Not all, but most, Republicans support Trump. Their support is unwavering and will remain unwavering. Defeats of candidates whom he has supported and indictments for crimes which he may have committed have not weakened his support. Indeed, what would likely destroy the political appeal of other candidates actually increases his appeal at the expense of the philosophy, values, and structure of American democracy.
There are four primary reasons for such staunch support. One is traditional loyalty of some Republicans simply out of family tradition or loathing of Democrats (in turn, “yallah dawg Democrats” revile Republicans). A second is adherence to traditional Republican positions which they believe Trump holds—smaller government (depends on the issue; abortion, for example, requires very big government), less regulation, lower taxes—though, in themselves, these positions alone have proven incapable of winning elections. Some of these Republicans may hold their noses but will still vote the party ticket, with Trump at the head of it.
A third is that Trump supporters have been too long committed to him to recognize or admit a mistake now of years standing, even if contrary to faith or reason. However coarse, cruel, or egocentric his behavior, it represents a one-finger salute to elites and the establishment. Their grievances, real or imagined, and their resentments, justified or not, Trump has recognized, augmented, and exploited; he feels them; he is their guy. Although he has done nothing about their grievances and resentments—he has every political motive not to do anything about them—, his dedicated followers are not going to acknowledge being fooled, conned, and fleeced. People do not like to admit even little mistakes; they are not going to admit whoppers.
The fourth reason is quite different from these three. It is a conviction founded on something essential, older and stronger. As the successor to Barack Hussein Obama, Trump is the last White Hope. Republicans perceive him as he presents himself: their champion, bloodied but unbowed by investigations and indictments, in this fight against the equality of all others to white male Christians. The more he is investigated and indicted, the greater his heroism in the cause of their hegemony in jeopardy. And this cause is the greater because “White” is too narrow if it is thought to represent only skin color. It goes well beyond blacks, to browns, yellows, and reds; to non-European immigrants; to Jews and Muslims, mainly; and to those whose sex- and gender-related issues are not his, like abortion, contraception, gender identity, and gender orientation (LGBTQ…). Inter-racial marriage fits in here someplace. These culture war issues are Republicans only trump cards—pun intended—, and they are Trump’s cards.
A mass movement in this cause is not an anomaly. The truth is that, in American history, racism and its opposite, democracy, go hand in hand. In 1619, slaves first landed in the Virginia colony; in 1619, the first democratic assembly was founded there. At the time of the American Revolution, a third of the colonial population remained loyal to monarchy and opposed to democracy. In the Civil War, about the same fraction of the country’s population supported slavery, in opposition to the proposition that all men are created equal. Today, about that same fraction opposes that same proposition. You know who might have said it: oligarchs, dictators, fascists, communists, totalitarians, Christian fundamentalists, Catholic or evangelical, and bigots ye always have with you.
In light of this history, many to the left-of-center show themselves naïve in thinking or even hoping that Republicans will have a moment of clarity on the way to or in the voting booth come November 2024. Why would they? They are hardened in their dogmas and in their nostalgia for a Norman-Rockwell-Reader’s-Digest world, which was white male Christian supremacist and which subordinated or excluded women and minorities—racial, religious, ethnic. They are anxious about the decline in church attendance and allegiance to Christianity (“godless communism” on the Left), the furor about racial and gender issues (echoes of “uppity Negroes” and feministas)—the grievances and resentments of horny men 18-35 (i.e., “incels”) with no appeal to women represent a social and sexual pathology all its own—, the controversies about critical race theory (not understood) and censorship of books about such things as racial and gender education (including “grooming”). If documented truth about the legitimate 2020 election can make no dent, lies about everything else confirming their prejudices will remain prevalent and potent. Whatever else might be said about Trump’s supporters, they do not desire a multicultural democracy or share America’s traditional aspiration for a “more perfect union.”
I see no relief in sight from these people, the “base,” those inferior or insecure souls who need prejudice to prop them up with a false sense of superiority. In Thoreau’s words, they live “lives of quiet desperation” though they are no longer quiet about their baseless angst. Someone—who is not known—said, “the price of liberty is eternal vigilance.” Today, that price is exercising Constitutional rights. Showing the flag and evoking the Founding Fathers are not good enough. True patriotism requires much less than what they pledged in a desperate hour: their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor; it requires only that we be informed, register, and vote. Ballots, not bullets, are the arsenal of American democracy.
No comments:
Post a Comment