Richard Nixon had his “silent majority.” Ronald Reagan had his “moral majority.” Now Donald Trump has his “angry majority.”
President Trump, campaigning in Kentucky, told the crowd, “The Democrats’ outrageous conduct has created an angry majority that will vote many ‘do-nothing’ Democrats out of office in 2020, make no mistake. They are coming after the Republican Party and me because I’m fighting for you. They don’t like it.”
The majority is angry, all right, but a great deal of that anger is directed at him.
In this week’s elections, Trump’s speech was evidently not enough to re-elect the Republican governor he was campaigning for, though other Kentucky races went Republican. The once solidly-Republican commonwealth of Virginia was swept by the Democrats, who now control both houses of the legislature, as well as the governorship, for the first time in a generation. Pennsylvania, a key state in the president’s re-election hopes, went big for the Democrats.
I suppose the big question in the presidential election will be which side is the angriest? Or, put another way, are there more people angrier at Trump than there are people angrier at the Democrats? Which Democratic candidate will be most effective in channelling anger against Trump, while being the catalyst for the least anger against himself or herself.
I’m not saying there aren’t plenty of reasons to be angry. I’m just feeling nostalgic for the silent majority and the moral majority.
Photo of Donald Trump with President Ronald Reagan from mccauleys-corner via Flickr, Creative Commons License
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