America's Cultural Civil War
"Like bookends, both candidates presented themselves as the last defense against gathering forces that would transform America and subjugate their supporters’ values. It only underscored the gulf that Clinton spoke at a Manhattan fundraiser of gay activists who were serenaded by Barbra Streisand, while Trump issued his warning in an interview with Pat Robertson’s Christian Broadcast Network at a conference of religious conservatives.
Few moments have captured as clearly 2016’s evolution into a cultural civil war. Trump is rallying passionate support from the voters most estranged from the social and demographic trends reshaping America, particularly blue-collar, older, non-urban, and evangelical whites. But the brusque, racially barbed nationalism he has used to court those voters has provoked unprecedented resistance from all the forces that welcome (or even accept) this new America. That includes not only most minorities, young people, and cultural figures like Streisand who ordinarily tilt Democratic, but also much of white-collar white America and the business establishment, which ordinarily lean Republican.
On almost every front, the campaign now offers a stark contrast between the turbulent passion of Trump’s backers and the steely rejection of Trump by almost all institutions of elite leadership, across party lines.
He’s inspiring rapturous support from populist conservative media outlets (like Breitbart.com), and condemnation from even staunchly Republican newspaper editorial boards (like the Dallas Morning News). After much delay, Trump is now steadily raising dollars from small online donors drawn to his bristling message. But most of the GOP fundraising infrastructure has renounced him—even as Clinton has attracted huge financial support not only from traditionally Democratic donors but also some Republican-leaning ones. A detailed Wall Street Journal analysis last week found her drawing nearly 90 percent of the donations made by employees of major industries like finance and health care that four years ago directed most of their contributions to Mitt Romney. The top 10 firms whose employees are donating the most to Trump included a “five-acre hog farm,” a garlic producer, and an Anchorage-based “clothing and home-furnishings retailer.”
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/09/americas-cultural-civil-war/500087/
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Teenage future Trump supporters. Their 50th anniversary is coming up at a local Trump rally. Make America Great Again means to them the right to pour sugar on minorities. A scene from the future movie “The Deplorables”.
