Lie Alert: Trump’s Special Vision
By Rowan Wolf
“Trump saw something no one else did in the electorate and spoke to it.”
Or words to that effect. Is this on some Trump talking points list?
What Trump “saw” was that there were a lot of angry white people – particularly white men – who were ready to blow. He saw how much people got into his meanness and outrageous behavior with his “Apprentice” show, and that there was a lot of persistent response to his repeatedly “trump”eting the lie that Obama was not the legitimate president of the United States; that Obama (and those supporting him) had “stolen” the country.
Trump is outrageous. He has been storming his entire life. Via his (and MSNBC’s) television series he learned how to play his fundamental personality into a winning show. Where the hell is PT Barnum when you need him?
Trump, the narcissistic, temper tantrum throwing, hate spewing, showman found his audience. Many of the rest of us already knew that part of the electorate / citizenry was there. We were monitoring them (thank you SPLC), and educating people about diversity, acceptance, and peaceful conflict resolution.
Adrenalin and testosterone won out – with the significant help of convoluted gerrymandering, voter suppression, and voter intimidation – the strong suit of the Republicans … thank you Reince Priebus (purportedly he spent big bucks on deep focus groups in critical states, and Trump played to that in the last weeks of the campaign).
So NO, Trump has no magical insights beyond hate, like sex, sells.
I am a sociologist, writer and activist with life long engagement in social justice, peace, environmental, and animal rights movements. My research and writing includes issues of imperialism, oppression, global capitalism, peak resources, global warming, and environmental degradation. I taught sociology for twenty-two years, was a member of the City of Portland’s Peak Oil Task Force, and maintain my own site Uncommon Thought Journal. I may be reached by email at [email protected]. On a personal note, I am also a survivor of pulmonary hypertension by the gift of a donor’s lungs in 2011. I do my best to honor that gift by trying to be my best self and give to the world what small gifts I have. Among of those is a deep passion for life, and the lives of all those with whom I share the planet.