America, My America - Part 2

Part 2: America Besieged

Today, the idea of America is under assault.

This is not new, in and of itself. There are always people and ideologies that seek to erode the idea of America for their own profit or power. But today, as we approach third decade of the 21st century, the nexus of that assault is Trumpism and the common belief that binds its not-so diverse coalition together is white supremacy. Born out of reactionary, nativist talk radio and other media, enabled by lack of transparency into the political contributions of billionaires and corporations, and metastasizing in the fake-grassroots Tea Party movement, takeovers of state governments and a series of national elections in 2010-2016, Trumpism holds most of the power in our national government today. In the chaos that is Trump’s amateurish, unskilled approach to leadership and management, the one consistent thread is a nativist, racist, misogynist message that informs the words, policy, and actions of the Trump Administration, the GOP, and the GOP-controlled Supreme Court.

White supremacy is the password, the secret handshake that identifies a fellow member of the Trumpist clan, whether true believer or cynical opportunist. A dedication to white supremacy is the qualification that enables Stephen Miller to set policy on immigration for the US. John McCain’s refusal to embrace it and Trump is why, upon the death of the Senator, the White House had to be shamed into lowering their flag to half-mast. It is why Trump and the Tea Party embraced the juvenile, absurd conspiracy theory that President Obama had been born outside the U.S., and why so many members of the media and ordinary citizens gave it credence. It is the why behind the Muslim Ban, the forced, deliberate, and permanent separation of families seeking refuge in America, and the nativist bile and hatred directed at Congresswomen who are black or brown and have the courage to speak forthrightly in defense of both their constituents and vulnerable refugees.

Every day the evidence piles up. Today, July 27th, 2019, it was the story that Trump had once again used the language of disease and rot to refer to person of color and their neighbors. Yesterday it was stories about three-year-old girl who the Chief of Law Enforcement Operations of CBP indicated might be a threat to national security by dint of her brown skin and desire to return to her mother. Before, it was the 18-year old American citizen who was held for a month and starved by CPB because they didn’t like his brown skin and dark hair and eyes. 

It plays out in national policy decisions, when welfare for billionaires and corporations are prioritized because they will benefit “all” (or at least the deserving), when both historical and current data indicate they benefit the 1%. Meanwhile programs that measurably, historically keep Americans out of poverty or help them escape are denigrated as being giveaways to the undeserving (who, we are to understand, mostly have brown or black faces) by the GOP and propaganda outlets like Fox. 

It affects our foreign policy and our standing in the world. Trumpism’s focus on white supremacy has led us to begin rapprochement with Russia and to damage our ties to the democracies of Europe that share key ideals with a Constitutional America. It leads to cuts in foreign aid to Central American countries that are struggling in no small measure due to American interference. These countries are a significant source of immigration - and are fleeing because of the conditions in their home countries. A clear-eyed view would suggest that if we wanted decreased migration, then improvements in their home countries would decrease the number of people who need to flee. It is the annealing force of white supremacy and racism that keeps the Trumpist in line in the face of this kind of contradiction and irrationality.

Our governmental structure itself is visibly eroding. The simplest and most straightforward measure of that erosion is the frightening and unprecedented number of open or acting leadership positions in the Trump Government and the turnover in those positions. Notably, Homeland Security, Custom and Border Patrol, and Immigration and Customs enforcement are all run by acting directors. Only 41% of the key positions in the entire DHS structure are filled, about 30% having acting managers, and another 30% are unfilled. Yet no one in the Republican Party seems sufficiently concerned to make this an issue, and Trump’s supporters are unruffled. This despite the fact that national security and our borders are described as major policy concerns by the GOP and its supporters. Again, the cognitive dissonance and accompanying discomfort this should create is overridden by the solidarity of a shared fear and hatred of people who are different. To the Trump voter, Trump is an ideological kinsman because of the shared bond of white insecurity. And that is more important than a functioning government.

That this bond is unspoken and implicit gives it more power, as do cultural mores that have come to place racism in the column of bad, wrong, or evil things. To the Trump voter, deflecting criticism of Trumpism as “socialist” or “liberal” is a defense mechanism used to avoid confrontation with the underlying racial (or misogynistic) prejudices. The recent labeling of Representatives Tlaib and Omar as anti-semitic is another example of this inherently defensive reaction. 

The dissonance between between Trumpism’s ideological roots (white supremacy) and the American ideals of equality, integrity, and generosity also results in the curious over-identification with the symbology of America. This is part self-reassurance and part attempt to co-opt the appearance of the true America as a camouflage for the GOP's underlying lack of a coherent, positive  ideology. Think of Trump’s bizarre embrace of the American flag onstage at CPAC. If I love the flag then I am a patriot (and therefore good), so I cannot possibly be a racists because racists are bad and I am good. Whether it is the flag, the 2nd Amendment, adherence to the law (e.g., against unauthorized border crossing), or the unsupported belief in a magical past golden age of America, virtue by association is used for self-reassurance or to bash as unpatriotic (and therefore bad) anyone who is insufficiently enthusiastic or points out the verifiably mixed history of those symbols and their interpretations. 

Ultimately, the most destructive part of the inherent contradiction between white supremacy and the American ideal is that Trumpism absolutely must continue to violate our democratic norms and dismantle the institutions of democracy. No matter what rationale is provided (e.g., fiscal responsibility, libertarian values, the 2nd amendment), simple policy differences will not suffice to keep the Republican party and a reliably white supremacist agenda in power. A working democracy always relies on the will of the people, and Trump cannot hope to persuade much more than the current ~60% majority of white people who voted for him to adopt the white supremacist beliefs needed to provide him unwavering support. The coalition consisting of minorities and white people who reject white supremacy is too large (and growing). And however imperfectly and unevenly, the long-term trend has been toward a more diverse, more just, more equitable culture. In this current day, the degree of handwringing and angry defensiveness that accompanies even the calmest assertion of the fact of Trump’s or other GOP member’s racist behavior is clear evidence that even most Trump supporters see racism as a moral sin and as evil. 

And that is why we can return America to itself.