In literature, and the theater arts, a primary
component of any captivating story is having a villain-antagonist as a
counter to the hero or main character; there just always has to be a bad
guy to oppose or there is really no story. In politics, and governance,
each side of the political spectrum chooses a representative ‘bad-guy”
as a central character to rally against, something Republicans have been
particularly effective at. Past ‘bad characters’ Republicans used to
great effect to advance their agendas include Osama bin Laden to
represent all terrorists and war, Saddam Hussein to represent a nuclear
threat to America and more war, and over the past six years it has been
President Barack Obama representing socialism as a threat to democracy;
likely due to his race and political party. Even though Republicans know
full well that Barack Obama is at best a Centrist Democrat,
Republicans have branded him a Muslim, un-American, a socialist, a tax
and spend liberal, and a warrior against 'christianity'. Of course none of
the accusations are remotely true, but Republicans stole control of
Congress and a majority of state governorships by being anti-Obama;
something their base considers pro-America.
Democrats, liberals and progressives (there is a
difference), have recently found their villain in reality television
star Trump and the attention they are heaping on Trump, although
possibly warranted, is misplaced. Make no mistake, Trump is worthy of
the villain role he is being given by the left, but he is simply playing
a part written specifically by teabagger Republicans and championed by
establishment Republicans. Trump is an opportunist, a nasty
opportunist, but he is an opportunist all the same. In fact, nothing in
Trump’s campaign rhetoric is novel; he has simply distilled the last
six years’ worth of Republican propaganda into an agenda that a
well-conditioned base believes is the only solution to “take their country back.”
That base, the one scientists and several studies filled with empirical
data prove is inherently ignorant, innately cruel, and fundamentally
racist, love Trump more than the other Republican candidates for
pretender because he is the only one saying first and loudly what all
Republicans believe. It is time for the left, all of the left, to start
lumping the wingnut delusion, in its entirety, into a cabal
representing the worst of humanity their supporters firmly believe is
what makes American exceptional and stop focusing solely on Trump.
It was interesting to learn that Trump is getting
pushback, as well as significant credit, from the left over the vicious
beating of a homeless man in Boston by two thugs because they thought he
was illegally in America. They are reported saying that “Trump was right, all these illegals need to be deported,”
so naturally Trump gets brunt of criticism when he is just parroting a shrieking point Republicans have campaigned on since 2010. It is true that
Trump said that “Mexican immigrants are criminals, they are bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists”
during his campaign kickoff speech, but those statements have been
repeated ad nauseum by all manner of Republicans, and wingnut shrieking heads, for the last fifteen years.
Now, when Trump heard about the Boston attack, he said “I will say that people who are following me love this country and they want this country to be great again. They are passionate.” It is part of his “we gotta’ take this country back”
spiel that he ripped off from teabaggers panting to return to 1860
America. It is the same slogan Republicans have used for the past six
years to attack women’s rights, voting rights, public education, the
federal government, regulations, and gays, and it really should surprise
no-one that brash loudmouth Trump is benefiting from a purely
Republican agenda. What is surprising is that the left has made Trump
the object of their undivided attention when they should be assailing,
with extreme prejudice, the entire Republican delusion because all the
credit and criticism for inciting hatred belongs to the Republican cabal; it has been part and parcel of the Republican cabal’s agenda for the past six
years and not only during election season.
It is unclear if the left understands that, just
because Trump is out saying what the base wants to hear and what the Republican cabal
represents as one of two major political parties, the rest of the Republican cabal
field is equally hateful and every bit as dangerous as Trump; they are
just attempting to appear moderate. Every one of the Republican
candidates are anti-government, anti-women’s rights, anti-taxes,
anti-immigrant, anti-democracy and anti-science; they are also all, save
Trump, fierce advocates for imposing fundamentalist 'christianity' on the
nation. However, make no mistake that when Trump realizes he may be
alienating the evangelical religio-wingnut voting bloc, he will be the loudest
advocate for the bible as law of the land.
Right now Trump is making inroads to the wingnut base with his blatant anti-immigrant rhetoric, even though
three years ago he claimed Romney was “crazy and mean-spirited”
for proposing self-deportation as a viable immigration reform policy.
But the vile remarks he made about Mexican immigrants during his
campaign kickoff speech were staples of Republican candidates and
sitting congressmen and governors going back at least to 2010.
Everyone
needs a villain to hate and rage against and Trump certainly fills that
role very nicely; he is a very easy Republican to despise. However, he
is just playing a role written by and for seriously nasty wingnuts
who want to be enraged against their own set of villains whether they
are gays, immigrants, women, non-christians, the government or the poor.
It is what they have come to believe is necessary to “take their country back”
to pre-Civil War days and why all Republicans, not just Trump,
need to feel the rage of the left. Establishment Republicans, and their
funding machine the Koch brothers, are never going to allow Trump to be
the Republican nominee, but they will continue allowing him to incite
the base and take the heat from the left while their equally vile
candidate(s) appear moderate. The left has to stop focusing on a reality
television hack just because he is the only one saying what all
Republicans, including the seriously dangerous ones, advocate.
