By Ruth A. Sheets
November 4, 2024
What many of us have noticed over the past decade or so is that Donald Trump's voice has a cadence that can almost mesmerize people into thinking first, that he is strong, then that he is going to do something for them, then that he will gladly identify for them the people they should despise, if not actually hate. That seems to be comforting for a lot of people who have bought the myth of "the American dream." They believe that they have a platter that must be filled with all the goodies they are sure they deserve: a job that pays a lot with little thinking involved, a family with no real challenges, and a house in the suburbs surrounded only by people who look and think as they do. That "dream" has not been a reality for more than a few people for a long time, but reality is not what Trump's message is about.
I keep hearing that Harris does not reach the "working" people as Trump does, while she is the one who is closest to and who has done far more for the working people than Trump has or ever will. It is ironic that a man who has never worked a day in his life would claim to be for the workingpeople. He proved with a McDonald’s stunt and one that had something to do with a garbage truck that he has no clue. He couldn’t have made change for those pretend customers at Micky D’s and couldn’t really manage the fryer either, but there are actually people out here who believe he worked there longer than Kamala Harris did, a woman who worked a summer at a real, open McDonalds. I don’t know what that garbage truck thing was except to maybe claim that America is garbage. I am wondering why he would want to rule garbage, but maybe, that says more about Trump than this nation.
It seems to me the thing Trump really taps into is white fear and loathing. White people for centuries have been told and promised that we are the best, the brightest, the most valuable, the most righteous beings on Earth and that everyone else is less, much less, even animals. What amazes me is that any white Americans have been able to move beyond that place of privilege. Many have, but many have not. We see that privilege among Trump supporters who don't even need an honest reason for supporting a man who literally cares nothing for them and has told them so, a man who is an insurrectionist, a breaker of his oath, a constant liar, a convicted criminal, an adjudicated rapist, and the rest. They just know he is white, can point out to them the people they should blame for their problems, who lets them ignore history, even recent history that has RICH white people sending their former jobs overseas to countries where people of color can do the work far cheaper, who will tolerate appalling conditions American workers, even those without unions, would not tolerate.
Our media platforms have decided that Trump is a useful tool to give their rich benefactors whatever they want, so they "sanewash" Trump and diminish whatever Harris does and has done. It's a neat little package for whitedom.
Where does this put us? Tomorrow is Election Day. The utter ignorance and bad faith of many of our media platforms could help put Trump, an empty suit with a bunch of unscrupulous sycophants back in the White House, this time with no one on board who will stand in defense of our nation, our people, and our democracy, and against Trump’s destruction and ignorance.
So, as always, it's about power and money and who we want to hold those potentially destructive forces, and what we will permit them to do with them. It's also about who Whitedom will blame and what they will do if they don't get what they believe they want and deserve. Trump and friends are much like toddlers in a bad parenting situation, toddlers who will terrorize the family if no one stops them. These toddlers have the sensibilities of 3-year-olds but with all sorts of weapons and folks letting them do whatever damage they can. Who in the world wants to have toddlers in charge of our government? I don’t understand how anyone would.