Trump and McCarthy

A tale.  In the wake of the 9/11 memorial weekend, an interesting look at Trump, why Trump, and what a Trump era could mean to the important issues of the day.   The conclusion of the rather lengthy piece is that among other things, it’s our bumbling, politically driven response to the terror attacks that set the stage for Trump.  There are likely many factors.  Count me as one of those types who are skeptical about boiling everything down to a single cause.  In this case, the popular partisan take that Trump is there because of the racist conservatives and the Right Wing media that stoked those racist and bigoted fires.

Not that this didn’t happen.  Not that racism doesn’t exist among conservatives.  It exists among most groups.  Not that the conservative media didn’t encourage it.  Nowadays it seems journalism encourages divisiveness and partisanship.  But there were other reasons as well.  Among those can’t be denied the rather confused responses to the terror threat, especially over the last eight years.

When you are a conservative American, and you watch a Muslim declare allegiance to an Islamic terror group before murdering dozens of people because of our Middle East policies, only to hear the mainstream culture turn the finger of blame you, that’s where your Trumps come from.  And this was just one case among many where we found out that the true enemy wasn’t Islamic terrorism, but us.  Or at least those in the ‘us’ category who reject modern, progressive ideals.  After watching such desperate attempts to score partisan points in the wake of legitimate threats to our society, it’s not hard to imagine why some would reach out to a candidate like Trump.  To quote Alfred, the Left ‘squeezed them, hammered them to the point of desperation. And in their desperation, they turned to a man they didn’t fully understand.’

Whether the ultimate loser will be America in general, or simply those who still hold to the importance of a conservative perspective, including the need to defeat global terrorism, remains to be seen.  The article ends with the novel idea that instead of dismissing Trump’s followers, perhaps fixing the leadership and the ruling class’s approach to the critical issues of our time that set the stage for Trump might be the better strategy.