Why Trump trumps

 

   So what gives? 

   It is easy to be perplexed, vexed, about why Donald Trump is still popular.  After he was convicted of one crime and found liable in another, after being charged in inspiring the January 6 insurrection, taking classified documents and trying to overturn the 2020 election, after all the havoc he caused during his four years in office, not to mention during previous years, it is easy to throw up one’s hands when seeing that he is out-polling his likely GOP rivals and, most chillingly, President Biden. 

   All too easy. 

   Those who don’t get why Trump still has a large (although not as large) and rabid following and may well, as frightening as it sounds, be president again, are missing, or are perhaps trying to miss, a very simple point.  Trump is so popular for a very simple reason: he says not only that things shouldn’t change the way they are changing but that things should go back to the way they were years ago when things were…simple. 

   Trump, despite being much more wealthy and privileged, speaks for the many people who are uncomfortable with the way American society has been changing. He may live in another, gilded world, but he speaks for all those who don’t like it that white people are not in the majority with all the rights and power, that people who have sex with those of the same sex and who change and mix genders are more and more seen and heard, that women have the same rights and positions as men and are not just there to put on dinner and to have sex and fool around with at one’s whim.

   For those who follow Trump, back before all these changes was when America was “great” – as in Make America Great Again. 

   Many of Trump’s Republicans rivals may be saying the same things, but Trump says them with the same anger and grievance, the same passion and outrage, the same how dare this is happening, if not desperation, that his followers feel.  Many of them have said that they like how Trump just says things, “says it like it is.” They like how Trump speaks his mind – their mind. 

   Years ago, a wise, gay, Quaker friend told me that there will more and more progressive changes in America (gay marriage will be legal, etc.) but there will be people who will fight like Hell to keep this from happening.  With Trump’s and his still-many followers, we are now seeing this fight.

The writing on the pick-up truck

   One day when I was out last week, I saw someone drive by in a small, white pick-up truck, the kind made by Chevy and Toyota. On the side of the truck, in big, red, block lettering, was written, “DEMOCRATS ARE DESTROYING AMERICA.”

   Really?  Wow! 

   After this initial reaction, I had two thoughts:

1. 1. This person made a real commitment and probably paid a fair amount in having this statement painted on their automobile and, thus, no doubt has a considerable amount of anger and fear. 

2.  2. How can this person and others like them be made to see that they don’t have to be so afraid and angry?  How can those who believe otherwise, who are perhaps Democrats, reach out to and engage with him? 

   I have seen plenty of pro-Trump bumper stickers and flags and also t-shirts that say things like, “Biden owes me $$$.” But this was different. 

   As I said, having such a statement painted on one’s vehicle is quite a commitment and probably a costly one.  It’s quite a statement, as my dad would say.  That’s not all, though. 

   It’s one thing to denounce a policy, to say that somebody is wrong about something.  It’s one thing to say that an idea is bad and even to say, for example, that a president owes me money for the expenses incurred by his programs.  These are things that can be discussed, that can be debated.  Perhaps a few minds are changed or at least a compromise can be reached. 

   But it’s another thing entirely to say that a group of people, those who you don’t agree with, are destroying society, are destroying the country.  This is saying that these people are evil, that there’s nothing good, nothing redeemable, about them, that there’s no point in even trying to debate or persuade them. This is saying that, because they are destroying us, the country, these people should be - or have to be - destroyed. 

   What I saw the other day was very dangerous and very scary.  “DEMOCRATS ARE DESTROYING AMERICA.” As we used to say, them’s fighting words.  Clearly. 

   Yes, clearly.  With all the guns available and all the mass shootings we have seen, and with what we saw in the January 6 insurrection, where people ended up getting hurt and killed, not to mention our democracy imperiled, it isn’t too far-fetched that people might see this as a call to arms – and whatever that leads to.