BILL LEE
October 29, 2020
October 29, 2020
I came across an interesting analysis of the relationship of Trump and his base recently. It sought to explain why Trump, against any sort of reason, would continue to rant and rave about locking people up, fomenting racial animosity among the alt-right gangs, pandering to the right wing so-called Christian fundamentalists, denying the Pandemic and climate change denial. Essentially the theory suggests that rather than Trump manipulating the members of his base into accepting his absurd farrago of anger and twaddle, it is Trump, with his pitifully weak ego and sub-standard intelligence, who is in bondage to the. In effect it is his need for affirmation that locks him into being a one trick pony whose only trick is to spew out venomous excrement to feed a demand for “punishment” of institutions and people who the base members feel are responsible for their lack of sense of self worth and agency.
But can we venture a bit deeper, or wider. Is it possible that Trump stumbled on a way to appeal to a constituency whose members feel themselves diminished and cast aside by political elites, “mainstream media” and academic snobs? We know that rage and anxiety are not conducive to coherent thinking. Could some people become so angry and full of anxiety that they had difficulty in thinking coherently? Were they experiencing so much anxiety and anger that the were disposed to follow any individual who seemed able to take on, and punish, those who they had come to believe had robbed them of there sense of agency and security than deal with the complex problems behind their pain? Were they yearning for some champion to affirm the myths on which their feelings of self worth and dignity have depended who would vanquish the myth destroyers?
The Trump faithful are by no means a uniform crowd. While they may have the same feelings of rage, they are not one single collection of individuals with the same focus for sense of injury, resentment and rage. There are a number that can be identified can be identified. They do not all share the same perception of the cause of their anger and resentment but they all share a similar general sense of grievance at being robbed of sort of a birthright and feel the same searing emotions of other groups. In this view Trump, the aggressive bloviator, identified actual state and society actors who fit the image of the tormentors at the root of their feelings of powerless inadequacy and frustration. The “list” presented here is not meant to be complete but rather is to provide a range of the publics who are so hurt and angry they have taken a cheep grifter and snake oil salesman as their leader. Some of these citizens of the USA were, and are furious, with some pretty solid justification, about an economy that has left them far behind. And if they didn’t identify all the villains, they could not fail to see some of them. These were those SOB’s that obviously obviously wielded power and thus in Washington, the establishment, the fat cat politicians and those overpaid civil servants were. Another group that were pretty angry were the males who were feeling threatened by the challenge to their status as strong males who ran the family and got the best jobs. They could see and feel this status being taken away as the traditional patriarchy crumbled away. Obviously, the Women’s Movement was a target for there antagonism but they also those in power, responsible for allowing women to change the game of male dominance, the pansies of the pansies who belonged to that Eastern establishment, and their ‘liberal’ media and worst of all the Democratic Party. Another challenged and aggrieved constituency were the population white people who feared the loss of their positions of advantage and supremacy over racialized groups. The blame here of course fell first on the marchers and organizations advocating to equality and complaining about systemic racism. They also identified the usual suspects however, “Big Government”, that Washington establishment, politicians and those lazy civil servants for giving in to the “radicals” and “politically correct whiners”. Another group is made up of fundamentalist Christians who have been experiencing challenge to their traditional ascendency. Their tormentors comprise the wide range of godless atheists, agnostics and those immigrants with foreign religions of course; but included are heretical ‘liberal’ Christians oriented to the soft New Testament messages of love and inclusiveness than to the blood and vengeance messages of the Old Testament. They loathe each of those constituencies without doubt, but they also had it in for the gang of people they saw as ignoring the good old religious traditions and allowing secularism to creep into the schools where their children would be brain washed. These of course were the people the secular unbelievers of the Washington political establishment, those lazy civil servants, the “liberal” media and the stuck-up people with post secondary school diplomas and degrees. These people were claiming that important issues should have been input by people who have studied and spent years studying them (for example Dr. Anthony Fauci, the respected epidemiologist) rather than those with good old conservative values and, concern for the economy; made them feel dumb and pushed aside. Rather than doing some reading and becoming more informed on the issues they found it easier to blame the people they saw as the power holders, the Washington establishment, politicians and those dreaded civil servants.
The list is not a full one but is illustrative. It does suggest a not insignificant percentage of an offended, frustrated and angry part of the USA. This is the public that that was out their waiting for some sort of vindication of their anger and for someone who would fight back against the agents of their frustrations and disempowerment. If one is in a fight there can be a sense of aliveness if one is really engaged in hitting back at one’s enemies. Trump managed to sell the story that he was angry like them, that he was with them in the struggle and, even, against all the evidence, that he was like them. If he could not always make their lives better, and certainly the evidence suggests that he has not made very many lives better, and indeed has made many more, worse, he has seemed to them to be leading a war, their war, for remaking meaning in their lives and re-establishing the past they thought they had. In their view he has at least taken their enemies down a peg and inflicted at least some severe discomfort. None of this may have really changed anything. In the long term it may amount to no more than a bloody nose (while leaving the capitalist monied class as is). Coal mines are still closing; racialized groups are continuing to march and gain allies in pursuit of social justice which will clearly result in loss of white advantage. And, at this writing, the pandemic is still taking lives at an unnecessary and unprecedented pacei and decimatingii the USA economy to boot. They are not better off and are not likely going to be.
That may be the possibility why we are seeing in Trumps remarkably respectable pole numbers going into the election. He may not win but he still has lots of support. Trump clearly has no idea that will fix anything but the old reality tv star has stumbled into a role that provides him with the attention and affirmation (Mary Trump is clear about this) even adulation his ego craves. In this role he can flail about spouting ridiculous mendacities and messages of hatred and his base will continue to cheer its affirmation.
Think about it, if you’re feeling powerless and “mad as hell, and feeling you’re not going to take it any more” iii that can maintain your energy in the struggle It can keep you hoping that you’ll see some more bloody noses and keep you cheering; and in all probability keep you voting.
_______________________________________________
Resources
Trump Mary (2020) To Much and Never Enough. Simon & Schuster.
i It is reported recently that there are approximately 1,390,000,000 cases and over 125,000 deaths in the USA. https://www.google.com/search?biw=1500&bih=890&ei=ICabX6PIN4LHtQbqvqPQDQ&q=Recent+covid-19+US+numbers&oq=Recent+covid-19+US+numbers&gs_lcp=CgZwc3ktYWIQAzoECAAQR1DSWFj5gAFgq4cBaABwAngAgAFPiAG1BJIBATiYAQCgAQGqAQdnd3Mtd2l6yAECwAEB&sclient=psy-ab&ved=0ahUKEwij2K6U0trsAhWCY80KHWrfCNoQ4dUDCA0&uact=5
ii The drop between April and June was so severe that even though the third quarter increase was large, it's starting from a much lower base. Comparing the size of the economy in the third quarter to the pre-pandemic fourth quarter of last year hammers this home: Overall, economic activity is still $670 billion, or 3.5% below where it was at the end of 2019. https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/29/economy/gdp-report-third-quarter/index.html.
iii The Mad Prophet of the Air Waves, Howard Beal, in the Film NETWORK.
But can we venture a bit deeper, or wider. Is it possible that Trump stumbled on a way to appeal to a constituency whose members feel themselves diminished and cast aside by political elites, “mainstream media” and academic snobs? We know that rage and anxiety are not conducive to coherent thinking. Could some people become so angry and full of anxiety that they had difficulty in thinking coherently? Were they experiencing so much anxiety and anger that the were disposed to follow any individual who seemed able to take on, and punish, those who they had come to believe had robbed them of there sense of agency and security than deal with the complex problems behind their pain? Were they yearning for some champion to affirm the myths on which their feelings of self worth and dignity have depended who would vanquish the myth destroyers?
The Trump faithful are by no means a uniform crowd. While they may have the same feelings of rage, they are not one single collection of individuals with the same focus for sense of injury, resentment and rage. There are a number that can be identified can be identified. They do not all share the same perception of the cause of their anger and resentment but they all share a similar general sense of grievance at being robbed of sort of a birthright and feel the same searing emotions of other groups. In this view Trump, the aggressive bloviator, identified actual state and society actors who fit the image of the tormentors at the root of their feelings of powerless inadequacy and frustration. The “list” presented here is not meant to be complete but rather is to provide a range of the publics who are so hurt and angry they have taken a cheep grifter and snake oil salesman as their leader. Some of these citizens of the USA were, and are furious, with some pretty solid justification, about an economy that has left them far behind. And if they didn’t identify all the villains, they could not fail to see some of them. These were those SOB’s that obviously obviously wielded power and thus in Washington, the establishment, the fat cat politicians and those overpaid civil servants were. Another group that were pretty angry were the males who were feeling threatened by the challenge to their status as strong males who ran the family and got the best jobs. They could see and feel this status being taken away as the traditional patriarchy crumbled away. Obviously, the Women’s Movement was a target for there antagonism but they also those in power, responsible for allowing women to change the game of male dominance, the pansies of the pansies who belonged to that Eastern establishment, and their ‘liberal’ media and worst of all the Democratic Party. Another challenged and aggrieved constituency were the population white people who feared the loss of their positions of advantage and supremacy over racialized groups. The blame here of course fell first on the marchers and organizations advocating to equality and complaining about systemic racism. They also identified the usual suspects however, “Big Government”, that Washington establishment, politicians and those lazy civil servants for giving in to the “radicals” and “politically correct whiners”. Another group is made up of fundamentalist Christians who have been experiencing challenge to their traditional ascendency. Their tormentors comprise the wide range of godless atheists, agnostics and those immigrants with foreign religions of course; but included are heretical ‘liberal’ Christians oriented to the soft New Testament messages of love and inclusiveness than to the blood and vengeance messages of the Old Testament. They loathe each of those constituencies without doubt, but they also had it in for the gang of people they saw as ignoring the good old religious traditions and allowing secularism to creep into the schools where their children would be brain washed. These of course were the people the secular unbelievers of the Washington political establishment, those lazy civil servants, the “liberal” media and the stuck-up people with post secondary school diplomas and degrees. These people were claiming that important issues should have been input by people who have studied and spent years studying them (for example Dr. Anthony Fauci, the respected epidemiologist) rather than those with good old conservative values and, concern for the economy; made them feel dumb and pushed aside. Rather than doing some reading and becoming more informed on the issues they found it easier to blame the people they saw as the power holders, the Washington establishment, politicians and those dreaded civil servants.
The list is not a full one but is illustrative. It does suggest a not insignificant percentage of an offended, frustrated and angry part of the USA. This is the public that that was out their waiting for some sort of vindication of their anger and for someone who would fight back against the agents of their frustrations and disempowerment. If one is in a fight there can be a sense of aliveness if one is really engaged in hitting back at one’s enemies. Trump managed to sell the story that he was angry like them, that he was with them in the struggle and, even, against all the evidence, that he was like them. If he could not always make their lives better, and certainly the evidence suggests that he has not made very many lives better, and indeed has made many more, worse, he has seemed to them to be leading a war, their war, for remaking meaning in their lives and re-establishing the past they thought they had. In their view he has at least taken their enemies down a peg and inflicted at least some severe discomfort. None of this may have really changed anything. In the long term it may amount to no more than a bloody nose (while leaving the capitalist monied class as is). Coal mines are still closing; racialized groups are continuing to march and gain allies in pursuit of social justice which will clearly result in loss of white advantage. And, at this writing, the pandemic is still taking lives at an unnecessary and unprecedented pacei and decimatingii the USA economy to boot. They are not better off and are not likely going to be.
That may be the possibility why we are seeing in Trumps remarkably respectable pole numbers going into the election. He may not win but he still has lots of support. Trump clearly has no idea that will fix anything but the old reality tv star has stumbled into a role that provides him with the attention and affirmation (Mary Trump is clear about this) even adulation his ego craves. In this role he can flail about spouting ridiculous mendacities and messages of hatred and his base will continue to cheer its affirmation.
Think about it, if you’re feeling powerless and “mad as hell, and feeling you’re not going to take it any more” iii that can maintain your energy in the struggle It can keep you hoping that you’ll see some more bloody noses and keep you cheering; and in all probability keep you voting.
_______________________________________________
Resources
Trump Mary (2020) To Much and Never Enough. Simon & Schuster.
i It is reported recently that there are approximately 1,390,000,000 cases and over 125,000 deaths in the USA. https://www.google.com/search?biw=1500&bih=890&ei=ICabX6PIN4LHtQbqvqPQDQ&q=Recent+covid-19+US+numbers&oq=Recent+covid-19+US+numbers&gs_lcp=CgZwc3ktYWIQAzoECAAQR1DSWFj5gAFgq4cBaABwAngAgAFPiAG1BJIBATiYAQCgAQGqAQdnd3Mtd2l6yAECwAEB&sclient=psy-ab&ved=0ahUKEwij2K6U0trsAhWCY80KHWrfCNoQ4dUDCA0&uact=5
ii The drop between April and June was so severe that even though the third quarter increase was large, it's starting from a much lower base. Comparing the size of the economy in the third quarter to the pre-pandemic fourth quarter of last year hammers this home: Overall, economic activity is still $670 billion, or 3.5% below where it was at the end of 2019. https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/29/economy/gdp-report-third-quarter/index.html.
iii The Mad Prophet of the Air Waves, Howard Beal, in the Film NETWORK.
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