I hear over and over that Trump did not create the hatred and cruelty in the country.While this may be true, he did much more than give it a voice. What has happened (in my opinion) is that there was a particular series of players that created “Trump” and the barely leashed hatred of his strongest supporters. Trump alone would likely never had made it to candidate. The combination of the media which gave him not just a platform, but  a megaphone in pursuit of ratings,  and the Republican party which legitimated first his candidacy, then his campaign, and finally his advancement to the presidency. Trump (with his compatriots of the media and the GOP) gave voice and permission to the expression of rage around two primary targets. One target is race and tapping into the boiling anger of (primarily) white males. The second target is anger at “the government” which has not only failed to act on behalf of the people, but which has actively colluded with the extremely wealthy against the interests of the people. This lethal combination of factors took a phenomenon that simmered at the edges of the culture and moved it to the ‘acceptable’ center. It took what was largely individual complaints and turned them into a movement of which Trump is the conductor.