How can we ever be a whole nation again after Trump?

[jcmaine72]

This administration has really brought to the fore all the ugliness that was simmering just below the surface of our society since the civil rights movement but had, for the most part, been kept in check somehow. Now, the mask is off, and white supremacists and RW hatemongers of every stripe feel free to unabashedly flaunt their foul wares.

How can this ever be a civil and whole society again knowing, now beyond any question, that approximately 40% or so our population openly supports an irredeemably hateful and racist doctrine of white nationalism and supremacy? I don't want to share a nation with such ugly people, even if they are a rapidly diminishing percentage of the population. If they were only 10% if the population they would still constitute a genuine threat to the safety of racial minorities, women and LGBTQ people.

Again, how can we be whole again as a nation knowing what we know about these people?

[BigmanPigman]

1. Half of it has been the result of Russia

dividing us through social media. Richard Engel was on Bill Maher last night and he explained how Putin is doing this to us by spreading a single racial argument of some white person calling the ICE officials when ever they see a taco truck all over the internet. Putin's army is cyber attacking us. The Racist Rapist is allowing him to do this. Once he is history and we have a real POTUS who tells Putin to fuck off and punishes him we will see less of this crap. It won't be easy resolving the hate issues but it will better than it is now given time to heal.

[TreasonousBastard]

2. Were we ever a "whole nation"? We were really getting better for a while there, but...

yes, this ugliness was just beneath the surface, and now it is surfacing.

But, we don't have the "No Irish" or "Whites only" signs any more. Lynch mobs are a thing of history. We have at least come that far, and a lot of what we are seeing is the lingering reaction from some of the bottom feeders to the election of a black President. Sure, we have a way to go, but the fight now is not should we become a caring and equal society, but how best to get there.

Trump has made it OK for the bottom fish to rise up and state their rage, but the fact remains that they are still a minority themselves and their rage has little sting any more. They are outliers now, not the mainstream, and the weakest and sickest of them all shoot up a school or synagogue because they can't be heard any more.

Humans are basically screwed up enough so that there will always be a number of jerks down there at the bottom who don't get the message, but we are now in a place where we can hope to keep that number very small.

I do believe that once we get past Trump, we will be back on the proper path.

[OnDoutside]

3. I'm not sure you will be back on the proper path so quickly, it would

Really require a blockbuster win by Democrats in 2020. That's not beyond the bounds of possibility but the problem is that Republicans will be so dirty in their attempts to mitigate potential loss. The one positive of Trump's victory is that it's exposed the level of naked racism and immorality within the other side. How can that go away ? It can't because they're hypocrites, who will rationalize that it was Trump's fault, not theirs.

[onetexan]

4. that's correct, this nation has never been "whole" - the undercurrents of racism was always there

When Obama was elected that fueled the rage of the degenerates. This illegitimate POTUS pulled off the bandaid, allowing them to come out of the woodworks and spew their hate and violence.

That said, while he and the haters are trying to normalize their hate, i do believe they are in the minority, and the majority of Americans are peace-loving, kind and generous people who want a better society for ourselves and our kids.
I agree with you that one we get past this horrible man (and hopefully he and his ilk will be tried & locked up for their crimes), that the country will be back on the right path. Hopefully this will be the case, but the harm the GOP & this Idiot have inflicted may take generations to recover from.

[canetoad]

6. I believe Trump is a symptom

More than a cause. How was the way paved for an unprincipled, immoral, liar to assume the most powerful postion in the world?

The problem is far bigger than Trump himself; it's a combination of a system that gives him great power, a constitution that allows one man, Moscow Mitch, to roadblock Congress. I honestly think you have systemic problems that just cannot be fixed.

In the meanwhile, the best and brightest marketing brains and studying psychological techniques in advertising that will break down critical thinking, then shovelling the resultant pap directly into the gaping maws of, as you call them, 'the bottom fish'.

Trump isn't a blip in the USA's history; he's a terrifying example of what can happen if it's not fixed.

[Cosmocat]

12. I have said & posted that 1,000,000 times

He is a symptom, not the cause.

30 years of conservative head shrinking got us here. It was stage 2 cancer already when he came down the escalator.

Prognosis is bleak, at best 5% chance of making it.

[renate]

5. Maybe when Rupert Murdoch dies?

It’s easy to blame Trump—and I do—for the division between the reality-based community and Fox viewers. But if Fox changed gears and put truth before profit, the entire world would look significantly different.

I know that the wrong Murdoch son is next in line at Fox, but I do think Rupert Is unusually virulent and sociopathic. Maybe the next head of Fox News will have more self-respect.

[Aussie105]

7. Trump and Putin have been great team players

in bringing the worst of US society into the limelight.

They need to be neutered, and they will be.

Then the underlying ills of US society need to be addressed, the obsession with guns, the racism, the zero sum people (who think for them to gain, someone else must lose), the poor education system, the chaotic and profit oriented health system, the money that buys politicians, the propaganda media outlets, etc.

It can be done. But small steps. And in the right order. Let me check back in 50 years and see how you are going.

[duforsure]

8. I agree

Once the KGBOP are ousted , rounded up and sent to where they belong , to prison, we can start the process of cleaning up OUR government , and eliminating all corruption, and criminal activities from this putin/ traitor tot reign of terror we have now.

[JI7]

9. We were never really whole. We need to actually deal with the Bigotry in this country

Obama won by downplaying race. and when he did talk about race with the professor Gates incident he lost a certain amount of White Support that he never got back again.

Obama more seriously started to confront race issues in his 2nd term and you saw the reaction.

[Fyrefox]

10. Damage repair will take years

I doubt that I'll ever again regard my countrymen the same way knowing that a disturbing number of them saw their way clear to vote for Trump. We're simply not as far along as a society as I once thought we were.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

11. The bullies have to LOSE, that's how.

Germany became more sane after the Nazis were defeated.

[Cosmocat]

13. It took losing WW2

And having their country bombed halfway back to the stone ages, after they killed 6 million hews, miltarily overtook Europe, etc.

It will have to MUCH worse to wake this country up to the poison of conservatism.