THE ABSURDITY OF THE TRUMP MOVEMENT
One wonders how differently things might have turned out if Trump had called out the vile racists in Charlottesville, if he had been a true American President eager to guide us to a more perfect union. Instead he wrapped himself in the American flag and fooled believers into thinking he embraced conservative values of hearth and home (no baby-killing on my watch) and rugged individualism (my guns, my rights). Evangelicals and thousands of conservative-leaning Americans, upset by the the cultural changes in our society and who felt their opinions were not being heard, eagerly jumped aboard the trump-train.
In the past few decades America culture has experienced tremendous change. What conservatives misunderstand, however, is that culture transforms gradually as people step outside their villages and towns and discover other villages and towns. Away from the narrow boundries of their communities, many discover that what they once considered other, is really more like than different. Culture changes because people change, and the more people that change, the more a culture will change. It is not, as Trump supporters like to say, because no one is listening. Rather, it is because more people have stepped away from their narrow boundaries and embraced a different perspective. In a democracy, the wind tilts in the way of the majority. Or to say it quite simply, Trump received millions of votes but Biden received more.
I didn’t vote for Trump, but still thought it was my civic duty to support him. We had an election. Trump won. I didn’t care for his vulgar persona and toxic words but I hoped that he would surprise me, that he’d recognize the weightiness of his job and its tremendous potential to change the world for the better. Give him a chance I naively told friends, he’s piloting the plane we’re on and I sure don’t want to crash.
But crash we did. Not once, not twice, but a thousand times. The litany of Trump’s failures is endless. His betrayals epic. And his lies! Trump’s presidency is bottomless crater filled with lies— caravans of criminals, hydroxychloroquine, sleepy opponents, rigged elections…
Most discouraging of all is that more than half of those who identify as republican still support the keeper of this sludge pot. The absurdity of the Trump movement is that in a quest to make America great again, Trump and his followers have retreated to the shameful, racial and exclusionary attitudes that stain our history. Instead of embracing our immigrant tradition, Trump got elected by the promise of walls. Instead of guiding us further on the road to a more perfect union, he stoked racial discord and encouraged symbols of oppression and supremacy. Instead of honoring our democracy by accepting defeat graciously, he spread lies about a stolen election. This last most egregious lie— still not renounced— tears at the battered fabric of our democracy. It is the direct cause of death and destruction.
The absurdity of the Trump movement is that veiled in the mantle of conservative values, white supremacists stormed the capital to prove their patriotism and instead revealed their treachery.
