DonCoquixote
DonCoquixote's JournalAbout not calling trump voters bigots
I heard a lot of people on here talk about how we must not think that all the current supporters and racists. Now I can understand where they're coming from, there are a lot of people in those three states that made the election that are economically desperate, that did not see much of the progress or for that matter any progress made. It is indeed hard when you have seen an entire infrastructure of your community literally hollow out and rot. Before I moved to Florida, I myself lived in what is called the Allentown/Bethlehem/Easton area, if you have ever heard the Billy Joel song "Allentown", that is the exact same area that was crucial in this election. It is also the same area that Hillary Clinton's father hails from.
Just like in that song, there are many people who remember jobs like Mack truck, Bethlehem Steel, any number of jobs that were heavy industry and paid reasonably well. These are jobs that got moved abroad, and sad to say while some Democrats did speak out against these moves, there were many that did not. However before you think I'm about to go ahead and excuse people for what was generally "deplorable" behavior, rest assured. For one thing, a lot of these union members were all too happy to play along with the "Southern strategy" that Richard Nixon employed. A lot of unions really did not like Latinos or other minorities that were moving into these areas. Unwittingly, they did not realize that when they closed union membership to these minorities they were in effect choking out their own future. No, many of these people were not racist, but but they didn't do is that they let the racist in their midst get the say. Now why they did that, some people may have felt that these new people were threatening their jobs. Some people many people and he probably had no personal hatred of minorities, but in America, we all use the general excuse, "we're just looking out for family." The problem is, when you look out for only your narrow group, that makes it that much easier for those who want to go ahead and make you powerless to defeat you.
The best example of all this: is been provided by know by the else but Trump himself. The person he hired to help fix our economy is the very man who saw the Bethlehem Steel twin Indian company. It has been a long time since I've lived in Pennsylvania, but if I was in the Democratic Party of their I would be wanting to put that on repeat and repeat and repeat over and over again. The the man that gutted Bethlehem Steel is the man Trump hired! That should be repeated like a mantra because if nothing else a lot of the same Trump voters that widest ticket to Hillary really would love to stick it to him because he is the man that personally got rid of all their jobs and got rich doing it!
Of course some things are not changed, no not every Trump boater is a racist. However they knew who Trump was, got made no effort to hide himself at all! No one can watch for rallies where black people and women were outright targeted and at any illusions about what that man was about. It would be one thing if this was some new fellow that came out of left field, some new kid, or some person who really did not make any sort of celebrity style impact, but Donald Trump has been known for almost 4 decades, and in all that time he has never tried to hide himself, or even hacked like he had to. Let's be perfectly honest, and BCP this man to be an aggressive bully. This man even made it to wrestlemania, where he played the same character which apparently has turned out not to be a character at all. He even hired one of the WWE executives to be the head of small business. So when I hear people say all they had no idea he was naked or they had no idea he would be so mean to the working class, they are either lying to themselves or lying to us, and frankly as much as we would like to think that bigotry is a matter of white sheets, burning crosses, and swastikas, the truth is bigotry does its damage when people know better just go along with it in the hopes that they benefit, this was no different in Germany, it was no different in the Soviet Union, and is not going to be different in America unless the people were willing to go along to get along are confronted!
No I am not saying that you go ahead and act like some bad "all in the family episode" where you yell at your Archie Bunker father-in-law. But what I am saying is that if you trying to be too tender, too polite, too accommodating, unfortunately those people either see you as dishonest, or weak. It does not help that everybody from even the supposedly liberal networks, to the preachers on Sunday, to the bigoted coworker was trying to encourage everybody because he thinks that people are finally agreeing with him, will will be doing their best to make sure you're not listened to. Yes the actual numbers of swastika wearing bigots are small, while they are growing. We cannot keep their heads buried in the sand when a bunch of people are willing to get on television and yell "heil Trump!" It used to be that a lot of the stuff that is shown on the Internet was stuff that happened in close doors, it is becoming mainstream. If you do not want your nice Trump voting on goal and Aunt to get caught up in that mass you will need to go ahead and be firm and clear but Trump is not what they want. Granted, Trump is already showing that he is not brilliant at hiding what he is, hiring the man that gutted Bethlehem Steel will not play the same way in Pennsylvania come 2020. However, while you don't want to be the cartoon character "liberal", you have to be willing to confront things as they are. And you have to be willing to say look if you go ahead and affiliate yourself with baguettes, with people who were violent, with people poor ignorant, you will be dragged down with them.
You might empathize with why an alcoholic relative drinks. But if you know that bottle is going to kill them, that most loving act you can do is to try to get them off the bottle. Failing that, if your relative behaves in such a way that they'll make it very clear that they will not learn until after it is too late ,the very least you have to make it clear that you are not going to go ahead and get in the car when they say "I am perfectly fine to drive." If you cannot get the keys away from them, that the very least make sure that you don't get in the back seat of the car, so that you will survive and you will be the one who can go ahead and help fix things after they crash. When I hear people say don't call these people bigots, I hear the tones of the person who is willing to get in the car with the drunk driver because they don't want to offend the realm, sorry to say the morgues are full of people who did not say what they need to say.
The only song that fits the Inaugruation (language alert!!)
Seriously foul but fitting language! You were warned!!
and for the MODERN VERSION circa 2016
Going forward
We can waste a lot of time trying to assign blame and play the "my friends were not responsible for this, you were!" game, but the only people that will please are the GOP. However, it is not attacking one hero or heroine to say "OK, what do we do next time." Whatever it is we do, we know that if we do not try to make a strategy based on whatever the world looks like in 2020, we will lose. Indeed, what we should be focused on are the mid terms. Yes, some things look bleak, but remember the USA has a tradition of punishing whatever team won the White House at the mid terms. It has happened to us, it had happened to Bush, it can happen again, but not if we spend the next 4, possibly 8 years, trying to divide this party. We already have the Jill Steins trying to do that, we do not need to help them.
The good news is, even those Trump voters in the Midwest and Dixie will NOT like seeing their social security and medicare cut, when Trump promised them he would not. The thing to keep in mind is that trump run against the GOP as much as Hillary, which is why folks like Newt and Mitt are doing gymnastics to kiss his ass. We should try to split the Trumpers from the GOP, to at the very least cow discord and confusion. Actually, we do not need to actually lie, all we have to do is make sure the stench is not perfumed and glossed over. The same media that loved trump can be turned on him,even if we need to build alternative sources so that the Joe and Mikas in the world will have to address the truth sooner or later.
The Great Resistance 2017
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marianne-williamson/the-great-resistance-2017_b_13844688.htmlWhy Smart People Support Trump (And Why Theyre Wrong)
http://www.cracked.com/blog/a-passionate-argument-with-my-inner-trump-supporter/Politics Today Lack The Language To Understand The Damage Trump Is Doing
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lincoln-mitchell/our-political-class-lacks_b_13707792.htmlExcerpt:
No president has mixed U.S. foreign policy and personal financial interests, singled out ordinary Americans thus endangering their safety, or came to office with the help of interference by a foreign power. For political journalists and professional insider who have spent years, even decades, commenting on politics, schmoozing with politicians from both sides of the aisle and seen administrations come and go with little real impact on American democracy or stability, developing new habits and ways of thinking about American politics will be difficult, but if they do not they will miss the real story and all of us will be worse off because of that.
I will say this once, twice thrice
Despite the occasional bits of courage you show attacking the slower, easier target of the GOP, Mr. McCain, every time you open your mouth, I am thankful to whatever Providence there is that YOU LOST IN 2008. For all the legitimate critiques of Obama, you show hy you would have made a truly awful president, and that Obama at his worst is better than you at your best.
it is one thing to genuinely want to feel empathy
But there is also the fact that, coupled with this, many of Trump's "working class whites" are mixing their class resentment with outright racism, as well as a hatred of any government power. Take Kentucky, a place that actually got millions ensured under Obamacare. However, Mitch McConnell was able to attack it, relying on the sheer age old hate in the culture, that someone is getting something that they do not deserve. Take a look at these articles, especially the vox one.
http://www.kentucky.com/latest-news/article120625648.html
"The percentage of Kentuckians without health insurance fell to 6 percent in 2015 from 15 percent in 2010 under the Affordable Care Act, according to new data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Only Nevada, Oregon and California posted larger percentage declines in uninsured. Kentucky now ranks below the national average of 9.4 percent.The department reported that 404,000 Kentuckians gained coverage between 2010 and last year, a number nearly equal to the combined population of Lexington and neighboring Madison County."
but what happens?
http://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2016/12/13/13848794/kentucky-obamacare-trump
"Many expressed frustration that Obamacare plans cost way too much, that premiums and deductibles had spiraled out of control. And part of their anger was wrapped up in the idea that other people were getting even better, even cheaper benefits — and those other people did not deserve the help. "
and what does Mitch McConnell get for in effect screwing over many of the poor whites? He gets to lead the charge to kill it, all the while not getting called out for several other things, like, not reporting Russian mischief.
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/article119216333.html
So, while I do agree that yes, a lot of white working class have been screwed, and while I could even armchair quarterback and ponder what could have and should have been done, the fact is, a lot of these same working class whites that are getting gilded halos painted upon them always demand one thing with all the help; the ability to say to anyone not them "You do not deserve the help." It is one thing to make sure your relative gets invited to the table, to make sure they get access to all the things they rightfully should have. But when they also demand the right to stab you with their forks, and then say "you do not get food, now go away or I will stab myself and you!", then do not be surprised if many of the people who fought for things like Obamacare look at you and go "really?"
We do want everyone at the table, even and especially the people who, it is true, have not been served, but we will not be expected to smile when after some forks stabs and glasses thrown, WE are expected to go to the kid's table because someone who gets rewarded for temper tantrums is going to get their way, at OUR expense, again.
I remember when Ashley Judd was set to run against the turtle
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/she-the-people/wp/2013/03/03/ashley-judd-will-she-run-against-sen-mitch-mcconnell/?utm_term=.4beb19c69d71BUT, lo and behold, the sensible people in the DNC told her no
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2013/04/01/why-didnt-ashley-judd-run-for-senate-sabotage-adviser-says/
the same geniuses that took over Hillary's run. Of course, they picked Alison grimes, who could not even admit she voted for Obama.
http://www.courier-journal.com/story/opinion/editorials/2014/10/08/grimes-interview-thursday/16910427/
and now we have Mitch ready to get his claws into territory even Trump was reluctant to go into, at leats not before making a half arse "replacement".
Yes, Hillary had a stacked deck against her, that is a 2+2=4 fact, but frankly, I do nto want the geniuses that hjelped keep the trutle on congress calling the plays for 2018 or 2020.
White People Are A Little Too Damn Happy About Trevor Noah vs. Tomi Lahren
https://medium.com/@DavidDWrites/white-people-are-a-little-too-damn-happy-about-trevor-noah-vs-tomi-lahren-999c0158caf6#.99dieyiypFrom the article:
"But to white people, whose lives aren’t in danger in the way Trevor Noah’s is, this was an entertaining joust that reaffirmed whatever stances they have on a multitude of issues and made them feel good about the belief that we can just talk away hatred without doing anything to actually deter it. And once again, the onus is placed on the black person to defend himself. If liberal white people are so delighted by the “demolition,” then they should feel just as happy to speak up and quell Lahren and her followers before she’s able to drop propaganda on a national TV audience. And damn sure before she says anything to a black person. The fact Trevor Noah was able to face Lahren on his show wasn’t as much a celebration of his ability to cordially talk to her as it was a failure by the same white people so delighted in the debate to check her and her hatred before it became a national phenomenon."
Profile Information
Member since: Thu Apr 17, 2008, 05:51 PMNumber of posts: 13,616
