Turn for the better

After listening to Trump, CNN and FOX NEWS for the past four years I cling to my belief that Trump and his administration are perverted. Knowing what I do about New York City I am not a stranger to pretence and fraud. I am however less than persuaded by my native instincts when it comes to an assessment of Trump supporters. I am far from having a marketable picture of them.

After 2020 presidential election:

Multilateralism, diplomacy, quiet competence, scientific rigor, inclusivity, collegiality between top officials, respect for civil servants, the intelligence community and a welcome for immigrants are in.

Bashing allies, populism, nationalism, White House backbiting, despot coddling, ring-kissing Cabinet meetings, political hacks running spy agencies, and downplaying politically inconvenient threats — like killer viruses — are out.

After 2016 presidential election:

“I want to emphasize to you, Mr. President-elect, that we now are going to want to do everything we can to help you succeed because if you succeed, then the country succeeds,” Obama said when they met in the White House just days after Trump’s surprise election win.

“People were surprised about a lot of Hispanic folks who voted for Trump, but there’s a lot of evangelical Hispanics who, the fact that Trump says racist things about Mexicans, or puts undocumented workers in cages, they think that’s less important than the fact that he supports their views on gay marriage or abortion,” he said on “The Breakfast Club” radio show.

Some critics attacked Obama for what they viewed as divisive comments, reminiscent of his 2008 reference to “bitter” working-class voters who “cling” to guns and religion. Others noted the “cages” he referred to from the Trump administration’s family separation policy were built during his presidency.

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It will forever confound me to understand the reason for the obvious disagreement among Americans.  What is apparent to the uninitiated is that Americans represent competing clans politically, then similar disparity percolates beneath that apex to include the unending contest between white/black, rich/poor, educated/uneducated, choice/or not, Christianity/Muslim and Jew, religion/agnostic, capitalism/socialism, democracy/autocracy.

The investigation would be hugely less difficult if it were not for the fact that I have met several Trump supporters who come nowhere near the popular image of white and uneducated. I won’t suggest I’ve met a non-white Republican but the others qualify on either rung of the ladder, male or female. What disappoints me immensely is the complete disconnect I have from Trump when I hear him speak. For whatever reason his supporters gloss over that detail – something frankly I find to be a pervasive reflection for the wrong reason. I’ll leave it at that!

Though I don’t for a minute imagine that Trump supporters have highly refined policy views which propel them in their support of him, it always comes down to the more visceral appeal of white, Christian, guns. Evangelicals and capitalists find these alternate expressions of freedom so commanding. They capture custom, piety and security in that order. The current popular thinking is pretty much in reverse; namely, sharing, logic and peace in the same order.

Without getting into protracted political debate, allow me to opine that whatever the differences between Democrats and Republicans, the one feature which lingers is vengeance. I cannot adequately begin to ornament the relief to see the end of Trump! I can hear the news reporters sigh with liberation that they haven’t to mention his name! For my part he can be discarded as a scab upon one’s ankle – with thankful solace, no regret and certainly no recollection.