Trump’s America. No thanks!
First of all I need to express the issues that are most important to me when it comes to politics. The environment, health care, education, social equality, economic opportunity, and the global respect that comes from a country engaging in ethical leadership.
I believe that regardless of political party, if you have leadership that believes in truth, integrity and empathy, ethical policy will follow. There is absolutely no place for divisive rhetoric in leadership much less narcissism. The last four years of the Trump administrations leadership has violated all of the values I was taught since I was a child. Lying, cheating, bullying and hating, all of a sudden became acceptable. The idea of ‘divide and conquer’ was openly stated as political strategy to pit one group against another to gain power. As much as Trump has offended me, the real horror comes from the approval of his actions by so many people. What was it that could possibly resonate with so many people?
I have friends that simply didn’t let Trump into their lives. They have ignored news and social media, deciding to take the wait it out approach to save their sanity. Unfortunately for me I was totally engaged. I just had to try and understand how and who his message was resonating with. In my view the contrast of Barack Obama and Donald Trump couldn’t have been greater. I had great pride in Obama and my country. His leadership seemed to encompass the qualities I grew up respecting, but to the far right he was the one dividing the country. How could I be so naive?
I had always known that I lived in a conservative community and state but until the Trump administration and the pandemic, I didn’t realize how much the far right was being embraced in Idaho. The idea of ‘individualism’ over community, the right to openly carry assault rifles, the idea that government is nothing more than an oppressive force. As the Trump administration dug in I started to pay attention to the windows in the back of cars and trucks. NRA stickers galore, Idaho ‘Gun Tree’ stickers, AR-15 stickers, automatic weapon ‘families’ stickers and most recently Trump flags and American flags together. Did I ever see a ‘coexist’ sticker a ‘peace’ sticker or a ‘love’ sticker on one of these same vehicles? Never, not once. What did this mean?
As I explored these questions I started to understand. It seemed to me that these people are living with a certain fear that has been amplified by Trump and the far right. A fear of losing a way of life that they feel entitled to. From the ignorant idea that America was founded as a white Christian nation to the idea that public lands should be open to exploitation, that open carry guns rights make for a greater society. The idea that immigrants with different ideas or religious views don’t belong. The far right is attacking the very principles America was founded on and they can’t even see it. Maybe they do see it, maybe they believe a white Christian authoritarian state is their solution to prevent progressive change. We will see.
Regarding America’s roots… If everyone was to understand the great European migration to America, it would seem easy to understand that America is a country of immigrants basically stealing the land from the native Americans. Does that make this white America? No it does not. The native Americans are the only ones who could possibly lay claim to the ‘color’ of America but even they migrated from other parts of the world thousands of years earlier. Let’s add another layer.. Black slavery, white Americas greatest sin. That history is real and now there is a movement to quiet it’s relevance in American history.
Systemic racism is real. America has taken some good strides to undo the horrible sin of slavery and later oppression but still has a long way to go. The Black Lives Matter movement is simply another attempt to try and reach out and make clear that we have not reached an acceptable level of equality for black Americans. Who could argue with that. White nationalist, white evangelicals, Trump? Yes all of them.