I would like to respond to “pissy” attorney John Donegan’s opinion piece concerning his difficulty reconciling what he calls the liberals’ two caricatures of the Trump voters and conservatives in general: the deplorables and the 1 percent oligarchs (“Oh, those stoopid conservatives!” March 12). He writes that they are rarely mentioned at the same time, seemingly because few oligarchs live in shabby trailers in Appalachia. I am going to attempt to address this. And based on his definition of an “educated” person, I think I can, even though I learned my simple math in a public grade school, graduated debt free from a state college, and spent my spring breaks visiting family and friends in my hometown … not the Caribbean.
From a position in the middle, without a strong emotional attachment to either the conservative or liberal philosophy, one can reconcile the Trump voters’ duality. Trump voters I know don’t label themselves as conservatives. Liberals I know don’t think of all the Trump voters as knuckle-dragging conservatives. If they give them a political label other than “Trumpers,” it is Republicans; after all Trump ran as a Republican, and the GOP machinery supports him.
Let’s face it, the GOP body has two arms. The right arm consists of conservatives, whose grasping hand is the 1 percent clutching more and more of the economic pie. The remainder of the right arm is the rank-and-file who Donegan correctly believes the liberals see as intelligent, law-abiding, self-supporting taxpayers who don’t need to be cared for by the government. Historically, both parts of this right arm shared many conservative principles: small government, state rights, balanced budget, free trade, a strong military. However, more recently, it seems to have dwindled down to the shared economic view focusing on lower tax rates and more tax loopholes. Their mantra, of trickle-down economics—a rising tide that lifts all boats; pull yourself up by the boot straps—is being chanted more and more frequently while standing on the backs of others.
When the conservative arm suffered a big time defeat with Barry Goldwater, who lost his bid for president in 1964, they knew they had to expand the ranks of the GOP. They focused on a culture war to do so, thus building up the other arm, the cultural arm, of the GOP. The civil rights movement and the Great Society brought the Dixiecrats on board. Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley launched the war by loosening his police force on the hippies and anti-war activists, followed shortly by the National Guard shooting of Kent State student protestors. Roe v. Wade stirred up the anti-abortion sentiments. Women’s liberation let loose cries of “FemiNazis.” Gay pride fueled more prejudice and caused foot dragging on the treatment for HIV. Sept. 11, 2001, brought out the Muslim haters. Increased gun violence in the streets and schools strengthen the influence of the NRA and its supporters. All of these movements added cultural war soldiers to the second arm of the GOP. And then, in 2008, just when we faced the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, a black man was elected to the White House! OMG, the conservative senators threw a hissy fit, McConnell declared not to cooperate, and they sat on their hands for eight years.
This is the GOP that Donald Trump found in 2016, adding his strain of narcissism to the mix, making it more acceptable for the bedsheets, torches, and swastikas to come out from the bushes. He appealed to and brought on board a sector of the electorate whose economic situation was precarious: cost of living increasing, wages stagnating, and job security decreasing. He was cheered by people who felt ignored, put upon, beat down, and treated unfairly by the existing system. Trump promised to be their savior and they believed him.
The liberals don’t view all Trump voters as mouth-breathing dimwits. They understand why many Trumpers would choose a populist leader, but why Trump? This is what the liberals don’t get. To them, he is the most obvious con man and crook who has come down the pike in decades. This might be where the liberals contemptuous tone of voice arises. Strangers, maybe, but how could their own family and friends be taken in by this man? What are they getting out of this? If what they want is to stick their collective thumb in the eye of the government or wave their middle finger at the establishment, he does it. If they want someone to crap all over the norms and traditions of political life, he does that, too. Trump delivers the rhetoric to gain the support of cultural soldiers but provides little substance in return. Can’t they see this? Don’t they realize that all the economic goodies have been handed over to the conservative right arm of the GOP body?
Thus, the duality of the GOP. The rich and self-supporting party conservatives recruited soldiers of all stripes for their culture war. Donald Trump, the billionaire, con man, and perpetual liar, created a canteen where he could entertain the troops. He added Kool-Aid to the menu, placed neon flashing lights on the walls and on the roof. This way he can distract people both inside and out.
I could do hit a job on the libs/Dems too, but Donegan has done this already. Instead, if he is a man with truly conservative beliefs, not just a cultural recruit, I’d suggest he encourage his fellow travelers to start their own conservative movement. They may not be as politically strong but they might be more politically honest. Maybe even be a role model for the real liberals. Δ
Sharon Jones is self-quarantined with too much time on her hands. Send comments through the editor at clanham@newtimesslo.com or write a letter for publication and email it to letters@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Mar 26 – Apr 5, 2020.
Lather, rinse, repeat:
Wah, wah, wah, TDS, TDS, TDS! 🙁 🙁
We voted for POTUS DJT in 2016 and will install a super majority along with his landslide re-election in 2020 all because he is/was NOT a smooth talking, do nothing politician aka swamp monster. Which means, you still don’t understand squat.
#Hispanics4Trump (and there are a lot of us)
#Trump2020
#WalkAway
Not a swamp monster? Trump appointed corporate lobbyists to head every agency charged with protecting the American people from the greedy, polluting corporations they represent.
So far as I can tell, Mr. Trump ran on a platform which threatened to “drain the swamp,” by which he meant, to contain and reduce our bloated bureaucracy which, with the WOTUS rule and intervention in local schools and every other institution of daily life, had overplayed its hand. What we got, pleasingly enough, was someone who actually did what he said he would do. He moved our embassy to Jerusalem, he confronted Chinese mercantilism, he tried his best to close the southern border to illegal immigration, he reduced our regulatory bloat (substantially) and has made efforts to rein in the Departments of Education and the Interior. He has made NATO a more effective adversary of Russia and has sharply reversed the expansionist terrorism of Iran. His economic policies have raised the wages of he lowest cohort of our working class at a rate faster than the rest. He has lowered our taxes and brought unemployment to its lowest point in history. If you cannot see these things as beneficial, I suspect you might be a member of a teachers’ union or a government employee. For the rest of us, this seems like remarkable progress. And I’m an Independent.
Clovis dad, just one point in response. None of the other players and countries involved in solving the Palestinian and Israeli land conflict believes the moving the US embassy to Jerusalem will make peace easier. In fact, it will lead to just the opposite. Remember, Israel is a military occupier of much Palestinian land and has created intolerable conditions for Palestinians crowded into the Gaza Strip.
Ladies & Gentlemen,
With all due respect, I think Sharon Jones has too much time on her hands, and too little gray matter in her head, lol.
After eight years of President Obama, (a nice guy) overseeing the decline of America, the voting public was ready for someone besides a Clinton, and maybe in 2024, the Democrats will nominate someone credible. I think 2020 is wrapped up, and very few people imagine that Sleepy Joe Biden will pose a serious threat to DJT’s reelection bid. On the campaign trail, Joe Biden is not even sure if he is running for the U.S Senate or the presidency, he may have a serious case of dementia.
To be sure, DJT leaves some things to be desired, but, on balance, the country is better off with him in the White House, than the lunatic Democrats, who want to end American exceptionalism and defer our superpower status to China.
Speak truth to power.
Sharon’s summary is spot on, concise, well written, and provides outstanding historical references to support her position. I’m surprised I’ve not read a single comment confirming these facts. Instead, a majority of the posted comments have been written by Trump supporters who are so headstrong about defending their Man that they forgot to address Sharon’s position. And this will continue to be the case with Trump supporters – NOT INTERESTED in hearing anything that might be remotely derogatory about their leader, NOT INTERESTED in listening to alternative perspectives that may be valid and well founded, “A man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest”. It is this intolerance, this inability for open-minded discussion / creative thinking that clearly defines Trump and the current GOP. We have a President that doesn’t read anything – not one page memos, not brief policy papers, nothing. He doesn’t listen to others when technical information is discussed. Former Chief Economic Advisor to the President (Gary Cohn) noted “he gets up halfway through meetings with World leaders because he’s bored”. This lack of attention to detail and total disregard of intellectual information also defines Trump and can be deadly, especially when warnings about a potential global catastrophe are presented. To the Republicans on this stream – support a candidate with a brain, not one who suggests injecting bleach or Lysol into the human body to rid itself of COVID-19. The Dems have lost their way as well, but that’s another subject for discussion at a later date.