I predict a coalition will rise up to wipe away the stench of Trump. Trump is the last stinking fart of a dying white supremacist oligarchy supported by a diminishing underclass and a white evangelical mob of self-pitying deluded fundamentalist know-nothing reactionaries. He — and they — are not our future. Take hope.
Young voters will save us. Ask anyone in the UK. Ask the French. Ask the Dutch. The far right in Europe is being put in its place. Here in America in 2018 we will send the Republican sycophants and their “leader” a message: The future belongs to enlightened humanists, not to you!
In Sheryll Cashin’s new book, Loving: Interracial Intimacy and the Threat to White Supremacy she makes the point that Trump has accelerated political engagement by Latinos, Muslim Americans, young people and other groups deeply offended by his lying and scapegoating. For seventeen months, as a candidate Trump, “stoked racial resentment and many other forms of bias, and the strategy was shockingly effective. Add to this the unrelenting stream of heartbreaking videos of unarmed black people killed by police and of protests and counterprotests in myriad cities, and the country had a convulsive conversation about race.”
Just how has-been are Trump’s supporters?
No matter how appalling, racist, misogynist, anti-Muslim, xenophobic, homophobic Trump’s rhetoric, roughly 46 percent of American voters – including a stunning 82 percent of brain dead white evangelicals who believe in a literal 6-day creation, Noah’s Ark and the virgin birth but not in the science of climate change — supported Trump. They voted for and still love and trust a man who disdains paying taxes, brags about his criminal sexual assaults, and has a documented history of gross financial dishonesty, organized crime-ties, Russia-ties, Putin-ties, is known for exploiting workers and conning would-be Trump-U students not to mention banks and investors. Yet for many of his white supporters, these negatives are overlooked, denied, or even proclaimed as assets (!) all because Trump signaled that he’s with them as a white racist and against “them” in other words, against truthful, informed people everywhere.
Trump rode a torrent of white working class and deranged religious fragility (what I call victimhood) to victory. And the evangelicals are victimhood specialists. I know. I used to be one pleading our special cause in the national media and complaining we were not treated “fairly” by liberals and secualr humanists.
But… hope springs eternal.
As Britain took stock of the stunning results of a snap election that wiped out the parliamentary majority of Prime Minister Theresa May and her governing Conservative Party, one fact was clear: The youth had — at last– spoken! They had sat out the “Brexit” vote. Not this time.
The election results were fueled by a higher turnout rate among young British voters who had been angry at the results of the referendum last year to leave the European Union. And Jeremy Corbyn’s liberal “unelectable” Labour Party gained 31 seats, while May’s party lost 12 seats and its overall majority — leaving a hung Parliament.
In Holland the same thing happened. The center held and the far right was resoundingly repudiated. In France an entire new political party and its refreshingly moderate leader — who is pro-EU, pro-immigration, pro-humanism, is governing.
In the mind of many UK voters May had gotten too close to Trump.
May represented too much of the white business oligarchy. The UK looked at Trump and said “NOT HERE!”
So Trump may have done us a favor.
He’s the canary in the mine (rather the fart in the elevator) and everything around him and about him is sounding a warning to the planet: Whatever THIS STENCH IS we do NOT want it!
As reported in the New York Times, “Many young Britons felt compelled to vote after the Brexit decision, because of austerity budgets and what they saw as the establishment’s tendency to serve the interests of the rich. This year saw a spike in young people registering to vote — more than one million people under 25 applied.”
On the day in May the election was called, 57,987 people under 25 registered to vote — more than any other age group, according to the BBC. About 246,480 young people registered to vote on the last day in May that they were eligible, a significant increase from the 137,400 who did so on the cutoff date in 2015, The Telegraph reported.”
It isn’t only young voters who will open the windows (as it were) on the Trump stench and save us.
The Pew Research Center has documented the fact that the Hispanic electorate will double by 2030. Many Hispanics are young citizens who are waking up to their potential at the ballot box.
Hispanic millennials constitute a whopping 44 percent of eligible Latino voters.
From 2012 to 2016, Hispanics increased their share of the electorate from 10 to 11 percent. Asian Americans increased from 3 to 4 percent of the electorate in the same period. Meanwhile, whites declined from 77 percent of the electorate in 2004 to 70 percent in 2016.
Soon, Hispanics and Asian Americans combined will cast as much as a quarter of all votes in presidential elections. White supremacy will not be on their agenda, and equality and fairness will.
Trump has accelerated the ascendant coalition of the young voters, and minorities who are fast on the way to majority status. They are going to be rewriting the ground rules to unleash American democracy.
What Cashin calls “ardent integrators” are on the way. She writes: [I]n communities that integrators gravitate to, there is the possibility of a refreshing redo on race—not imaginary color blindness, but seeing difference and smiling at it. In small utopias that are very intentional about inclusion and valuing difference, strangers may see a dark-skinned black boy as adorable, beautiful, and full of potential, the same way his parents see him. That view, unfortunately, is a radical concept, but one that prevails today at my kids’ thoroughly multiracial public charter school. With ardent integration and activism, such an ethos can spread.”
Post-Trump the United States has a chance to show the world what pluralism means.
The real challenge facing us isn’t political, it is spiritual. Trump is a soul-destroying nightmare but we will—with the help of young, brown, female and black voters—soon change that.
2018 is on the way. Let’s air out our democracy and deodorize the fart called Trump. We can and will send the Republican Party back to the stone age where hate-filled white evangelical certainty addicts belong. We will reclaim our future.
15 Comments. Leave new
Although your choice of words are a bit harsh, I concur with your perspective. We need to rid ourselves of this cancer called trump along with the greedy Republican congrssionals. They’ve had nothing of value for the American citizens. Thanks for all that you do. Hope that the trump supporters will soon recognize who the real evil is.
I for one, enjoy his choice of words. It helps to assuage my own frustration and disgust of this man and his minions. Right on Frank! You offer hope.
Don’t forget to blame the DNC for this. We could have had Bernie, but the DNC INSISTED on pushing that evil woman on us.
Not going to happen that away Frankie …..sorry . The U.S. will go to the brink of a civil war between the Right and the Left . But before we get to the shootings in the street ,the wealthy people plus other countries will pull their money out of the banking system . That will leave a lot of city kids and young enlighten young people eating worthless green dollars bills . It will be just like Germany 1931,he who controls the gold and silver will make the rules and put thugs on the street to make sure you vote the correct way .
Though not entirely implausible … that not a likely scenario .
Yes, I too believe the times required a Trump to show us that even here in the United States, our worst nightmares can become reality. When–not if–we get back on course, we can rejoice that the tough lesson is over!
When it comes to Herr Drumpf and his sycophant followers I’ve finally come to the realization that ;
1 ) As wisdom tells us evil always finds its own end . And in Trump’s case his end will be brought about much sooner than later by his greed , ego , pathological lying and psychopathic lack of filters .
2) As for his delusional sycophants .. cruel as this may be to say .. they’ll pay the price for electing Trump [ and in fact already are ] far more than all of us combined once its all said and done . And sadly … they’ll deserve every bit of it . Though the likes of myself will be on the ready to pick up what pieces remain .,, despite them not deserving it
3) As far as those who voted albeit not necessarily supported Trump due to the [ R ] by his name … slowly but surely we’re already witnessing their PDVS [ post decision validation syndrome ] waning by the minute with each and every tweet and decision Trump makes
4) The real question being ; What becomes of the spineless RNC addled minions such as Ryan as well as the Evangelical Right as Trump rapidly descends into the abyss of his own making taking our standing on the world stage that will take years to mitigate with him ?do they wake up and smell the fertilizer they’ve buried themselves into ? Do they hold fast to their delusions and false hopes ? For that I have no answer/prediction . Though I’ll guess it’ll all turn out pretty ugly .
In other words … paraphrasing the words of Sun Tzu ( ” The Art of War “) Sometimes it is best rather than to confront … to sit by the side of the river awaiting the bodies of your enemies floating down stream .
My greatest fear at the moment is the potential violence than may erupt once Trump does bury himself
But .. in the mean time .. Resist … and remain Defiant .. just in case .. cause we’re still here …and there’s many more of us then there are of them
I love the graphic a the top….Is it a Banksy? Love the stinking fart analogy. Tell it like it is, in all its uglitude!
Hi thanks, yes a Banksy! F
Trump is an accomplished demagogue as we have seen. Ryan, McConnell, RNC crave those sweet sweet tax cuts for the rich fueled by cutting off medical care for the poor and think they’ll get it before trump craters, like the Weimar rich funding heer Schicklegruber. Wonder how that worked out. The silent treason of the GOP shows how deep the corruption goes here. This will test how robust our semi-democracy is.
Thanks for a hopeful post.
So when the Left wipes out the stench of Trump and regains control, will everything be allright then?
Your essay is powerfully truthful as the white hierarchy of old dies a slow death to be replaced by the humanism of interracially mixed young Millennials who are awakened to the horrors of the current US political administration.
Americans who spent the past eight years experiencing President Barack Obama’s educated, intelligent words and messages of togetherness not only for American Citizens but people around the world will be the benchmark for politics into our future.
Yes, Mr. Scheafer you are correct as America needed the wake-up call to experience and understand that evils lurk within the supporters and followers of the 45th President, the GOP and the horrible evangelicals who traded their beliefs out of fear.
If Trump gets removed/ impeached would we be in a better place? I think Pence has the same agenda/ goals as Trump, he may be much more effective at accomplishing these goals.
its sad God’s name has been used by the likes of alt-right to defame him to the point of feeding skepticism ( even hate of God) in others. The alt right don’t speak for God. The Pharisees didn’t speak for God either. They misrepresented God by their hypocrisy and lying and Jesus rebuked them sharply . Do not allow the alt-right crowd mislead you into disbelief. All of us are fallen but remember Jesus said it was better for the prostitutes and tax collectors than the self righteous Pharisees. The left stands for the former , the right for the latter. Let me say it again. Despite all their religious display, the right doesn’t speak for God.
Thank you for your courage to speak the truth.