This Will Not End Well

I am watching the campaign trail, anxious to make my voice heard as well as the voices of my constituents around me.  I am watching some of the Trump rallies and one of the things that I am observing is the anger that is being whipped up in the attendees.

The anger is evident…a permanent fixture in these events; and I keep wondering why.  After all, these are people who now believe that their voice is being heard.  These are people who not only believe that they won the 2016 election legitimately; they also believe that there is still a need to be angry because someone is persecuting their president.

It doesn’t matter that the president has serious character flaws.  It doesn’t matter that it appears that he may have committed treason to obtain the office of the presidency.  It doesn’t matter that the president is implementing policies that in theory appear to address the issues of the nation but in reality only address the concerns of the 30 percent that voted for him. 

None of that matters because one of the things that this presidency has shown is not just the flaws of this administration; but the societal flaws that we have as a nation.

What is happening in plain sight is that we as a nation are not who we thought we were.  We knew that bigotry existed, but it was okay as long as we didn’t discuss it out in the open.  Racism was okay as long as it was done in private; behind closed doors and it wasn’t obvious to everyone that it was still prevalent as it was at the turn of the century.  We didn’t have to discuss it as long as the recipients of racism didn’t say anything to address the illusion of fairness and equality.

But the anger that ran silently underneath the river of society is now bubbling to the surface in a way that seems to be reminiscent of the pre-civil rights era.  At these rallies, we are seeing people being whipped up into an angry frenzy of an attack that they perceive as being waged on them.

They are angry about the perception that a war is being waged on their very way of life…a way of life that does not have room for people of color.  They are angry that people of color are angry about this.  After all, why shouldn’t people of color be happy with all of the societal gains that have been made despite the fact that those very people will not be held to the same standard of our white counter parts?

The anger at the Trump rallies pose a problem much more dangerous than simply whipping people up into an emotional frenzy to attack a perceived threat.

The anger that has now come to the surface at immigrants, people of color, LGBTQ and Muslims will boil over should the 60% who did not vote for Trump attempt to take back our democracy.

This is not something that I look forward to but one that I anticipate, given the nature of the people that hold this administration in high regard.

In their mind, an attack on this administration is an attack on them.  They do not perceive that there is anything wrong with a president who projects the image that everyone is attacking him and therefore the enemy.

It has not dawned upon them that Trump could be emotionally and psychologically ill equipped to hold the office of the presidency.  They only see that this man is doing so many wonderful things in their eyes even if it is not apparent to everyone.

So just exactly what does someone who is filled with anger do when someone is attacking them? What happens when someone believes that the world is against them and they are backed into a corner?

Anger turns into action and people fight…even if the fight isn’t theirs.

 

If we take back our democracy and fight against authoritarian principles, do we not have that right as a people to do what we believe is right?  Do we not have the right to want to live in a land of equality and not perceived equality?

Do we not have the right to want to worship the way that we want to worship, marry who we wish to marry, work hard for the American Dream…whatever that may mean?

We do.

But on the flip side of the coin is that the people that attend these rallies do not believe that we do.  They are angry that we dare to challenge the ideology of someone that demands loyalty from all Americans even though he does not believe in the equality of all Americans.

And that’s what makes the anger at these rallies dangerous.  We are not dealing with people that respect other’s rights to their own opinions.  They view others that do not agree with them as “the other.”  They are the enemy.  Even more terrifying is that the media is equally deemed as the enemy.  Simply put, the media is supposed to report news..good or bad; positive or negative.  Unfortunately, for this president, much of what he does comes at the expense of other demographic groups.  And as long as it doesn’t negatively impact the livelihood of his base, then he will always be worth fighting for.

And that thought process in and of itself is truly frightening.

~ J.L. Whitehead