The Donald Trump Candidacy: A Matter of Representation

If we are to say that Donald Trump implicitly represents White people in electoral politics, then we can equate him to leaders of other racial groups in terms of his significance and symbolic status. Historical leaders and figureheads of other racial groups are given public holidays, and must be discussed in hushed tones of reverence. And yet no public slander is too low from certain quarters when it comes to Trump. We have all heard minorities sneer, “Make America White Again,” as though they have cleverly exposed a sinister plot that Trump will actually do something to represent Whites.

Doesn’t President Obama rather blatantly represent anyone who is non-White? As far as I can tell, his Justice Department literally refuses to prosecute any minorities. The IRS, under the leadership of the detestable Lois Lerner, has targeted tea party groups who represent tax paying citizens, with provocative names like “Patriot.” We’re obviously under siege from our own government.

Really, how did we get to this place where it takes a certain daring to leave the house with a Trump t-shirt on? If you want to know who has power, they say, look at who you’re not allowed to criticize. That is true, and if we are to ask who cannot be criticized, we would have to say everyone (except us). Incidentally, the extent to which these groups are worthy of criticism may perhaps go some ways as to explain why it is verboten. But if you ask who is not allowed to have representation, you would get the inverse response.

Representation. That is what are system is supposed to be about; so we were taught in high school civics class. The media, however, has a way of making things topsy-turvy. Washington Post journalist Michael Gerson continues in the tradition of “the Big Lie,” and opines on Face the Nation:

The question is here whether the Republican candidate for president is fit to be president. Whether he has pursued a division, a nativism, that is at the center of American politics that can really change our public life in destructive ways, fundamentally destructive ways. And under those circumstances, you’re not talking about this issue or that issue, you’re talking about fitness, you’re talking about can this man represent America in the world, can he represent all our citizens in this process. And those are open questions right now given the way he has gotten to this point.

It’s interesting the way the media — and the Washington Post is a very good example of what Trump refers to as “the dishonest media” — considers any representation of White interests to be an affront to our democracy; whereas the current administration’s apparent hostility to Whites does not raise any “open questions” as to whether Obama can “represent all our citizens.” This is the “Big Lie” in its essence: an audacious assertion which is diametrically opposed to the reality on the ground.
Alas, we’re at a crossroads. Mexicans sense that they are basically about to take over the country demographically, aided by their seemingly endless progeny. They also sense that they are beyond reproach, untouchable as far as public discourse goes. They are so used to being handled with kid gloves that the ascendance of Trump has hit them like a ton of bricks.

They are accustomed to nothing other than slavish praise from the American public, and all the sudden they were called out, to an appropriate degree, for the transgressions of some from their group back in Trump’s announcement speech. Infowars made a clever video in which every one of Trump’s “offensive” claims about illegal immigrants is juxtaposed with video footage of immigrants corroborating each claim in living color.

Regardless, Hispanics were triggered. And how often are we triggered, to use that word ironically? Where is our public forum to yell and jump around like lunatics raging against our lot in life? Up till now our standard bearers have given us the inspiring mantra that “Democrats are the real racists.” The country is literally at stake, and we’re playing tit for tat, like some petty adolescents.
The perception among the perhaps lesser-educated Hispanics right now is that Trump wants to deport all Hispanics, full stop. Let’s call that a failure to grasp nuance. You’re either 100 percent for diversity, or you’re Hitler — although most could not accurately place World War II within fifty years of the historical event. Even the most illiterate immigrants, though, have caught on that the magic word “Hitler” is something with which they can bludgeon White people into a stupor, whereby we will immediately acquiesce to whichever of their whims is currently at issue.

There is optimistic chatter that Trump will attract more Blacks than usual, and perhaps he will; nonetheless, I have to report that from what I have seen Blacks generally feel as though they are somehow going to be persecuted under a Trump presidency. For them, he is simply a racist, based on, who knows, a tweet from five years ago? And much the same, Blacks are very quickly triggered when they are discussed with anything other than slavish praise. When I point out, mischievously yes, that Mike Tyson has endorsed Trump; well that seems to be the best argument to give them some pause, which I guess says something about values….

The more downscale Hispanics in particular often joke(?) about killing Trump. If that sounds hyperbolic, let me just say that I have heard this perhaps a dozen times as a direct witness, and I’m sure we have all seen something similar on You Tube. So if we are to have a leader that represents us, that is our champion, their instinct seems to be to murder that leader. That’s food for thought.
Should he become president, how will these murderous murmurings be adjudicated? Swiftly and justly, one hopes. There is also this mantra, “Fuck Trump,” that we hear at protests and elsewhere. I’m afraid this is the degree of sophistication which our political opponents are capable of. It is quite nakedly tribal (like the Mexican flags) and aggressive. Could you imagine moving to another country and openly saying that you would like to kill the next possible president? Would you have the audacity? I wouldn’t. Apparently we have created the most brazen, the most sullen underclass that is ready to slander us and our leaders in the most despicable terms possible. It is instructive to take a step back and ponder, “How did we get here?”

I want to just leave that as “an open question,” to use Mr. Gerson’s insidious language. There is so much to say about it, but it is also important to pause and recognize just where we are at this juncture, that as tax-paying, law-abiding citizens, we cannot dare express our support of a politician who stands for us, and who all things considered, is pretty moderate when put into an historical context. How did we get here?