Donald Trump is not the worst thing to happen to American politics. He’s the second worst thing to happen to American politics (which is still saying a lot if you think about American politics). It’s his supporters (the “Trumpettes”) that are the worst thing to happen to American politics. Now that Trump has continued to hang on in spite of himself (or, more soberingly, because of them), I’m now actually worried that he may just do the improbable. I still don’t believe the math adds up for the general election, but the larger point here is, if he does actually manage his improbable rise to the top, it will be the biggest stain on the experiment of American democracy in 250 years. And our country is only 240 years old.
Superlatives no longer suffice to explain the incredulity that I feel about Trump’s rise, and I can only explain it by going back to my metaphor of the roaches (aka the “Deplorables”) from an earlier post. The xenophobia in this country of ours runs really, really deep, deep enough to actually give someone like Trump a national audience. But then, Rush Limbaugh has had a national audience for years, and so has Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity… Turns out, though, they’ve just been the hors d’ouevres.
Trump is this country’s id, which helps to put some things in perspective. But it doesn’t bode well for the culture wars ahead, because the Super Ego in this scenario–the tireless machine of political correctness–is what helped fuel the rise of Limbaugh, Beck, Hannity, and Trump in the first place. The pendulum swings from side to side in American politics, and sometimes it swings farther then normal. Think 50s (swing to one side) and then 60s (swing to the other). Well, it’s about time we had another one of our big swings, and from the looks of it, this election will be the tipping point. Trumpettes are now saying that they don’t trust the electoral process, which just gives them license to dig their heels in even deeper and draw lines in the sand and become more recalcitrant against authority when Hillary wins (which is still the likely scenario, as far I’m concerned).
The antics are just getting started. The Donald, narcissistic ranting buffoon that he is, hasn’t stooped as low as he can get (which, in itself, is fascinatingly disturbing). That we can have someone like him representing one of the two major political parties in this country is the most disturbing thing of all. Every time he opens his mouth, I’m reminded how far we’ve fallen in our level of public discourse, civic engagement, and polite debate. We no longer know how to debate–we now only know how to hate. And Trump, like Hitler before him, will just stoke that hate. And unfortunately for the world, at least half of the electorate is apparently willing to take the bait.
We have seen the enemy, and the enemy isn’t Donald Trump. The enemy is us.
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