Populism In US Politics: Trump Making America Hate Again
0
0
Populism in US politics put Donald Trump in the White House. The buffoon turned out to be an incompetent and corrupt president who lasted just one term. The GOP MAGA politicians are right wing extremists who appear to be unfamiliar with the laws governing the country. The US political system has been gamed by big business with members of congress and senators bought by vested interests. Populism has backed MAGA candidates as an antidote to this but they appear to be on the wrong side to achieve any real change.
The Populist Narratives in America
The American population, especially on the conservative side of politics, seems to be easily manipulated on issues of race, gender identity, and religion. The dominant white cohort is extremely sensitive about their sense of entitlement. Right wing politicians play the race card when they dog whistle up tropes like critical race theory in American schools. Anti-wokeism plays well politically with older white males around the country. Americans are great believers in conspiracies, indeed, it may well be one of their archetypal narratives. The government, it seems to them, is always out to get them. Whether this stems from pre-revolutionary times against their British masters, I am not sure.
Anti-Woke Populist Stories Playing To Trumpists
Totalitarian politics and fascist regimes always have a villain for their subjects to focus their frustrations upon. Someone to hate and blame. Conservatives stir up hate for liberals, non-white activists, women who don’t know their place, LGBTQI+ folk, and foreigners taking their jobs. In rural areas, there is traditional enmity for the federal government, as these people don’t see themselves as part of the big picture when it comes to America. These folks want to pick and choose the parts of America they belong to. They resent paying federal taxes on this basis, as anything that doesn’t fit in with their conception of America is a waste of taxpayer’s money. The religious right fit into this category, especially sovereign citizens who see their idea of God as the only true authority above them.
Guns and the place of the gun in American culture is another archetypal narrative. The gun played an important part in the founding of the US, in the revolution with armed citizens taking on the British. The gun is idealised as an iconic symbol of how the west was won in the war against the indigenous Indians. Gunslingers are the heroes of generations of small children and many of them never truly grew up. America made guns and gloried in their use. The gun provided each citizen with a perceived instrument of power and protection from danger. In reality, it has created an overly armed population increasing hundred fold the chances of dying from such weapons. Hollywood and the entertainment business, more generally, rewrites the gun story every minute of the day. Guns star in movies, TV shows and video games ad nauseum. Guns save Americans from aliens, vampires and supernatural monsters in the celluloid world. The gun is most often portrayed as the solution to most problems in most stories shown on screens across the country. Thousands of innocent children die from shooting massacres every year in America. Despite this the gun lobby, representing gun makers and users, stave off any political action via buying elected representatives in congress and the senate. Guns and conspiracies go hand in hand for those crafting the narratives driving American fears and paranoia.
Populism in politics is fed by stories painting opponents and their causes as villains. Liberals are going to infect your children in their schools with ideas about the evils of racism and how whites hurt black people in America over hundreds of years. Black people are going to be given unfair advantages of your white children in an America run by liberals. These are the fear mongering tropes being run around so called critical race theory. The messed up facts in this kind of messaging speaks volumes about the state of America in some parts. Reversing the roles of victim and perpetrator to promote unfounded and exaggerated fears is what the agents of divisiveness wish to achieve. To believe these distortions of the truth by denying historical facts indicates a lack of integrity and an emotive investment in fear and paranoia within the believers.
Observing the supporters at Trump pollical rallies around America I don’t see many starving white Americans, indeed, they all look pretty well fed. They are volubly dissatisfied with their lot despite their well fed status. They obviously have a bone to pick with those in power but seem too dumb to see that Trump has been one of those in power for years. Trump has been a property developer avoiding paying tax and cutting corners whenever possible. He is no champion of the American underdog. These Trump supporters are either disingenuous or really stupid. These white Americans may be at the bottom of the dominant cohort ladder but they have been standing on the backs of blacks, women, poor foreigners and the like for generations. Somehow, they want to kick and blame those below them, rather than the people at the top screwing them blind. They have been fed on the idea that the pie is only so big and if they want a bigger slice, then, it comes out of the mouths of the disadvantaged. American capitalism is a dog eat dog story in the experience of these folk.
The land of the free seems to have a strong undercurrent of hate and prejudice. Black-hating and Jew-hating have lengthy traditions in America. Why is that? Why do those who have persecuted these peoples hold onto such ill feeling and pass it onto their children? Why do the abusers go on claiming to be the victims in such things? America is at a crossroads in terms of where it is going and how the rest of the world views it. Populism in US politics is splitting the land in two once again. Will there be another civil war under the banner of racial hate and divisiveness? Trump is never going to make America great again only make America hate again.
by Robert Sudha Hamilton
©WordsForWeb
