WHAT WE BECOME

by Ruth A. Sheets

Five years ago, descending on a “golden” escalator came reality star, self-proclaimed “great businessman” Donald J. Trump.  That day, the lives of many Americans as well as citizens of the world changed, and not always in a good way.

Donald Trump informed us and the many paid audience members (out-of-work actors will take almost any job so they can eat) that day that a new era of incivility was about to begin.  He claimed he was the guy who would “make America great again.” 

Mr. Trump told us that racism could now raise its head again with dignity, (as though it has ever really been hiding).  He, of course had no real plans, just a lot of platitudes and blaming, both of which we have come to know well.

That day was more than 20,000 lies ago, a series of white terrorist acts ago, a collection of unarmed black people killed by police ago, 121,000 lives lost to COVID19 ago.  We have begun to understand what “make America great again” actually means in practice; it means rich white people who are already privileged far beyond people of color get even more.  What does that look like?  How can one begin and truly hit even the high points?

- hundreds of inept, partisan, misogynist, homophobic, transphobic, xenophobic judges have been appointed to the Federal court system around the country and they have already begun their task of dismantling our justice system even further.  They have become the handmaids of a Conservative entity that is for its own continuation but has an agenda of “the parts of the status quo we like.”

- Armed white men are brazen enough to walk into a state capitol to demand businesses be reopened despite a deadly virus, and no charges are brought.  Those white armed men have become, in their own minds, the guardians of the needs of white people.

- Protesters who have had enough of the abuse by police are arrested while white vigilantes are allowed to roam after curfew.  For Mr. Trump’s gang, the protesters have become the enemy while the vigilantes become the guardians of the peace (or something like that).

- Executive orders are issued by Mr. Trump to force people back to work, but not to get protective equipment manufactured for the front-line workers.  The front-line workers have become the sacrificial lambs to the gods of “free market economics.”

- Mr. Trump has a terrible record with women, yet women seem to fawn over him.  He seems to find women who are willing to lie for him (his female press secretaries), to harm disadvantaged children for him (his female secretaries of Homeland Security and Education), for example.  Were these women always willing to lie for their men, to be so callous regarding other people or did they become that way by hanging around Mr. Trump and his male colleagues?   

We all know these things and so much more, but what concerns me is that this era of Trump as impacted the American character in some really unpleasant ways, thank goodness, in some good ways too.  This is how it has affected me.  I suspect others have experienced similar transformations.  I worry that we as a nation are not becoming what we could be, mostly because we are driven to go along.

- Before Donald Trump’s entrance into the presidential campaign, I rarely swore or used words harsher than damn or hell on occasion.  Now, I have a rather extensive swear vocabulary that even includes the “f” word.  As I was reading about something Mr. Trump did yesterday, I caught myself and am promising to curb this new speech, but I suspect curbing it is going to be really difficult.  I don’t really like what I have become in terms of anger and frustration.

- I regularly think and say REPUBLICANS DON’T CARE and REPUBLICANS ARE EVIL.  I have read a lot about how our brains work and that a lot of our actions as a social species pull us toward belonging, fitting in.  Donald Trump is the new game in town for them and they are drawn to him like a moth to a flame.  They love him for things they hated in Mr. Obama or other, Democrats, but when Mr. Trump says it or does it, “How profound.”  I still can’t seem to forgive them for voting for someone they knew was a racist, misogynistic, lying cheat.  I keep asking myself, “In what world would this kind of person be an acceptable leader of anyone?”  I have become someone who can’t forgive people I don’t even know for their ignorance and drive to preserve their privilege, but even more for their unwillingness to listen or think beyond their bubble of security.  

- Mr. Trump as given Evangelical Christians permission to be exactly the kind of people Christians are taught to try to change, to convert to be loving people in the image of Christ.  Some media covers them as though they are all of Christianity and the Evangelicals believe they are.  They have been joined by Roman Catholics who are having their own problems with who they are and what they will allow and still call people Catholic.  They have become smug and I, as a Christian minister,  have become resentful of their power in our government and the media.

- I have always been something of an activist, speaking up, getting into some trouble and causing some trouble at school, in the workplace, and in general.  Mr. Trump’s actions have forced me  to become even more of a supporter of the people standing for rights.  My physical blindness and fear have kept me from being in the streets, but my heart is with Black Lives Matter, and I push voting with my students and with people I meet.  I am becoming a fighter and I like that role.

- I have introduced concepts of leadership and activism into my curriculum.  I actively work to stir my students to action.  I try to serve as a mentor, but I have a particular goal, that my students will have the rights they deserve as human beings in a society that would prefer to toss them away into permanent jobs at McDonalds or Wal-Mart, cells in for-profit prisons, any low-paying crap job that “no white person would do.”  Learning about American history is not enough.  Claiming the rights that should come with being created equal demands the students’ energy as well as the energy and efforts of all of us.  I am becoming even more of an activist teacher.

- People are taking to the streets in ways they have not done since the 1960s.  Back then, many of us were hopeful that the necessary changes would happen quickly, but we as a nation got distracted with a senseless destructive war, we elected a lying cheating Richard Nixon who damped down the energy through his illegal acts that led to his resignation.  We lost momentum.  There will be a lot of pressure put to stop the momentum this time too and scared rich straight white men will be in the forefront.  Today’s young protesters have enormous energy and are becoming even stronger because they have the “right” on their side.  We older adults need to become even more supportive of their actions.

- We have allowed our United States Senate under the direction of Mitch McConnell, self-appointed guardian of the frightened conservative white people, for many years to make sure that as little aid as possible gets to those most in need, and as much as possible to the least in need.  The Republicans in the Senate just can’t stand up to him.  I keep wondering how these mostly men, but a few white women, elected by hopeful constituents have become such cowards, so against what the (in their eyes) sacred founders intended.  Does it take one selfish bully like McConnell to cause the transformation or were those Republicans already prone to cowardice and uncaring before they were elected or even elected because of those qualities?

- We know from their past that people like Steve Miller and Trump’s various cabinet members are hateful or just dismissive of people of color, immigrants (often seen as the same), women, LGBTQ persons, liberals, protesters, children, low-wage workers, and pretty much everyone but rich, straight, mostly Christian,  white men.  They became who they are long before they hooked up with Mr. Trump.  He just gave them a larger audience for their hate and fear tactics.  I can’t help but wonder what this amount of undeserved power will enable them to become and who else will be hurt.

Mr. Trump wants to become Dictator Don and his Steves and Mikes want to be his henchmen, steeping in Mr. Trump’s power and money.  They have become addicted to both which means they regularly have to get their fix.  When they do that, all of America suffers, even the rich straight white ones because there will come a reckoning and it might not be pretty.  A whole lot of Americans have had enough.  Many are becoming more willing to tear some things down to make something new and hopefully more equal for all Americans.  I’m with them in spirit if not in body.  Knowing this, what will Mr. Trump’s entourage become?  What will they be willing to do?  We already know they won’t hesitate to lie, cheat, destroy the media (except for FoxNews, of course), fill concentration camps with kids and others they don’t like, dismiss criminal charges against their friends, and more.  What are their next steps and what will we need to become to stop them?