Weird weather, pandemic, rioting and such: This year already feels 560 days long…
As several joked on Facebook, what’s next, an asteroid, a pestilence of frogs, or, a new Nickelback album. (I think I can handle the asteroid and fried frog legs are tasty. But, please God, no more Nickelback.)
Yet, we can’t afford to ignore the known threat: a second term for Donald Trump.
It’s not off the table.
Remember, by the mid-1960’s Richard Nixon had become a late night joke. Despite his 1962 promise – “You won’t have Nixon to kick around anymore, because, gentlemen, this is my last press conference” – Nixon stayed in the spotlight. He took over a Republican Party shattered by Barry Goldwater’s 1964 loss and made it competitive. In 1966 the GOP picked-up 47 House of Representative seats and seven governorships, setting the stage for 1968.
Now, 1968 was marked by assassinations, riots, economic uncertainty and a host of other unusual events. Before the crew of Apollo 8 circled the moon at the end of the year there was a presidential election. To many the unimaginable happened: Richard Nixon won the election. He only received a half million more votes than Democrat Humbert Humphrey but part of Nixon’s base cast ballots for unabashed Confederate supporter George Wallace (who got almost 10 million votes and carried five states). In other words, in a traditional two-way race Nixon would have had a landslide.
And, let’s not forget that major parts of Nixon’s “silent majority” still exist. The conservative vein of organized labor and ‘traditional value’ voters including Evangelical Christians still want to vote for Trump. They still believe the Orange One tells the truth and the media lies. Plus, this crowd includes the fearful, a considerable segment of the population which fears black and brown and other ‘different’ people attacking their neighborhoods and their way of life with police powerless to stop the aggression.
Donald Trump chose his words carefully when he promised…
I will fight to protect you. I am your president of law and order, and an ally of all peaceful protesters. In recent days, our nation has been gripped by professional anarchists, violent mobs, arsonists, looters, criminals, rioters, antifa, and others.
Of course, Trump then watched as the peaceful protesters outside the White House were tear gassed and charged by horses so he could cross the street for a photo op with a Bible and a church.
That hypocrisy bothers many of us. Yet, others undoubtedly welcome the crackdown on protesters because, to many of our neighbors, ‘peaceful protest’ remains an oxymoron: the peaceful give shelter, comfort and justification to the anarchists.
Between now and November the battle for hearts and votes will intensify. In Trump world today’s lie becomes tomorrow’s accepted fact. With no election before him after November expect Trump to slash food stamps, attack worker rights, destroy the environment, attack voting rights, undermine the federal courts, and in a thousand other ways make life worse for every non-billionaire American. In other words, more of the same.
We are 153 days away from the November 3 election. It will probably feel like a thousand. We must work hard and with enthusiasm to educate our friends about the need for a friendlier, more accepting and progressive America – a nation not led by Donald Trump.
Glenn