CommentsMARK, MY WORDS - Former President Trump may have the singular distinction of going down in history as simultaneously the worst and best President the United States has ever had depending on who you are asking.
And just like that, in an opening sentence, Trump supporters and haters are brought together under a shared outrage, proving that we can all agree on something. You’re welcome.
Before you gather your pitchforks and torches though, ask yourself how long we can prevent this political civil war from becoming a real one. I’m not talking about some “Hollywood zombie- apocalypse summer camp” where boy meets girl, wins a game of zombie flag football and lives happily ever after. There would be no winner in that war, or at least not anyone you or I know.
Surely Trump’s past must give pause to any reasonable person seeking truth. Is it probable, or even possible, for a man to change so radically? A self-obsessed man who proudly wears his illness as a badge of honor? This is a man who has defrauded countless small businesses, people like you and I, simply because he could. This man who burned every bridge he ever built, saw an opportunity and took advantage of the Christian vote by exploiting their deep desire to overturn Roe vs Wade. He is a 21st century “orange calf” who’s primary motivation is adoration.
No one without a compelling reason to change a lifetime of grifting, does. He certainly did not suddenly become a man of the people out of a sense of patriotism or selflessness. If you want to save the party, then the party strategy needs to transition from “follow the leader “ to “follow the policy,” lead by a less divisive, more thoughtful and selfless candidate that moderate republicans and democrats can accept. We are in desperate need of a functional government populated by politicians who are less concerned about winning than the country as a whole succeeding.
Trump was a means to a beginning, not an end. The time has come to gather and patch the holes in the ship before we all sink together. We can argue over who gets to be Captain later, because if we don’t figure out a way to work and live together, there may not be a ship left to sail. Destroying a party by hitching the wagon to a megalomaniac cannot be the only expression of the disappointment that we all feel with our government. Higher bars must now be aspired to by all of us and idolatry must give way to the pursuit of good policy that is forged by the people and for the people. Such a lofty idea can only be realized if there is just one “people.” A nation divided will fall prey to those who see democracy as merely a means to an end as long as one has a lawyer with a nose for sniffing out loopholes.
The republican party suffers from an advertising crisis. The problem is not the ideas they are selling, but the people who are selling them. Conservative ideas are no more functional or valid than liberal ones, but when the party runs people like Trump and Herschel Walker, it is very difficult to separate the message from the messenger. Appearances are the totality of what forms public opinion these days, so it should alarm conservatives that the current republican party is populating congress with button- pusher “party over country” disciples. Instead of waking up to coffee with two lumps of social media and instantly looking for opportunities to oppose whatever the “other side” is saying, perhaps it is time to try considering the content of the message over your dislike of the messenger.
If being a conservative mandates allegiance to the Republican party, and being a Republican necessitates blind loyalty to Trump, then the party is already in danger of collapse. Bill Maher said “You can hate Trump, but you can’t hate the people who voted for him.” I concur. That vote was cast out of a frustration no less valid than that of the frustration on the far left. I empathize with those of you who held your nose as you punched that ticket, truly believing that it was your only choice, but we have arrived once again at a difficult crossroads.
As I see it, we are stuck with each other like it or not. The alternative is just too unpredictable and the potential losses just too great a risk. Systemic gas lighting by for-profit mass media, politicians and the corporations who ultimately hold all the strings, can easily be blamed for the rise of the radical right and left that currently hold our political system hostage, but was there another choice? Are we expected to sit back and allow the system to burn to the ground or be torn down election by election, one corrupt politician after the next seemingly delighting in showing us how low the bar can go?
Accounting and assessing must now take place. Though a victorious end to a war of digitally manufactured philosophy would have appeased some, we’ll have to settle for a hard fought seat at the table. Most of the half-cocked rhetoric responsible for the country’s division has been born, bred and spread to maintain endless participation in a dangerously fruitless but very lucrative digital simulation. Social media is less a medium for sharing ideas as it is a marketplace where ideas go to die.
The truth is, Trump is too bitter a pill for most to swallow and the time has come for him to fall on his sword, willingly or not. The choice is simple. Trump, or a reformed Republican party that values truth over propaganda, inclusive policy over cronyism and shows a willingness to welcome outsiders into a much bigger tent that doesn’t require wearing a MAGA hat for admission.
Holding on to animosity or assumption of malintent towards everyone who voted for Trump is childish. Those voters saw an opportunity, not a perfect one, but one that could finally give them a chance to be heard over the din of progressive self-righteousness that dominates so much of the country. Trump, though perhaps disingenuously, made residents of the (disrespectfully referred to) “fly-over states” feel seen instead of looked down upon, valued instead of discarded and spoken to instead of laughed at.
Well, no one should be laughing now. I’ve said it before, but it bares repeating. We cannot build up one faction of our society by destroying another. My grandmother used to say “never count someone else’s money.” I would add, never assume they did not earn it. Though success in a capitalist economy is biased towards the super-rich, condemning a system rather than rooting out the bad actors intent on gaming it will only bring worse actors who will spend more of their billions to ensure that history is written by their hand, and you will not be cast as the hero in this story.
If we continue to foster a disregard for truth, science and objectivity, we will eventually usher in a Huxleyan future where the issues we currently argue about will pale in comparison to a lost ability to distinguish fact from fiction. Resistance to accept the possibility that one may be mistaken, illuminates a misguided priority that will lead to our personal and collective downfalls. Our founding fathers distrusted political parties for fear of divisiveness. The Republican party would fare well to do to same.
(Mark Dutton was arguing politics with his parents since he was a pre-teen. Majored in psychology and left college in 3rd year on a 30 year magic bus trip around the world playing and writing music with some of the best in the biz. I am very grateful. 👽)