A Basket of Deplorables Won Trump the Presidency

     In a now infamous campaign speech in 2016, Secretary Hillary Clinton stated that half of Trump’s supporters could be put into a basket of deplorables.  She defined that “basket of deplorables” as people who are “racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic.”  A smattering of laughter was heard at the comment and late-night talk show hosts had a heyday with it.  Indeed, many liberals laughed and cheered Clinton on for her audacity.  What she didn’t know then but would find out on November 8th, 2016 was that that “basket of deplorables” would win Trump the election – not the people themselves but the sentiment and divisiveness of the comment.

     Sure, like many of my liberal counterparts, I too was guilty of laughing at Clinton’s statement.  I too felt like many of Trump’s supporters represented the worst of the “isms” our country has dealt with.  But after the laughing subsided, I realized that Clinton’s statement was an example of what so many on the right call liberal elitism.  She was yet another ivy league-educated liberal looking down her nose at the less fortunate, less educated middle-American everyman.  And boy, hadn’t they heard this enough!  From their college-aged children coming home to tell them they are racist and misogynistic, to comics and late-night hosts laughing at their lack of sophistication and insight, to bosses and HR managers hyper vigilantly correcting every minor misstep they make, these “basket of deplorables” had reached a saturation point. 

     Clinton’s statement didn’t serve as some glorious wake-up call to them, making them realize the error of their ways.  Rather, it gave their anger, frustration, and sense of invalidation a target.  Clinton became the bullseye and Trump the master marksman.  Any one of them that had been on the fence prior to Clinton’s comment likely solidified their support for Trump from that day on.  Clinton had managed to make an already divided country even more divided – and it cost her the race.

     Sure, we would all love to be surrounded by countrymen who share our thoughts and opinions on virtually all topics, but that’s not reality, especially not in this complicated and layered republic of ours.  What we need is not another Clinton (or Trump) who will capitalize on and accentuate the divisions in our country, but a leader who will realize that we are all, each and every one of us regardless of income, education and sophistication, a part of this great nation and deserve to be heard and represented with dignity, compassion, and respect. I hope to see that leader in 2020.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZHp4JLWjNw

Dear Hobart

I really appreciate you tackling the issue of needing to improve mental and emotional support in our schools in your article “Guns don’t kill students, students kill students.”  It’s been a while since I was in secondary school, but I still remember quite vividly how it felt to be bullied and ostracized.  I’ve always wondered how we as a society have allowed this to continue with our children decade after decade when we wouldn’t tolerate behavior like this from adult colleagues in a workplace or adult strangers on the street.  I couldn’t agree with you more that we need to see reform, and I applaud your ideas about increasing the availability of counseling for students along with your ideas about needing inclusion and emotional support activities. I think all of these could have a tremendously positive impact on the issues we are facing. 

I also wholeheartedly agree with you that these issues and mental health concerns in general are at the core of our nation’s problem with mass shootings, but where I diverge from your ideas is in the belief that tackling these issues will be easier or produce more immediate results than reforming gun laws.  I was in high school over 30 years ago and experienced first-hand the type of bullying and alienation you speak of.  The sting is still there as it is for countless others I went to school with.  What differs so much between my generation and the current one is not that we had so much better mental and emotional support (I guarantee you we didn’t!), it’s that we didn’t have the same kind of gun culture, gun access, or gun types that we do now.  It wasn’t even a consideration.  But since Columbine, it has increasingly become not only a consideration but a go-to. 

I wish we would have solved all the emotional and mental support issues in the 30+ years since I was a high school student, but we haven’t.  I absolutely agree with you that we need to make it a top priority and continue to chip away at it, but I don’t think it will produce the results we are looking for as quickly as we need it to, especially if the last 30 years is any kind of indication.  While legislating reform to gun control laws is no easy task, I actually think it will be an easier and quicker deterrent to mass shootings and will allow us to continue the essential work of trying to reform our society’s school bullying and emotional support issues.

A Liberal’s Gratitude for Trump

     I’m a liberal and I’m grateful for Trump. No, you don’t need to adjust your computer screen – you read that correctly.  But hear me out!  Along with many of my liberal counterparts, I was truly horrified at the reality of Trump being elected president in November of 2016.  Not unlike the proverbial Chicken Little, I believed the sky was falling.  Just about everything I valued about this country, our government, and the office of the presidency was being challenged by this man who I wouldn’t trust to pet sit for me over a weekend, let alone run our country.

     But this is where the Chicken Little lesson comes in.  The sky hasn’t fallen, and life as I know it hasn’t ended.  No, I haven’t changed my opinion of the man called Trump, and no, I haven’t softened to his behaviors, his bravado, or his policies. What HAS happened though is that I’ve been gloriously surprised by the tenacity and vigor of the American public.  Trump has catalyzed many of us, and that catalyzation has resulted in some amazing movements in this country.

     The “Me Too” movement is an excellent example of that.  While sexual harassment and sexual abuse are nothing new in this country, Trump’s cavalier treatment of women and disregard of sexual harassment laws has ignited a fire among women the likes of which we have never seen before.  The power shift is monumental.  And it isn’t over yet as women are stepping forward in record numbers to not only say “Me Too” but to also rewrite the power balance in politics by throwing their hats into the ring in much higher numbers than we’ve seen in the past.  According to Charlotte Alter in her Time Magazine article, “There is an unprecedented surge of first-time female candidates, overwhelmingly Democratic, running for offices big and small, from the U.S. Senate and state legislatures to local school boards.”  Had it not been for Trump’s bad behavior and open misogyny, this dramatic change may never have taken place.  For this, I’m grateful for Trump.

     Similar shifts are happening in other areas as well, including immigration, race relations, and LGBTQ rights.  A good portion of the American electorate is on fire about these issues and having heated debates about policies and governmental positions that a good many of us ignored in the past.  Trump has ignited outrage, and that outrage has resulted in a flooding of interest and discourse that will ultimately lead to a better informed, and more INVOLVED, electorate.  For this, I’m grateful for Trump.

     So while I must grin and bear the current Trump presidency, I am uplifted by how Trump has catalyzed so many in this great country of ours, and I’m hopeful for how this catalyzation will change the face of our nation in 2018 and 2020.  For that, I’m truly grateful for Trump.

               

http://time.com/5107499/record-number-of-women-are-running-for-office/

Fallacy, fallacy, fallacy...

    In the Red State blog post, “Trump Promises To Take Obama-Sized Bite Out Of Second Amendment,” author David Leach argues that Trump has adopted democratic, and more specifically Obama’s, political views and procedures in an attempt to attack and ultimately abolish the 2nd Amendment.  His post is essentially a condemnation of Trump and Trump’s latest handling of issues surrounding gun control.

     Leach’s post is a classic example of logical fallacies at their best.  His piece is littered with ad hominem attacks.  He calls Trump the “New York liberal” and “Prima Donald,” and at one point refers to “Donald Trump and the party formerly known as Republican.”  All these attacks on Donald and the party certainly play well with loyal Leach readers, but these name-calling, character digs only cheapen and weaken his argument. 

     Leach also employs the straw man fallacy in his piece by dramatically oversimplifying the situation.  Leach claims that Trump plans “to destroy the right to bear arms.” He also discusses the bipartisan meeting Trump held on gun control but notably puts “bipartisan” in quotation marks to indicate there was nothing bipartisan about it.  He claims that during that meeting, noted democrat Dianne Feinstein was sitting so close to Trump that “she was practically [in] (sic) his lap.”  While this overblown rhetoric may feed into the fury of Leach’s fans, it’s Debate 101’s example of what not to do in an argument.

     And finally, Leach’s credentials themselves call into question his authority to speak on the subject.  I was unable to locate ANY biographical information on him other than the information that was listed at the bottom of the blog post which claims that Leach is the owner of “The Strident Conservative” which appears to be an online conservative website and radio show/podcast.  I was unable to even locate an “About” page which discusses the site’s development or Leach's credentials as a conservative commentator.  There is also no Wikipedia page on David Leach, further calling into question his reliability. 

Missing the Bullseye

     According to Wikipedia, E.J. Dionne Jr. is a journalist, political commentator, and “long-time op-ed columnist” for The Washington Post.  He is also “a Senior Fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution, a University Professor in the Foundations of Democracy and Culture at the McCourt School of Public Policy, and an NPR, MSNBC, and PBS commentator.”  His experience as a political commentator and political science academician is a testament to his credibility and knowledge in all things political. 

     In a recent Washington Post article “Why is only one side in the gun culture war required to show respect?,” Dionne Jr. argues that advocates for greater gun control laws are often required to be empathetic and respectful of the beliefs and fears of ardent 2^nd Amendment supporters, yet the opposite is not evident.  He claims that a similar call for empathy and respect is not demanded of those individuals with what he calls “extreme pro-gun views.” 

     While one could argue that Dionne Jr.’s intended audience is the collective of ardent 2^nd Amendment supporters he references, I suspect his intended audience is truly meant to be the everyman who doesn’t recognize that he is a pawn in the NRA’s scheme to keep us at each other’s throats.  In fact, Dionne Jr. highlights recent Quinnipiac polls which show much broader support for tightening of gun control laws across all Americans, gun owners and otherwise, thus emphasizing that we have far more common beliefs and goals on guns than is purported by the NRA, the media outlets which profit from them, and the politicians that are in its pockets.  This is a strong statement and one that I wish Dionne Jr. had truly made the centerpiece of his article.  Instead, his message gets muddied by erroneous talk of mutual respect and empathy and lack of “cross-cultural understanding.”  His own included statistics challenge that notion and point a solid finger of blame toward the NRA and its complicit partners.  Let’s call a spade a spade, Dionne Jr., and let go of the inflaming rhetoric about respect and empathy – it feeds right into the hands of the NRA. 

The White (woman) Devil

    In the Huffington Post’s opinion piece, “White Women Who Enable Trump Do Not Deserve The Benefit Of Your Doubt,” author Jessie Daniels argues that white women are not only not victims of the current administration’s policies and political views, but they are actually among the creators and perpetrators of them. She discusses how white women are often portrayed as victims of Trump’s policies and misogynistic perspectives, but she points out that 53% of white women voted for Trump in the 2016 election as testament to their culpability. Daniels illuminates how white privilege and gender bias have helped white women fly under the radar for years and talks about this specifically in relation to the kid-gloved treatment of Kellyanne Conway and Ivanka Trump. Ultimately, she presents white women as the wolves in sheep’s clothing for the Trump era and says they will have blood on their hands for whatever fallout may come for the country as a result.

    The reason I believe this is such an important article is that it’s stripping away a false notion much of the nation has regarding white women and shining a light on how white women, myself included, have benefited from white privilege and gender bias in a way that no white woman is really comfortable admitting. It shows how this ugly truth was a big component in getting us into this Trump debacle and how it will have long-lasting effects for the nation. It’s long past time we address this issue, as uncomfortable as it may be.

Hello!

Hello everyone - happy blogging!