Since shortly after the 2016 presidential election, I have found understanding the rabid loyalty to Donald Trump by his followers confounding. I was less unsettled by the craziness during that election than in the weeks following his inauguration. Honestly, I prayed that he would be the greatest president in the history of the country. Political debates are exhausting; it would be nice to have responsible leadership that projects calm.
The first presidential election I participated in was 1972. I was 18, and I cast my ballot for Richard Nixon. While that did not go so well, I supported some Republicans who followed — Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and Mitt Romney. Throughout my life, the decision has been less about ideology than character. I wanted to be confident that the candidate was competent and would lead the nation with dignity.
Trump has been an unmitigated disaster with his constant flouting of the Constitution. He continues to attack the rule of law with his appointments of cronies such as Bill Barr, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, and a new slate of inspector generals to squelch any meaningful oversight to the nefarious activities of this Executive Branch. Trump never adhered to the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution. That enables him to practice all the conflicts of interest he desires to steer taxpayer monies into his pocket.
In the face of all that, he has forfeited American global leadership, with ill-considered moves such as withdrawal from the climate accord and Trans-Pacific Partnership. While many applaud that, it is because they are profiting from the decisions, ignorant, or confoundingly apologetic.
Such suspect moves are my motivation for writing these words. Succinctly, “who supports this cretin?”
Hillary Clinton’s most significant campaign blunder was to refer to Trump’s supporters as “a basket of deplorables.” She was right, but to make that public statement only served to fire up the very people who were among her most strident critics. They hated her and worked overtime to convince their friends she was evil.
So, who are the deplorables? I have given this a ton of thought, and here is where I land.
1) The 1%. The wealth concentration in this country is shameful. Most of this centers on corporations and the people who run them. They love other Trump moves like blanket deregulation, tax cuts, and stacking the judicial system with biased judges — unqualified or otherwise. Capitalism suffers from this abuse. For those benefiting from the multi-million and even billion-dollar siphoning of the country’s wealth into fewer hands, it is excellent stuff. When criticized, they shout, “socialism!” The truth is they are wrecking American capitalism.
2) The posers. Human nature dictates that people want to be important or make you think they are. Many such people are in my social circle. They advocate for deregulation and tax cuts because they want you to believe they are a big deal — or have deluded themselves. In the big picture, they are getting screwed like most of the population, especially considering the burden of debt their grown children carry.
3) Evangelicals. The mega-churches are enriched by favorable tax cuts and overlap with the 1%. Gullible congregations embrace them with religious fervor over wedge issues like abortion.
4) Life-long ossified political bias. These people will find any excuse to vote Republican no matter how vile the candidate. Many know that Trump is corrupt and undignified. They can’t defend the president, so they turn the discussion to socialism or what President Obama and Hillary’s failures were. The other tactic is to assert that both sides are “bad.” The objective is to normalize Trump as if anyone could believe that. It’s pathetic.
5) Culture warriors. This is the polite talk for racism. David Duke is in their flock of dirty birds. They wave the Confederate battle flag and bear automatic weapons. They speak of a coming Civil War. As America’s deterioration continues, what is more likely is domestic terrorism. White nationalist militias already connect on the dark Web to converge on places like Charlottesville. They bring havoc and even death. I want to ask my Republican friends, “are you okay teaming with people like this to vote Trump into office?” Trump and his Republican tribe cast dog whistles to this crowd to keep them on board. They are useful idiots for their plans.
A connecting thread through all these deplorables is the prime-time lineup at Fox News. People like Sean Hannity, who personally rakes in tens of millions of dollars a year. He plays narrative millions of deplorables want to hear. Agnostic advertisers flock to an opportunity to expose their brand to such a massive audience. What Hannity and the other prime time mercenaries really believe is hard to know. What we do know is they have a vast audience of dupes to justify their compensation.
While the chaos president spins his webs, the future of the world hangs in the balance. No one is effectively addressing the destruction of our capitalist system. The environmental annihilation continues and will do so at least until annual disasters of fires and storms become too expensive to ignore. School shootings will continue unabated. Our leadership standing in the global economy is forfeited, giving a big opening to China and Russia. The progress people of color, women, and the LBGTQ community have made in recent years is in jeopardy. Pandemic will teach us nothing because retention of power is all Trump and his sycophants think about.
Enabled by a shockingly corrupt Congress, the only check we have on the cretin-in-chief is to vote him out in November. Let us pray the will of the electorate can prevail in the face of corruption that will wage unparalleled disinformation assisted by our greatest adversaries on the world stage. We are sinking into Fascism.
Vote.
