It all began last June at the height of the season for
announcements to become pre-candidates to the Presidency of the United States
of America… Notice that I say pre-candidates because, until their party
nominates them, that’s all they are, pre-candidates. At any rate, up to 17 people – 16 boys and one girl - threw their hats in the ring to opt for the
nomination by the Republican Party, the Great Old Party, the party of Lincoln;
by the way, the party has morphed into something unrecognizable when compared
with its beginnings in the late 1850s; but I digress…
Around that time, the Spring of 2015, all pre-candidates
brought forward their ‘messages’, and some of them were – to me - more
attractive than others… The most attractive ones were those who were openly
against what I consider legalized bribery, or traffic of influences, or
lobbying, or corporate donations… One of them specifically was Donald J. Trump
who said “I don’t need donations; I won’t
take donations so I won’t owe any political favors to any one… No one will call
campaign favors on me!” That, folks, was music to my ears; another pre-candidate
had a similar philosophy, Bernie Sanders, by accepting only small individual
donations, not corporate ones.
The narrative of the presidential campaign cycle began to
heat up when Trump made his comments about the Mexicans being here/coming here
were mostly bad people (murderers, rapists) with some exceptions… Although
repudiated publicly by many, those comments resonated with a lot of people;
those people started to think this guy had something on the ball; he seemed to
be speaking on some attractive terms… He started to claim the mantra of not
believing in (or giving a damn about) Political Correctness; rudeness and
disparage appeared to surface more and more often in his rallies/interviews and
people started to feel ‘liberated’ by the fact that somebody was saying out
loud and in the open what they had been bottling up for decades now… Some weeks
went by and Trump managed to be - inexplicably
– very disparaging about Megyn Kelly (Faux Network anchor), raising some
eyebrows, eliciting some comments, but losing no popularity, mind you; on the
contrary. He continued to harp on his Mexican/illegals theme, and added that he
would deport 11 to 12 million people in the first year of his presidency, and build
a “huge and beautiful wall with a great and beautiful door” and that he
would have México pay for it; his popularity soared. His opponents, meanwhile,
were ‘running on issues’ not realizing they were not being heard by their party
and, therefore, making no difference and getting nowhere.
Then came the comments about John McCain not being a hero
because “heroes don’t get caught”,
and the mimicking of a handicapped reporter with whom he had had a disagreement
in the past. Republican veterans did not flinch; republican disable people did
not flinch either… He expands his rhetoric against trade agreements,
international military alliances and this rhetoric continues to resonate with
more and more people…
Then, the San Bernardino, CA massacre happens and he issues
his most impactful statement yet: “Banning
the entry of Muslims into the USA” … Now he’s gone into even more
complicated – but more visceral – territory because now he’s talking about
banning people from coming here just for practicing another religion,
regardless of race or national origin (many nations around the world –
including ours - have native Muslim populations; by the way, the biggest number
of Muslims in the world are Indonesians, not Arabs!) … Most people start to say
that this is the end of Trump’s campaign; he’s gone too far now; he’s alienated
friends and foes alike; and so on… But, guess what: his popularity goes through
the roof; more people are attending his rallies, more people are saying “he’s one of us” …
His opponents, much to their chagrin, change their tactics
and styles, and start attacking him in the same style he attacks them,
including allusions to the size of genitalia; but it does not work; one by one they
drop out beaten, embarrassed and ashamed of themselves for having stooped that
low (though not all of them are either ashamed or embarrassed since they
immediately joined his ranks, i.e. Christy, Carson…)
Some of the drop outs start to rationalize their failure by
citing some anger that the USA workers have against their leaders for having
lost their good paying jobs; others rationalize their failure by saying that
people are angry because the Republicans have ‘owned’ congress for two years
now and have done nothing; others say that Republican voters have become
anti-establishment (whatever that may mean). And none of them realize (or have
the courage to recognize in public) that they have been beaten with a theme
that, even though it was never said, it was something that appealed to lots of
people, and here it is: “If they don’t look like us, and don’t sound
like us, and don’t pray like us, they don’t belong with us”. In other
words, without uttering it once in public, Trump has beaten them all with the
most visceral and primitive of the appeals to many people here in the USA: The
Racism Card! What many people are thinking now, and very few are saying, is
that the news of racism’s demise here in the good old US of A are grossly
exaggerated!
Now, to paraphrase Trump about the Mexicans “…and some are good people”, not all of
Trump’s followers are the racist type; no, some of them are rather attracted to
what he’s saying for other reasons (like I was when he said he would owe no
political favors); some of them think that NATO is a waste; some of them think that
protecting our interests in Germany, Japan, South Korea is also a waste; some
other think that trade or defense treatises are a waste; some of them think
that being a peace maker is also a waste; some of them think he’s out to stick
it to Washington and give congress hell; some of them think ‘Islam is after us’;
some people are afraid of having lost National Identity and want to restore it (this
melting pot concept is grossly overrated!); and there may be many other reasons,
noble or otherwise, why people gravitate towards Trump and his rhetoric…
As I write this, there are already myriads of ‘defections’ within
the Republican ranks; many notable and traditional Republican names have either
temporarily or permanently, withheld their support from Trump. Some people
praise them for their candor and honesty; some others bash them for being
anti-democratic cowards… I find it refreshing when Jeb Bush says “how can I honestly support Trump when I have
said many times before he is unfit to govern? Which Bush would the voters
believe?” He also adds he will not vote for either Trump or Clinton: I subscribe
to that!
Now, I know there are many of you out there who, regardless
of any reasoning, have already voted for Trump in the Republican Primaries, and
are convinced about voting for him again in the General Elections. It is my
sincere hope that you are focusing on the right-hand part of the conversation
which says “Let’s make America great
again”; I fear there are many others who focus on the left-hand part of the
conversation which actually says “…like it
was when we all looked, sounded and prayed alike, when everybody knew their
place!”
Regardless, I think this fall may define a brand new view of
the USA around the world… I hope it remains positive… After all, the
combination of isolationism (I don’t give a damn about what they think),
nationalism (only the USA matter), populism (I’ll say what they want to hear)
and disdain for other peoples have never worked! If you really think it works,
read your History of the World, especially the chapters about Germany in the
1930s…
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