Trump Racism Is Bad For America-Part II

TRUMP RACISM IS BAD FOR AMERICA-PART ll

The Dark Jester

By T.K. McNeil

Trump Racism is Bad for America. I ended Part I of Trump Racism Is Bad For America by wondering aloud if we were about to return to the dark days of death squads, concentration camps, and gas ovens. Trump racism is obvious for anyone with eyes, ears, or a Twitter account. We are rocked out of our beds daily by angry and racially inflammatory 6 a.m. Tweets. Trump uses a practiced, coded language of dog whistles and red meat taunts that he pitches regularity to his MAGA hatted support base. The intent, an obviously planned effort to keep them agitated and ready for action. If nothing else, Trump’s base seems willfully ignorant and obsessed by fear. If Trump senses any ebbing in support he orders an extra rally, or maybe two; re-news attacks on the press; berates his pathetic Attorney General; but most notably, he intensifies attacks against immigrants, NFL players, and women. That’s how Trump racism works.

Trump racism dressed as law and order. Have people forgotten Trump opened his campaign with an unprecedented tirade against Mexican “criminal, drug mules and rapists?” Trump has revived nativist themes that have not been heard aloud since George H.W. Bush. In 1988 HW supporters used the image of a black killer/rapist Willie Horton to effectively sabotage his opponent Michael Dukakis. Until now, that ad campaign was considered a true low point in political racist tactics.

Jump to today. In a similar tact Trump is replacing the face of black man Willie Horton with the brown face of illegal immigrant, and convicted cop killer, Luis Bracamontes. Hammering the anti-immigrant theme Trump claims that Democrats will open the country to criminals. Trump’s vitriol is toxic, but Trump is convinced that it was just such rhetoric that secured him the presidency. Instinctively, he keeps pushing the limits of what passes for barely acceptable political discourse toward an ever-darkening place.

More evidence of Trump racism keeps emerging.  Michael Cohen, Trump’s former personal attorney for over a decade opens up about Trump racism. On Friday 11-2-2018 Vanity Fair published a damning portrait of the president. According to Cohen, Trump made frequent racist comments, most particularly against blacks. Cohen claimed that Trump frequently used the N word and other demeaning statements made about black people, their intellect, their abilities, their communities and even their countries. Cohen confirmed to Vanity Fair writer Emily Jane Fox that language reported by Omarosa Manigault Newman in her book, “Unhinged An Insider’s Account of the Trump White House” was typically Trump. So, Trump doesn’t limit his hate; he hates everybody that isn’t orange.

Keeping the fire hot.  Trump has never stopped his campaigning. He has never become president of all the people. He is president of a core base and his goal is to keep them frightened and angry. He wants them fired up ready to attack whenever and wherever he points his accusatory finger. Trump racism is emerging more clearly as time progresses. Trump’s inflammatory language, reckless “otherism” and dehumanizing xenophobic attacks are clearly designed to divide the country.

Fear and Loathing is part of the performance.  It’s no surprise that we as a country have a scrubbed and shiny public face and a secret horrific Dorian Grey face.  That hidden-self, locked in the basement of our national identity is trying to come out of its imprisonment. All the while Trump, our Mad Hatter conductor, has had us on a head spinning ride of public debauchery, corruption and criminality. Trump careens from truth to delusion, to conspiracy theory, and back to racism all in blink of an eye.

Social Fears Are At The Root Of Trump’s Methodology.  That said, we all know that there is a portion of the American psyche that hates and fears immigration, that hates and fears the blacks, that hates and fears Jews, that hates and fears POC, that hates and fears the changing demographics of America, that hates and fears tomorrow, that hates and fears the unknown. Those societal fears are what Trump racism feeds on.

The foes of inclusiveness. The ability to whip the mentally susceptible and the White Supremacist extremist fringe into a frenzy of violence is easy to imagine. The increased racial and ethnic violence will become a growing problem as he continues to demonize the “others” in our society. This man has the biggest bully pulpit in the country and he is using it to inflame the worst elements of our society. He is using his position to promote fear and racial tensions as he divides the country with his Trump racist white supremacist agenda.

Ethnic and racial murder on the rise. The pipe bomb mailings, the synagogue massacre, the Kroger killings, the Portland light rail murders, the Heather Hyer murder are all separate crimes in separate geographical areas but with the same theme of racial and ethnic hatred.  There can be no doubt that Trump is pouring kerosene on the already raging flames of xenophobia and anti-immigrant sentiment that fueled his political rise. Violence is easy to stoke but the ability to tone it down is not likely to be found in Donald Trump. This should be of concern for all of us. Stability is what makes our great American life possible, and Trump with his firebrand demagoguery could potentially destroy that essential of our life.

The noise is so loud.  Since Trump’s election; historians, political scientists and psychologists have frantically been sounding alarm bells. How is it possible that after decades of progress the United States in the early part of the 21^st century would become the epicenter of a growing firestorm of racial, ethnic and religious hate activity? It is important to remember that Hitler didn’t load the cattle cars and he didn’t personally switch on the ovens. He had his core of radicalized supporters to do that for him.

12,000 year old trinket. Twelve thousand years ago in a small Neolithic community in the Ukraine an early human carved a small ivory swastika and left it to be found by a modern team of archeologists. The swastika symbol has been found in archeological sites across the world from that cold Ukrainian dig to Celtic burial sites in Great Britain.

Pawns of a maniac. In a remarkable 15 year time span a geometrical figure representing  divinity and spirituality morphed into the symbol of the most murdering racist regime of the 20th century. A regime that was directly responsible for the murder of millions of human beings because they were religiously “different” than the majority. The six million dead; nothing more than pawns in a world shaped by racism and barbarism. A world where a demagogue manufactured an enemy through fiery hate-filled rhetoric.

Taking action.  A charismatic leader can point with raging illogical rants against racial, ethnic and religious targets making them the “enemies of the people.” Simply put the demagogue (Hitler in this case) convinced his followers that “his” enemies were “their” enemies. Sadly, Donald Trump incites similar reactions from his supporters. Wanting to help him, these angry, fearful, and malleable people begin to search for ways they can take action. Some will act as individuals, while others will join “militia groups.” Before long the supporters will turn the fiery hateful speech into hateful action. Getting people to hate “others” is all part of the Trump racism model.

Trump racism is becoming more and more obvious.   “I love my country, if that makes me a Nationalist, so be it.” So, Donald Trump is a “Nationalist”. He’s actually came out and said so. In fact, he felt so confident in his newly identified status that he has made the assertion multiple times over the last two weeks. Such honest pride. This recent admission from the top Trump comes as little surprise to most of us who identified his racism many years ago.

It’s all in the definition.  A closer inspection of the term “Nationalist” will reveal an insane rabbit hole of illogic so deep it is difficult to know where to begin. I suppose the best place is the actual definition of the term “Nationalist.” At its etymological core and according to the first definition in the dictionary, “Nationalist” refers to a person or group campaigning for the political sovereignty of their people or area, in other words, to become a nation”

Seeking nation status.  Modern day examples from today’s headlines; The Basques are seeking to separate from Spain. The French “Nationalists” of Quebec are seeking to separate from Canada. Scotland seeks recognition as a separate nation. At the core of these nationalist movements is that native instinct to separate “us” from “them.” At some point the secessionists have felt “separated” somehow different from the larger community and finally that “difference” has created a sense of “minority” for them within the whole. With “minority” status comes discrimination real and perceived.

Rewind.  To get back to Trump and his insanely ridiculous “I’m a Nationalist” statement. The President of the United States of America calling himself a “Nationalist” clearly makes no logical sense. The U.S.A. is already a Republic. The “most free” form of all modern government systems. It really is government by the people of the nation. Our democracy is even more “free”, in a functional sense, than Constitutional Monarchies such as Britain, Canada, The Netherlands, Australia and Sweden.

Is the past such a good thing?  Trump says “Nationalist” is an old-fashioned term. As illiterate as he seems to be I doubt if he understands how right he is. In practical, geo-political terms, the last American President who could truly be considered a “Nationalist”, in the original sense, was George Washington.

Heart thumping pride.  In current parlance, the descriptor “Nationalist” has become associated with extreme nationalism based on ethnicity and an overblown pride in one’s “pure white” nation. This is, however, a bit of a new twist on an old concept.

Symbolism. To me the symbol of Trumpism is that red MAGA hat. Will history books declare that the red baseball cap has become so vilified that humanity refuses to ever wear them again? Could Trump legacy be that toxic? Will that toxicity infect this country like it did Nazi Germany? Or will we as a people be able to turn the tide; making Trump and Trump racism nothing more than a historical footnote? Time will give us our answer, but the potential that Trump racism will expand into an extreme phenomenon where millions are murdered or imprisoned in concentration camps remains a possibility.

Protests and resistance.  I can hear the audible gasps and protests. I say, better to think it a possibility than to refuse to face the possibility. Trump’s racism has already led to the separation of children from their parents at the Mexican border. He is now promising the establishment of  “permanent camps” on our southern border. He has stated flatly soldiers will have his permission to shoot asylum seekers that might potentially hurl rocks at the soldiers. I’m just going to let that percolate amidst your neuron receptors for a couple of minutes.

History must be studied.  There is this tendency to fall in love with the past and wish for life as it once was. For those of you who are not old enough to have reached that stage of your life let me assure you, beware, nostalgia is a load of crap. If in 40 years time there are Americans wishing for the good old days when Donald Trump was in power, let me warn you, you are in a world of trouble. Chances are, there will no longer be a United States if people are longing for a president who resembles Fat Bastard more than he does the leader of the free world.

The emergence of Barack Obama:  When Barack Obama came into office there was a hope from many sides, particularly moderates that there would finally be that emergence of a color blind America. Unfortunately there was an angry element of the population that was not ready or willing to accept such an outrage. My God in Heaven, there is a black family living in the ‘nation’s house.’ “We” must “do something.” A backlash of white vs all those “uppity” POC quickly coalesced on the alt-right. It quickly became their central purpose to undermine and dismember a hoped for mending of our national division.

Dehumanizing the target is goal one. “Birtherism” bubbled up through the conspiracy theorists. The theory postulated that 50 or so years ago, an all-knowing “group”of Democrats probably funded by George Soros met to bestow false citizenship on a mixed race kid in Kenya who would eventually be smuggled into Hawaii and who would go on to become president of the United States.  Such crazy over the top nonsense was fully embraced and pushed with ceaseless passion for more than 8 years by Donald J. Trump. The endless campaign driven by Trump and other alt-righters had the desired results of casting doubt on President Obama’s legitimacy to rule the country. Effectively undermining our first black president was accomplished. Sadly, a repeated lie often becomes a malignancy on the perceived character of the target.

Other factors.  Despite the constant attack from the right Barack Obama left office as one of the most popular presidents in American history. A fact that enrages President Trump. The fact that the first black man elected president of the United States was to be followed in succession by the most openly racist president in American history is sad and deeply troubling.

Plenty of blame.  The 2016 election became a disaster of Godzilla proportions. It would have taken a series of monumental political catastrophes to elect Trump. Unfortunately for the United States that’s exactly what happened. Russian interference, Wikileaks email drops, walking pneumonia, Weiner porn texts, a rogue FBI Director, the first woman candidate of a major American political party, a reality TV has-been all converged together to make the 2016 campaign and election results as  extraordinary and  unprecedented.

Political infighting.  In the final analysis, I blame the Democrats for Trump’s election. The DNC decided to rig their primary process long before the Russians or Comey got involved. The party bypassed a forward thinking man like Bernie Sanders who connected with the future voters of America for a political wife, turned candidate who was vilified by half the country. Bill and Hillary called in a lot of IOU’s to make this outrage happen. HRC was a flawed candidate from the start. As a result of the DNC betrayal, we as a nation have been burdened with Agent Orange and his team of rich and corrupt bullies. The election of Trump has led to a rapidly accelerating  radicalization of American politics

Moving where? Today we are moving backwards on more levels than there is room to cover in this space. Trump has been on a steroid driven attack on the legacy of his predecessor. I see this as vindictive but also as racially motivated. As Trump has gone to great lengths to undo the forward progressive thinking of the Obama administration what has been the positive result?  In all areas of policy from abortion, to gay rights, to environmental protections, to civil rights protections are being rolled back. Do you think the LGBTQ community embraces Trump? Women? Minorities? The poor? The sick? The Non-Evangelicals? I don’t think I need to give the answer, because it is an obvious and resounding, no.

Lots of show and theatrical ballyhoo. Despite what he wants us to believe, Donald Trump connects with about 35% of our populace. Yet, if we are not careful, he will rule this nation for another six years. Using the power of the Executive Order Trump plans to sweep away protections for many more citizens.

Executive Orders. Trump & choir are ramping up the rhetoric to eliminate the 14th Amendment. He claims he can Executive Order it right out of existence. The question then becomes, if the Supreme Court supports his power to eliminate amendments does that mean he can begin writing new constitutional amendments? Sounds crazy but that’s how dictatorships are born. It’s time to wake up America you are watching the actions of a classic racist demagogue.

Otherizing” the opposition. Believe it or not, the future is now.  Two choices. First, there is Trump racism, hate speech, fear mongering, race baiting, scapegoating message. Second, there is a message of sane, inclusive government dedicated to due process, and justice for all.  Moreover, not everyday has to be about Trump, I keep screaming. The man’s constant, in-my-face presence, is irritating at a level I find difficult to describe. My mind is crying out for a day without Trump headlining some new abuse or absurdity. But then I realize Trump needs to make every news day about him. He is the “Avenger” and the “Protector” of his followers. He must control the news cycle to maintain that connection between him as cult leader and his disciples.

Violence, harassment, insults, name calling. I am concerned about the increasing presence of white supremacist gangs on the streets of America. Since Trump’s inauguaration  hate crimes have escalated. Statistics are showing 20-50% depending on the source. Attacks have actually occurred where an offender “mistook” a native American Indian for a Muslim.

Ominous possibilities. The FBI is investigating the activities of Canadian hate monger Gavin McInnes and his chauvinist mob of instigators, the Proud Boys. These guys intimidate, harass, and attack Americans. They make my skin crawl. Is this the classic foreshadowing of widening and growing white nationalist movement, where darkness and race war is the defaulted result?

A dark future or a revitalized inclusiveness? It is wholly possible that just as with Obama there will be a meaningful enough reaction from the opposition that will pull sharply to the Left which would theoretically pull Trump back toward center. At this point in time, after nearly two years of escalating racial agitation we are facing the midterm elections. For Donald Trump the 2018 election cycle may be the “Jesus moment.” Or, more likely a psychotic moment.

As the political landscape shifts.  I have no doubt he will continue to lie, distract, and bully as he always does. Consequently, I don’t expect a contrite and restrained Trump if the GOP loses the 2018 mid-terms. If  the progressive voting block of the this country can defeat the Republican machine and the Trump enablers are removed from Congress then we may see a pull back by the president on his message of hate. But, I doubt it. In fact, I think that will be unlikely, rather I predict a last-ditch “blitzkrieg” against the institutions of this country possibly igniting the long desired confrontation of whites against all the “others.”

Elections matter and the 2018 election may matter more than most.  If Republicans continue their control of Congress an emboldened and validated Trump will turn up the heat even more. I believe Trump will seize the moment and proceed to knock down every civil and judicial protection for particular groups, such as transgender citizens, at an unprecedented pace.

Many drops of water: If today’s youth come to believe that they are just one of the drops of water that make up the bucket of American culture and accept that there is nothing they can do to bring about real change, then the bad guys will have won. The Donald Trumps of the world will have won.

Make a difference.  If citizens join in the process and vote, then the direction of the country will be decided by many, many drops of water. Every vote counts as a drop, more votes becoming a trickle, until there is a torrent. Change is in your hands.

Calamity Politics keeps talking. We at Calamity Politics believe every citizen should register and vote. Exercising your Constitutional right to cast a ballot, is an honor and a responsibility. Many are saying it, so I don’t mind adding my voice to the din; this is the most important election of our lifetime. The election results will determine whether Trump racism and white supremacy extremists are given permission to continue full speed ahead, or the electorate sends a signal to pull the brake, and stop this runaway train.

***Before I sign off, I want to give special thanks to Darlene Mitchell and James Moore for their assistance in the writing of this article. I’ll be back after the midterms to give you my take on the results. T.K. McNeil, The Dark Jester