Friday, November 18, 2016

Trump is the Apotheosis of White Demographic Decline Derangement Syndrome

White Demographic Decline Derangement Syndrome has its roots in three phenomena: (1) the plutocrat class's neoliberal restructuring of the economy to enrich themselves and let the American working/rural middle class fall into poverty and despair; (2) the civil rights movements that required positions of economic and social privilege previously reserved largely for white men be opened up for equal access by women and people of color; and (3) demographic shifts that will make "non-Hispanic white" people less than 50% of the population in two or three decades.

Predictably, "conservative" con men like Rush Limbaugh conflated these historical trends and led many white "conservatives" to the dumbed-down belief that the downward trajectory of their lives was attributable to (2) and (3) rather than (1). Thus, for "conservative" white Americans, the rigging of the economy in favor of concentrated wealth is not the problem, the problem is fairness and equality for women and minorities. That "problem" was manifest in particular by the election of a half-black, half-liberal Democrat from the alien state of Hawaii. In response to Obama's election, "conservatives" – brainwashed into buzzword thinking by decades in the truthiness bubbles of AM hate radio and the Fox News cult, and misled by anti-democracy officials in the Republican Party – demanded "their" country back.

Now, in the wake of Republican-crafted voter suppression in several key states, a minority of mostly white voters has elected a reality TV bully-clown who promises to fix their problems. Establishment media types are urging us to "understand" Trump voters and exhibit "compassion." I'm sure many will disagree with this, but: Fuck that. All you have to do is listen to what Trump has actually been saying for the last year to know that a vote for Trump is a vote for deranged, fact-free us-versus-them hate – based on what he says. Pick any Trump rally from the last six months, listen to the whole thing, and decide whether voting for this erratic elitist lying bully is anything other than a despicable, hate-filled act of bad citizenship. (People are free to cast a blank ballot if they can't vote for the other candidates.) This is a key question: what kind of people rally around and empower a bully? Supporting a bully is beyond deplorable, it is morally bankrupt. Bullying violates the Golden Rule. It seems pretty straightforward to me: If you are or support a bully, you're not a good person. I don't need to "understand" such people any better to know that I would prefer not to be members of the same community with them. (And, based on where I live, it's why I have a shotgun.)

I am not implying America under a Clinton presidency would have been some land of milk and honey. She is part of the neoliberal Establishment that helped produce this mess. And four more years of partisan obstruction, witch-hunt investigations, and red versus blue media bubbles would have been miserable. But unless your goal is to bring on America's collapse (as was surely Julian Assange's), it is deranged to give power to an angry narcissistic reality TV clown. At least worst (assuming his erratic, egomaniacal Orange Julius Caesar instincts are reined in), Trump will be a frontman for the total control of government by a ruthless, billionaire-funded minority party looking to wipe out Medicare and Social Security and worker rights and any aspect of government that moves wealth toward the vast majority of people rather than allowing it to concentrate at the very top as "the market" desires and from where the "right people" can control how much trickles down. I hope I'm wrong (and crazy things will surely start happening soon), but I'm seeing this dark future as the apotheosis of White Demographic Decline Derangement Syndrome -- Trump is "conservative" white America's last stand and like a lot of last stands, it is a murder-suicide mission.