And When I Flipped Over a Rotten Log…..
By Frederick J. Blahnik
Consider me naïve, but I used to wonder and find myself perplexed at all the anger and animosity directed at Barack Obama when he was president of our country. Now, admittedly, Obama was not a great president—not even close; average probably—but he invariably gave the impression of being a decent, altruistic individual and there was never even a whiff of scandal surrounding the guy, nothing to suggest that his character was anything other than admirable. Yet so many conservatives clearly held great personable animosity toward the man, and naïve country bumpkin Fred Blahnik could never quite conjure a good reason for their disproportionate feelings of hatred.
Well…..now I know the answer, as I am sure every perceptive American has discovered since that horrible (the favorite word of someone we all know; irony intended), infamous day in November of 2016 when Donald Trump was “elected” (more on that later) president of the United States to succeed the aforementioned Obama. The animosity I mentioned had nothing to do with Obama’s pedestrian performance in discharging the duties of president of the United States. Rather, it had EVERYTHING to do with the color of his skin, a fact that has become abundantly clear since Trump “ascended” (How’s that for an oxymoron?!) to the presidency.
Donald Trump’s blatant racism and bigotry opened the floodgates for everyone in this country who agreed with him to vent their own objectionable opinions and prejudices, if not directly than with about as much subtlety as an elephant at a tea party. For a certain grotesque subset of our national population, the Donald Trump presidency has been cathartic, inasmuch as they no longer have to go to great pains to conceal their underlying bigotry—bigotry that was of course lurking subterraneanously all along but in a better, more enlightened society could not be made manifest. Well…..now it can and unfortunately is. Donald Trump has made it fashionable amongst this group of people to be overtly prejudiced and to judge people not on the content of their character but on any of a wealth of physical or cultural characteristics that distinguish Person A from Person B from Person C from Person D. And not just to exercise this abominable behavior either, but to be smugly proud and demonstrative about it at the same time.
The election of Donald Trump was tantamount to when one flips over a rotten log in the woods, and then you immediately take note of a slew of creepy-crawly creatures scurrying about on the forest floor—woodlice, millipedes, fire ants, grub worms, crickets, and others of their ilk. One quickly realizes that these loathsome creatures were there all along and probably have been since time immemorial, yet because they were not visible to the naked eye one didn’t appreciate their presence in our world. Ditto for the legions of closet racists which Donald Trump’s illegitimate election foisted upon the general population of the United States. These people have been amongst us all along—hiding in plain sight, if you will—but convention, basic compassion, and societal norms prevented them from trumpeting their true feelings to those around them, other than an occasional tantrum i.e. the aforementioned savaging of Barack Obama when he was honorably occupying the Oval Office.
Donald Trump’s “election” obliterated the previous norms, and those creepy-crawly creatures who have been hiding in closets throughout the prior years—understandably afraid to voice their true feelings owing to the societal blowback they would have rightfully received—now feel liberated and free to speak their minds just like the bigoted blowhard in the White House. If he can freely express egregiously misguided thoughts from a pulpit as previously sacred as the White House without fear of meaningful retribution, well, they sure as hell can do the same around the evening dinner table or down at the bowling alley or when gathered with friends for a few beers at a local tavern or with family members at a holiday assemblage. Donald Trump has made racism fashionable amongst this character-stunted segment of our country’s population, and these miscreants—who for so long had to hold their genuine feelings inside for fear of societal scorn—now frolic about unapologetically, secure in the knowledge that they are not doing anything different from the top office-holder in the United States.
Finally, about the so-called “election” in November of 2016. I am frankly sick and tired of hearing about how Donald Trump “won” that presidential tilt. He didn’t, so quit insisting that he did. The contest was not particularly close, and I’m not saying this because I’m a big fan of Hilary Clinton (I absolutely cannot stomach her for other reasons and subsequently didn’t vote for either candidate). The pathetic dotard Trump lost the popular vote—undisputedly the benchmark by which democratic governments should decide general elections–by three MILLION votes, more than the total population of “red states” Alaska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming combined. And I am not just referring to the voting populations of those red states either; said number is the TOTAL population of the aforementioned four highly conservative states whose populace as a whole now joyously celebrates American society’s U-turn back in time to a medieval milieu which promotes puritanical values, repulsively jingoistic nationalism, and gleefully ravaging the fragile environment which surrounds us.
Now, I am not suggesting the votes in any of those states should count for less just because they happen to be sparsely populated but, on the other hand, should they count for more? Try explaining your rationale to a voter in California or New York or Illinois or other populous states—three million of them, in fact—whose vote DID ultimately and inarguably count for less than one in predominately rural states. The Electoral College is an unfair, antiquated sham—anyone with half a brain (which admittedly excludes a throng of Donald Trump sycophants) knows that–but such is the undisputed vehicle which propelled Trump to the presidency in 2016 as an embarrassing minority “victor”.
Could it happen again?
Of course it could, for the simple reason nothing has been done in the interim to mitigate the foolish, disproportionate clout largely rural Western and Southern states wield over the remainder of our national population. Our republic, as currently structured, is NOT democratic government—not even close. Something must be done to rectify this onerous situation, obviously, yet it is already too late to level the playing field for the upcoming 2020 presidential election. And that could doom us to another four years of disastrous, divisive Donald Trump policy-making, while at the same time set back the direction and momentum of United States society for a hundred years at the minimum.
Now back to square one. Barack Obama was not a good president, nor was he a bad one; he was just average—a decent but overly timid guy who was too afraid of offending anyone and someone who was held hostage to blind convention (Yes, strange I would say that, I know; these are the exact same qualities Donald Trump carries way past the acceptable threshold on the opposite side of the spectrum!), yet he was a person who unvaryingly did his best throughout his tenure and was refreshingly free from scandal and corruption. But none of this mattered one whit to the phalanx of individuals who insisted on pillorying him during his two terms in office. The only thing that mattered to them was the color of his skin. The fact he was darkly complected made him unsuitable for the office of the presidency. Simple as that. No qualifiers; no valid reason to speak of. I didn’t understand this fact at the time, but I surely do now. The ensuing election of Donald Trump has rendered the dynamic our country presently faces crystal clear to me. This ignorant despot has made bigotry and race-baiting avante gard, and for his surprisingly large horde of disciples—those slimy, creepy-crawly critters who were hiding out beneath rotting logs for all those years—the liberation and alacrity they feel at this moment in time must be downright exhilarating.
My advice to them?
Savor it while you can.
Thankfully, those malicious, specious feelings won’t last. It may take five years, it may take fifty years, it may take five hundred years, it may take a thousand years, but given the DNA hardwired into human nature, history proves that democracy and basic compassion inveterately triumph in the end. This era will be no exception.
Fred's Soapbox 