Thanks to a Facebook post last night by Anna G, I’ve read and reread an article by a woman from Kansas, Sarah Smarsh, published in The Guardian which makes a case that “Trump supporters are not the caricatures journalists depict.”
In her article, Smarsh urges readers to “be aware of our class biases…as we discern who they are.” She believes that the media has largely missed this story and writes:
What we need is to have our stories told.
It’s not a short article, but I believe it is worthy of the time it will take you to read it:
Dangerous Idiots: How the Liberal Media Failed Working-Class Americans.
Carrie said:
Good article, in terms of recognizing that one class of people is not “deplorable”
Chuck Tilis said:
As a retired auditor, I take a much different view of Donald Trump’s rise to the Republican Nominee for President. In summary, he perpetrated one of the great frauds in modern history.
As an auditor we are taught that frauds occur as the result of three critical ingredients all of which must be present: (i) Pressure–financial or emotional;(ii) Opportunity to abuse a position of trust and; (iii) Rationalization of the behavior. In a sense this is like starting a fire—fuel, oxygen and a spark
Trump had an insatiable desire to exhibit his power culminating with his intent to be President. This emotional force was the fuel for the fraud.
Then he abused his position of trust to many Americans he had cultivated through his brand development over the past 30 years or so. Unsuspecting victims believed in him because he was seen as being highly successful whether it be in business, on television, as an author and even in his selection/abandonment of his wives. This provided the oxygen.
Lastly, he rationalized his behavior as being the necessary antidote to a failed political system-which ignited the fire.
By abusing his position of trust he was able to create what we might call a snowball effect because of the 17 person Republican field where just 6% of the vote could make one above average. He perpetuated the fraud each step of the way by avoiding matters of substance and using each win as opportunity to “double down” as the only person who could be trusted to “tell it like it is” despite being called out for having the greatest propensity to lie of any political candidate.
Most frauds are exposed through an obscure event or person. In this case it was finally the leaked tapes which really didn’t surprise us. Rather, it jolted many in the electorate to say, I can no longer believe in him and just as he was so ever so close to grabbing the brass ring.
He also stole from the American electorate by hijacking our ability to have a dialogue about important issues such as what we need to do to provide health care befitting the wealthiest society in the world, dealing with climate change, handling economic inequities, protecting women’s rights around health and equal opportunity, implementing a fairer tax code, dealing with aging of America, being thoughtful on how to handle bad actors and their threats to free society and yes, how are we going to address the very real issues that inspired those victimized by Trump to support him as they saw their opportunity for the American dream being decimated.
Donald Trump’s supporters should be outraged. If anyone let them down it was Trump himself. He proved magnificently ill-equipped to lead the broader electorate despite his assurances that he was a “winner” and everyone else “losers.” And, he continues to rationalize his behavior through excuses such as a rigged media or electoral process.
The most truthful thing Donald Trump said throughout his rise and fall is—“I used the rigged system for decades for my own benefit” was missing a final clause—-“and I still am.”
Land Wayland said:
Interesting collection of anecdotes but virtually no focus on the thesis of the headline. Certainly not persuasive. The author briefly alluded to the one constant in most Trump supporters (they are more likely to support authoritarian personalities) and then dropped that insight and veered away. Too bad since that connection would have been more interesting to think about but more difficult to pin down. Does that mean that since the liberal media are so anti-Trump, that means that they are actually anti-authoritarian? Very possibly but, from this article, we have no clue why the media has acted as it has.
It is probably true that authoritarianists are found in all economic and social classes but just as Trump played to one that are white and male and less educated (he clearly did not make any attempt play to women or the well educated or the wealthy or to non-white groups or to young voters), he had made the calculation that this was where his base was and that his message was what these people wanted to hear. And he was right but he miscounted the numbers in that group and it just won’t be enough.
What the author of this article missed is that Trump’s campaign has had nothing to do with the people she champions . He has made the same mistake she says the liberal media have made. He has ignored her valid observation that the cares and woes, the hopes and pains, the morals and loyalty of this group identify a very very large group of Americans and THAT and that alone, is why the Red States fill the South and Middle part of the electoral college part of the map, because Trump has been the only one has done more than simply glance in their direction and they are desperate for anyone who shows any interest in them
If Bernie had been bolder and broadened his message to the Millennials to include the people in this group, he might be the poll leader right now. Mayhap some Senator or Governor will figure out how to talk to this group reasonably with hope without appealing to their anger and frustration and spend four years educating the media to report about the possibility of reform without revolution, and emerge as the consensus Democrat or Republican candidate in four years.