State of Decency in the United States
I was distraught when Trump won the presidency in 2016 because the economy had recovered from the last Republican President’s recession, Hillary was a competent and experienced politician and Trump was a racist buffoon, but I held out some hope that Trump would not be as bad as I feared. I chalked up his win to the non stop attacks on Hillary–some justified–and her generally cold demeanor.
I was even more distraught about Trump’s 2024 win not because of what Trump would do as President–we knew that based on his first term–but that my country would elect him after being fully advised of what a damaged human being he is, how incompetent he is in most everything except selling himself, and that he is a mendacious bully. Over the years I have had fallings out with the government of the United States, but never with the people of the United States prior to November 5, 2024. Leaving at my age, with children and grandchildren who would be staying, was not really an option despite my wife’s Canadian citizenship.
I tried to console myself with all manner of Democrat excuses. It was the racism and misogyny especially among young men, it was voter suppression in key states, it was the price of eggs, it was Harris’ voice and laugh, but at the end of the day approximately 49% of the Americans who voted chose one of the worst human beings in the world to be President AGAIN.
While it has not restored my faith in the people of the United States, several recent polls suggest that Trump’s cruelty and incompetence is not supported by most Americans. Several recent polls have shown Trump underwater by 10 or more points on immigration because of his efforts to deport the undocumented including July polls by Gallup, CNN, CBS/YouGov, Reuters/Ipsos and Quinnipiac.
Today, I saw a Gallup poll which essentially showed that only a third of Americans approved of Israel’s actions in Gaza and that third was almost exclusively Republicans. Significantly, most of those polled said it was extremely or very important for the U.S. to provide humanitarian relief. Among Republicans, however, a majority said it was more important for the U.S. to provide more military support to Israel than humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza.
In both instances the poll results come after national news media showed footage of masked ICE agents abusing undocumented, but otherwise law-abiding working people and children on the verge of starving to death in Gaza. The Gaza footage in particular, has had an impact with even Marjorie Taylor Greene excoriating a fellow Republican for suggesting starving everyone in Gaza until the last of the hostages are released. While Trump has admitted that there is real starvation taking place–not fake news–his posture is likely more a reflection of world and U.S. opinion than any concern for human beings.
I am old enough to remember the television footage–in black and white– of Bull Connor using dogs and high-pressure water hoses on peaceful civil rights protestors and the effect this had on popular opinion on civil rights. Even the northern racists thought it was too much and the end result was landmark Civil Rights legislation which only now 60 years later is being dismantled.
I think that is where we are as a country. I will never trust the American people to do the “right thing” again and I suspect my view is shared by most of the world. At the same time, except for the MAGA cultists, Americans do have a level of decency which is not reflected by its elected leaders. Going forward, look for more pressure to be brought against the Fourth Estate to drop coverage of ICE abuses and starvation in Gaza.
“Americans do have a level of decency which is not reflected by its elected leaders”
Agreed. The problem is that these same people are nonetheless satisfied to pay no attention to politics. They are aren’t left, right, or center – they are simply unengaged. When they vote it is like tossing a coin.
Arne:
I would say similar also. Except, I believe the elections won by him are more the reason of Americans not liking women as the president. There was a large trend to no vote or vote for others. In each case, they (we) were the recipients of the worse outcomes imaginable.
Agreed. You can’t see by looking whether someone has a felony conviction, but you can tell if they have a Y chromosome. And woe be to anyone not appreciating the Y chromosome.
The number of Trump voters was still a minority of registered voters. And a far smaller minority of all adult citizens. Maybe finally we are getting the apathetic to notice what happens when they do not vote or even bother to register.
@Jane,
“Maybe finally we are getting the apathetic to notice what happens when they do not vote or even bother to register.”
From your keyboard to G*d’s eyes.
Jane:
Or vote for others. All three issues are apparent. A sure way to blow yourself up is to not vote or vote for others. Neither (for sure) is not a protest against candidates. You take the consequence of your actions as well as that of others.
Yeah, Trump is terrible for all the reasons you state. In addition, the Democratic candidates from Hilary to Biden to Kamala had enabled/would have continued to enable Israel in the same way as Trump, would have continued to violate the constitution in myriad ways and kept us on (or accelerated us on) the road to fiscal ruin, like Trump. Trump IS terrible. It’s just that the Dems are no better. We’re in a dark place right now.
@Bob,
• Democrats support renewables; Trump supports destroying renewables and replacing them with fossil fuels
• Democrats support refugees and immigrants; Trump supports concentration camps and deportation for refugees and immigrants
• Democrats support the ACA; Trump wants to end Medicaid expansion and the ACA
• Democrats support reproductive choice; Trump wants each state to decide whether a woman should be forced to carry her pregnancy to term
• Democrats support freedom of speech; Trump wants to curtail free speech
• Democrats support progressive federal income tax; Trump wants to replace income taxes with tariffs, which are regressive consumption taxes
• Democrats support national parks and forests; Trump supports selling off national parks and forests
• Democrats opposed the Trump big beautiful tax giveaway to the 1% and corporations that increases deficits and the national debt; Trump signed the bill into law
For these and other reasons, I judge the Democrats to be way better than Trump. Anyone who can’t tell the difference is in the dark.
Joel:
Bob is Angry Bear’s contrarian. If you say blue to make your point you can expect him to say another color. Other than an opinion, he will not offer up a foundation for such opinion. Most certainly, Trump has distinguished himself. Pay no mind to Bob.
Excellent rebuttal . . .
Terry, nice post. Your heartfelt feelings are shared by many as we watch the slow-motion trainwreck of the American government. You speak of trust, which is a critical concept that has been lost.
The Trump era, the last decade, has completely altered the underpinnings of trust, which is based in truth, which is dependent on facts, which is the basis of Rule of Law.
Facts are no longer relevant in decision-making. Facts have been replaced by alternatives, misinformation, innuendo, rhetoric, hype, and conspiracy; what we call lies, espoused by minority political interests.
The electorate has observed the accelerated loss of facts in decision-making by their political “leaders.” They have lost trust in the government to represent the majority will of the population, and watched it replaced by minority clans and cults. They are losing interest and feeling helpless in that neither Party seems to represent the majority POV.
Where are the leaders that understand that the winning position is the position that represents the majority POV?
Eric, I trashed your latest post, which is nothing but Putin/GOP propaganda.
You did what to Eric’s innuendo, supposition, and conjecture? Oh, ok . . . I get tired of the Jello also. No more Jello for me . . . Eric.