I'm a libertarian who supported neither Trump nor Hillary, but the left's hysteria over Trump's win has been something to behold. I'm sure he'll be a disastrous president in many ways, but the thing that animates the Left's animus towards Trump is that he is someone who represents an existential threat to their sacred institutions (the media, entertainment, academia) and signals that they are becoming less and less relevant.
Make no mistake, most of the Left's opinion-molders don't actually think Donald will deport ALL undocumented workers, round up gays and Jews and whoever else and throw them into camps. This is all orchestrated hysteria.
In this particular instance, we see a very common tactic employed selectively by the Left. If a right-wing politician who is not sufficiently controlled by the establishment starts to gain political power, they associate him with the worst of his supporters and sanctimoniously demand that he "denounce" the degenerate supporters. Every time CNN or some other outlet speaks about David Duke's praise of Donald Trump, it encourages the viewer to consciously or subconsciously associate Trump and conservatives with overt racism, with the KKK and with Nazism.
It never works the other way though. During the Primary season, the Communist Party USA chairman John Bachtell endorsed Hillary Clinton. He, and other self-described Communist Party chairmen and members also endorsed Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012. Shouldn't Obama and Hillary they be hounded to repudiate these endorsements if we are adhering to the same standard?
Communism has produced profound misery in the world. Estimates have been made that Communism caused the deaths of between 60 Million and as many as 100 Million people during the 20th Century. I'm not at all claiming that Hillary and Barack ARE communists, but more than a few devout adherents see them as fellow travelers who will advance their agenda in some capacity.
The vile organization known as the Ku Klux Klan, and the odious ideology of White Nationalism has caused comparably less deaths, especially in modern times. In contemporary America, the numbers of actual adherents to either the Klan or some form of white nationalist ideology are extremely small in number. They are social pariahs in almost every community.
I don't care which candidate you pick, you can easily find some disreputable person or organization that supports them. In point of fact, though, the KKK and White Nationalism serves more as a convenient bogey man than as a real threat to ordinary people in this day and age.
Although my initiate caveat should serve as sufficient, I want to reiterate that I don't support Donald Trump or nearly any of his policy proposals (the few that are actually coherent). I am a libertarian who supported Ron Paul in the GOP Primaries in 2008 and 2012. I voted for Ralph Nader in 2008, Gary Johnson in 2012 and Jill Stein in 2016. I voted for Nader and Stein for their strong anti-war positions and because there weren't any decent libertarians running in those election cycles.
Great post. Although I don't necessarily agree with all your talking points it is refreshing to read a well written narrative. Here are the parts of your essay that troubles me:
You ignore Trump's past. HIs full page ads calling for a return of the death penalty when 5 African American youth were convicted of a rape they dd not commit revealed a lynch mob mentality. Trump didn't know the youth were innocent at the time so I can give him a pass on that one. However, I can't help feeling that had the victim been Black, Trump would not have committed himself to such an extreme position. But it doesn't stop there. Years later, after the innocent youths were cleared by DNA tests and a confession by the real culprit, Trump refused to apologize. Instead he stood by his original convictions as tenaciously as he stood by his "Birther" initiatives. In retrospect, this wrongheaded tenacity and his Birther position bolstered by suspicions of Trump's prejudices.
Some may think the mind set Trump exhibited in the Central Park 5 case and the Birther phenomenon showed no racist overtones. But he has never been so publicly outraged against similar or worst cases committed by White people.
Where was he after Tim McVeigh bombed the federal building in Oklahoma? What sympathy did he publicly exhibit for the 9 Black Christians who were shot and killed by a White gunman while they worshipped in a Charleston South Carolina Church ? Ini both of those cases people died. So it seems Trump is more upset by things Black people do or that he believes they have done , even if no one died.
Yet, he is eerily silent when people who look like him commit mass murder.
Racism vs Communism. Which is worse?
You seem dismissive of Trump's refusal to denounce the endorsements he has publicly received from the KKK, David Duke and other known domestic terrorists. Perhaps that view is pinned directly to your sense of Whiteness. After all, you have nothing to fear if your opinion is wrong or shortsighted. That is understandable. But for those of us who choose to take notice of certain historical parallels, notably a populist leader rising to grasp power from traditionalists by an angry homogenous constituency, the time has come to sound the alarm. If we don't, history could very well repeat itself.
And no, I don't think that Jews, gays and those targeted by the Right as undesirables will be rounded up along with illegals. At least not initially. But media driven glimpses into the mind of Trump has revealed an almost puerile propensity for pathological racism, rage and revenge. Trump's skill for manipulating his militant populist trolls can be compared to the same skill seen in Hitter. Pardon me, but, I can't ignore that; especially after the recent controversial selections he made to seed his administration.
Trump reeks with the smell of demagoguery and he has surrounded himself with kindred spirits. That is exactly what Hitler, Stalin and Mao did. I can't afford not to make an adroit comparison of Trump's psychological blueprint with those of the three biggest homicidal maniacs of the 20th Century. By focusing intently on every nuance of Trump's public behavior and rhetoric. especially as he assembles his team, important clues as to his surreptitious intentions may be revealed pursuant to preventing catastrophe .
While RW conservatives dismiss racism, bigotry and misogamy as mere collateral damage, or see those "manly traits" as a reasonable price to pay for bolstering RW White manhood, you condemn those same social ills when Communists or Muslims do it.
Communism, you say, is responsible for millions of deaths. I disagree. Conservative Tyrants are responsible for all of those deaths, not a political system. Communism, like Capitalism is benign. It is the leaders who operate to protect and reserve their own selfish interests or to maintain a hegemonic ideology that make both systems deadly.
If we are to look at Communism and Capitalism through the lens of original Christianity, the tenet of altruism would be well ensconced on the side of Communism and the Capitalist side would be marked by a dearth of it.
Further, you point to Communism as a socio-political malignancy. Ostensibly, that conclusion was reached by drawing upon Western media reports of failure, hunger and a paucity of enterprise and prosperity. Perhaps there is more than a modicum of truth to that premise but a lot of it could be western propaganda. China's and Russia's Communist systems may have been headed by murderous tyrants in the past but the vast majority of their people survive and thrive. The near genocide of American Indians, percentage wise, probably surpasses the percentage of people killed by Communist regimes.
I need not mention the other atrocities exacerbated by Capitalism such as chattel slavery and the rape of Africa.
So, in my view, when Communism and Capitalism are enjoined, one holds the other in check. Both are necessary for liberty to thrive in all social strata. That phenomenal marriage is known as Socialism.
The America we know today was founded by White people who murdered and enslaved lots of non White people in the process. Former serfs and indentured servants from Europe were given unparalleled opportunities to throw off the chains of Europe and become wealthy themselves. But they had not forgotten how those chains felt. They learned how to make and use heir own chains to enslave and suppress non Whites. For several hundred years the roots of White American conservatism were formed around a hideous social construct which was ordained under the auspices of oxymoronic Capitalist Christianity. Meanwhile, almost 2000 years before, Communism had already been identified and documented in the Holy Bible. The stark contrast between altruism and capitalism in regards to the favorabiity of each was inscribed in
Mathew 19
The Rich Young Man
…20“All these I have kept,” said the young man. “What do I still lack?” 21
Jesus told him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow Me.” 22When the young man heard this, he went away in sorrow, because he had great wealth.…
