? His face shows no emotions. I wonder therefore what trauma he underwent in his youth, which he masks. See about him the following link: https://theintercept.com/2016/11/15/mike-pence-will-be-the-most-powerful-christian-supremacist-in-us-history/

A downside of the current developments, is that in the weekend after the election of Trump a new organization in the US saw the light, in which Jews and Muslims work together. For this, a Jew had sacrificed his holy day of rest, the Sabbath. See http://www.tabletmag.com/scroll/217928/i-spent-the-shabbat-after-trumps-election-with-muslim-leaders-from-across-america;

How can we deal with this new situation in our world? We can complain or be angry. This is in the beginning understandable. But then we have to make steps forward. First we can mourn in order to deal with bad feelings about the result of these elections. Remaining in this position will not make us happy.

It seems to me more helpful, if we look to our own power. What can we do to improve our life in spite of problems we are facing? We have to trust ourselves that we are good people, though we have also our shadow side. Blaming ourselves is not helpful neither to blame other people. We are responsible for what we do, omit and commit. This is factual our task as an adult for the sake of the young generation. It is also not helpful to be shy. By exercising our talents we develop ourselves and feel trust.

We have to look for allies and develop trustful ties step by step. Together we can develop ideas in favour of our local community including everyone as far it is possible. This is not easy, but in my view necessary. Especially that people feel to be included is important. Don’t make you dependent on big leaders.

I wish you good luck and all the best.