Above all understand that I have hated
Donald Trump for years. Back when he described himself as a Democrat,
every time I saw him on television the impression I came away with
was of a degenerate conman suffering from delusions of grandeur. I
never watched his realty show, but somehow video clips of it always
ended up being featured on programs that marketed themselves as news
programs. Even worse were his cameos in such diverse television
broadcasts as “professional” wrestling and various movies. To me,
all I saw was someone craving attention and glorification. There were
several times his appearance on some programs were so weird that they
left a bad taste in my mouth.
I'll give the devil some credit, for
decades he played the media, both real journalists and glorified
infomercial hosts, like Mozart played a violin. Trump is by no means
a smart person but he does possess a low-grade cunning akin to what
an alpha male chimp would use to take control of his group.
Trump crafted an image—or
“brand”-that the semi-literate masses jumped on like flies to a
fresh pile of shit when he entered the world of American politics.
Trump learned to tickle the irrational fears and ancient prejudices
of a group of Americans who have no desire nor apparent ability to
adapt to a changing world they refuse even to try and understand.
His ascension to the highest office in
the land was not totally a personal victory due to his talent for
manipulation. The Republican Party sowed the field with decades of
Orwellian doublespeak. Trump was just the final result from Tricky
Dick Nixon's Southern Strategy when he sheared white folks away from
the Democratic Party. Trust me, as someone who has lived in the South
for the majority of his life, nothing scares the snot out of white
people more than black folks wanting to have little things like
justice and equality.
Conservatives like to joke about
something called “liberal guilt” over the plight of
African-Americans. To them, we liberals are supposed to be all tied
up in guilt over black poverty and crime, which we dissuaded with
welfare and food stamps. However nothing compares to the near
unconscious but deep realization from conservative whites that they
fear violent retribution from African-Americans over centuries of
slavery and oppression.
The Democrats helped Trump into the
White House back in 2016. The biggest hand they gave was deciding to
have a civil war over political purity. Even when Trump was giving
speeches clearly telling how much of a monster and potential dictator
he would be in office, they couldn't unite to defeat the obvious
danger. Secondly, the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee had more
than enough political baggage to sabotage her own campaign. Lastly,
the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee fell victim to the same
mistake that defeated her back in 2008. She assumed that 2016 was her
election, that she was owed the nomination and victory in November.
Now with all that history behind us, I
regretfully have come to the conclusion Trump will more than likely
win reelection in 2020. Yes, the Democrats took back the U.S. House
in the 2018 midterms and are highly motivated to defeat the Orange
Bastard but quite frankly they are their own worst enemy. With around
a year left before the first caucuses and primaries the Democratic
Party is already fracturing and dividing into bitter tribal cliques.
That fact that there are over a dozen people who have declared
candidacies for the Democratic presidential nomination only makes the
divisions more acute.
As a Democratic, my personal philosophy
falls somewhere between what is generally called a “moderate” and
“progressive.” I know the United States is in some deep societal
and economic shit but I do not believe the Utopian rhetoric that
hard-line progressives preach will work. Yes, healthcare should be a
right, human-caused climate change is real and dangerous, and some
form of college should be readily available for kids but I do not
necessarily believe Bernie Sanders nor Alexandria
Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) have workable proposals. Frankly, I find Bernie
about as detached from reality as Trump and suspicious on a number of
fronts, while AOC plays fast and loose with basic facts.
To hard-line progressives, my humble
and pragmatic stance makes me more of an enemy to them than the
average Republican. But that does not take away from the fact that if
the Democratic Party moves too far to the left it will certainly
alienate moderates like me and, even worse, Independent-minded
Americans. Progressives seem to have forgotten that right now
the American economy appears quite healthy with record low
unemployment and even some upper movement in wages. Even with Trump's
corruption and personal immorality, Independents will not vote him
out if the alternative is a someone the Republicans have successfully
labeled a nasty socialist out to tax them into the poor house.
Of course, if the economy tanks or the
Mueller Report hits Trump with clear and irrefutable evidence of
working for Putin, all bets are off. Unfortunately, a recent NPR
interview I heard with the lady running the International Monetary
Fund has her stating there is no evidence of a recession taking shape
in 2019 nor 2020. As for the Mueller Report, while I believe Trump is
both a degenerate criminal and possibly working for the Russians,
there is no certainty that any clear evidence brought
to the public attention would destroy his 2020 reelection
chances. As of this writing, certain United States Senators are
working hard to prevent the Mueller Report from going public at all.
Many called the 2018 November midterms
the “most important election in American history.” While true at
the time, the 2020 presidential race will more than likely decided
the fate of the nation. Trump wants to be a dictator, his existence
is based on adulation and acquisition of power, especially to destroy
anyone who hinders his goals. If Trumps gets another term, he will
most certainly get to pick two more Supreme Court justices and
hundreds of lower ranking judges. Trump's recent declaration of a
national emergency to circumvent Congress is a full-blown
constitutional crisis that he is certain to repeat the next time he
doesn't get his way.
Just to show it can get worse, Trump
openly threatened anyone who opposes his policies saying in an
interview that he had the police, military, and “bikers for Trump”
on his side and that it could get really bad for those of us on the
left. That statement is an unbelievable degradation of civility
worthy of a dystopian novel or third-rate banana republic. For years
some right-wingers have expressed support for “Second Amendment
remedies" so they can “save America” or “take back their
government.” The vast majority of these idiots would never actually
attempt political violence on fellow Americans. But that is
underestimating the hardcore crusaders who finally have a leader that
they believe would look the other way if he told them to act.
I personally know people who listen to
alt-right internet news broadcasts and believe the insane
conspiratorial crap they spew. All these individuals I know love
their guns and think liberals want to ban Jesus and force their kids
to become gay Muslims. I have heard them utter admiration for Trump
to such a degree that it borders on religious worship. To them, Trump
is a man's man unafraid to bust heads and do everything he wants no
matter the consequences. They believe everything Trump says and
instantly discount his moral failing and unethical behavior. If Trump
told them to take to the streets they would comply and once this mob
had assembled everything that happened next would be extremely bad.
Yes folks, the United States is
standing on a cliff and staring straight down into a 2020 abyss.
Given how stupid and selfish many Democrats and the nation as a whole
can act, we may just decided to jump.
