If we can more plainly see people like these whose standards of living we covet as they really are, we’re apt to find it a bit less easy to imagine them as a smugly-ensconced and all-powerful "deep state" that’s steadily and methodically taking over all aspects of life in our country.
Also, if we can look beyond our own imaginations for such a sinister cabal in higher education, government, the media, entertainment, and the arts, one of the first things we're likely to realize is that although those at the pinnacle of these endeavors do have significant influence, the vast majority of people toiling in the same fields aren’t even making a reasonable living—and barely feel listened to by anyone.
As we come to better understand the toxic effects of our current gigantism of scale, a significant number of voters could also come to realize that although Trump is driven by the same sense of being disrespected and unaccepted as they are, his gripes aren’t anywhere near as valid as theirs.
Following this recognition, they might go on to see that the key difference between him and them is not his wealth or influence, but just his willingness and ability to exploit their pain to fuel his own misguided personal quest to finally get the respect he believes he deserves, by amassing more powers to make people fear him (a quest in which, sadly for him and all the rest of us, he hasn’t grasped that being feared is a far cry from being genuinely respected).
I have a hunch that some of the rural people he got his political start among may come to this realization sooner than the rest of us. Country people tend to be not only commendably and fiercely egalitarian, but also less willing than just about anybody to tolerate phonies—especially those of the self-serving variety.
When and if Donald Trump’s cult-like hold is at long last broken, we’ll also finally be able to turn our attention to the toxic gigantism of scale that gave QAnon and MAGA so much fertile ground to take root in, and begin devising and implementing new forms of human scaling that can forestall future repeats of the dangerous circumstances in which we now find ourselves.
On the other hand, if we don't open our eyes to the oppressive enormity of our primary frame of reference that’s actually poisoning our spirits, we’re likely to devolve into blindly tearing down all of the status quo just for the momentary satisfaction this brings, only to find the next day that we’ve still got the same sense of something being profoundly wrong with our world—and we’ve only given it additional problems.
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NOTE: To further explore toxic gigantism of scale, what it’s done to us, and what we can do about it, listen to one of the following episodes of the Notes in a Bottle podcast:
