The recent protests have illustrated that there is a much
bigger underlying problem in our country, and demonstrates how the Democrats
are as much to blame for Trump’s getting elected as are the Republicans.
Trump is everything that the protesters claim, but that is
not why people voted for him. Most
Republications were as offended by his racist, bigoted comments and actions as
were the rest of us.
No, they voted for him because he represented resistance to
what they perceived as an attack on their way of life. Christianity is being systematically attacked
in this country, while Islam is being celebrated. The Second Amendment is doomed. Illegal immigrants are taking jobs away from
hard-working Americans, and are getting welfare benefits most Americans are not
even eligible for. The middle class is increasingly bearing the weight of a
lower class unwilling to work and living on welfare, while the rich are paying
less in taxes every year. Violent crime
is on the rise, fueled by illegal immigrants who flout our laws and simply
return if they are deported. Terrorism attacks are on the rise, yet we are
letting more and more refugees from Syria and other dangerous countries in
without the slightest vetting.
Now, we all know that none of the above claims are true,
but each does have a little bit of basis in fact, and Trump used those nuggets
to form the core of his message. If you ignore
the outrageous things he said, you will see that his core message relentlessly repeated
and validated their fears, citing specific, but isolated, facts to support his
claims.
At the same time, he relentlessly attacked each of his
opponents, identifying and amplifying each of their weaknesses. While most politicians avoid naming their
opponents, referring to them as “my esteemed opponent” or some other civilized
title, Trump went the other direction and not only named them, but gave them
catchy nicknames as well: “Crooked
Hillary”, “Lying Ted”, etc. He repeated
and embellished false allegations to the point that the lie became the truth.
By the end of the campaign, most Trump supporters honestly
believed Hillary was the most corrupt individual to walk the planet since
Hitler. They honestly believed their
entire way of life was being threatened.
They were, and are, good, honest, hard-working Americans who just want a
better life for themselves and their kids. Just like us!
At the same time, the Democrats failed to recognize
this. Instead, we all focused on Trump’s
outrageous antics and ignored his core messages. We labeled and belittled Trump’s supporters
in much the same way he belittled Hillary, Ted, Bernie, and the rest. All that did was deepen the divide. The more that people and institutions
attacked Trump on his racist and bigotry issues while ignoring his actual
policy flaws, the more isolated Trump supporters became. Isolation creates paranoia, and Trump
encouraged that by claiming that everything was rigged against him and his
supporters. It became truly an “Us VS
Them” mentality.
By late summer, Trump’s core supporters were not even
willing to listen to anything anti-Trump. They believed that he recognized the coming end of their way of life, and
they believed he could stop it. They
realized that much most of his racist rhetoric was just that, and focused on
his core message. They saw their only
choices were between a dedicated, even if rather immoral, outsider who could clean up
the corruption (Trump), or the ultimate, corrupted insider (Hillary).
NOW HE IS THE PRESIDENT.
Our only hope to reunite the country is to stop attacking
the Trump Supporters and further alienating them. Just because they supported Trump does NOT
make them racists and bigots. They voted
for who they thought cared about them. We
need to stop focusing on Trump’s actions of the past. We need to stop focusing on every little
mistake he makes. We need to stop
relentlessly attacking everything about him.
Instead, we need to focus on POLICIES. We need to start spreading a POSITIVE
message. We need to explain how the
Democrats’ policies will make THEIR LIVES BETTER. We need to tone down the “political
correctness” and feelings of superiority. Some of Trump’s policies are NOT all bad, and we need to support them
and offer suggestions to make them better. Which would YOU rather have told to you:
“Your idea sucks, but mine is awesome!” or “I like your idea! But how about we do this as well, or maybe do
this part instead?”
We could begin by admitting Obamacare is not the greatest
law this country has ever passed. Let’s
stop focusing solely on its successes, and admitting to some of its flaws. Let’s say, “Obamacare has helped 20 million
Americans, but it has resulted in higher premiums, hospital expenses, and out
of control drug costs. How can we work
together to lower the costs of premiums, drugs, and hospital stays? How can we help you Republicans FIX the
problems?”
It will be a hell of a lot harder for the Republicans to
ignore Democrats who are asking how they can help than it is to ignore those
who just attack everything they say or do.
It’s easy to hate the haters. It’s
hard to hate those who are trying to help.
Let’s be part of the SOLUTION and not part of the problem.
