We’ve Come Full Circle

I am writing this with only a few days left until what some call the most consequential election we ever had. Democracy itself is at stake. Like many, I am still asking how it is possible that the race is so close.

For 10 years, we have lived in the chaos and division of The Don. Each time we think he has done something that is a game-changer, from the infamous Access Hollywood tape, to claiming John McCain is a loser for being captured, to making fun of a disabled reporter, to trying to steal an election, to spewing venomous lies about immigrants, he has somehow, like an evil Houdini, managed to rise again. In 2008, we elected the first black president (and re-elected him in 2012), which felt like a watershed moment for this country, a new way forward, embracing our diversity. Then in 2016 we experienced the backlash and elected The Don, like an insidious cancer, has continued to metastasize, spreading vitriol and bile throughout our country. So once again I ask, how is it possible that this malevolent, amoral man can be this close to returning to the White House?

The Don is a convicted felon, found guilty of sexual assault in the E. Jean Carroll civil case, guilty of tax fraud in NYS (and fined almost 500 million dollars) and tried to overturn an election. Rather than stopping the violence on January 6th, he watched it unfold on TV, spurring his supporters to hang the vice president and stating that January 6th  was a “Day of Love.” To this day, he still promotes the lie that the election was stolen from him.

He is a malignant narcissist, who has no capacity for empathy and lives in a world of grievance and revenge. He has convinced millions of people that he will restore their dignity when actually he couldn’t care less about any of them. 

He has said he will be a dictator on day 1, prosecute his enemies and has the 2025 playbook as his instruction manual. According to four-star generals, John Kelly and Mark Milley, who have worked with him, he is “fascist to the core.” He most recent comment about putting Liz Cheney in a war zone in front enemy guns is just his most recent outrage.

He is racist and an anti-semite. He is a misogynist who has built his campaign on devaluing women. He wants to round up millions of immigrants, place them in detention camps and deport them because they are “vermin,” poisoning our blood,” and are “eating our cats and dogs.”  

How has this deceitful, vengeful scam-artist convinced tens of millions of people to support him? 

Despite his egregious lies, his degrading and dehumanizing of ‘the other’ (a recent poll showed that while 49% found Harris honest and trustworthy, only 41 percent said the same of The Don), his supporters defend him. By repeating conspiracy theories and lies to a level never seen before in our history, he has created an alternate realty that nearly half the country has bought into. It’s an extraordinary feat of theater, manipulation, ginning up peoples fears, and presenting himself as their savior. We have gone from a post-modern to post-truth world. The ease at which lies and disinformation can be spread through social media has become a runaway train and the advances of A.I. will only intensify it.

I believe some of his staunchest supporters believe what he says, are juiced up by his angry rhetoric of retribution and grievance and want someone who will blow the system up. This idea, that the Democrats are heathen whacko communists taking us away from our core values, is at the heart of this menagerie and reflected in this statement by Kevin Roberts, president of the Heritage Foundation, who oversaw Project 2025,: “We are in the process of the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be.”

The Democrats represent the “deep state” and have failed the people and have turned America into a “garbage can.” The leaders of the movement want a deep-clean and want to purify the nation, a new religious crusade. The fact that that its leader is the most heinous heathen without a heart, whose sole purpose is to enrich himself and exact retribution, is both absurd and lethal. Because The Don is amoral, he can actualize his puppet masters of the Project 2025 plan to a degree that very few would have the stomach for. It will be like having an endless amount of Mickey D Big Macs and Cokes. His appetite for retribution is ravenous and it will spare noone.

I also think that many of his supporters think he is just a whacky entertainer and don’t believe he means what he says, or will do what he says. He is the “tell it like it is guy.” It’s as if they are just watching another episode of “The Apprentice.” They admire his off-the-cuff cursing and the ease at which he makes fun of the enemy, “owns the libs.” They think people are too uptight and their “wokeness” makes it impossible to take a joke. They admire his swag, his hyper-masculinity and frankly, they see him as a powerful White man who can restore their primacy, which they feel has been slipping away from them. America has been dominated by the myth of the “strong man.” The awful irony is that The Don completely fails the litmus test for this myth. Imagine him at any work site with hard working American men. He would be whining, complaining, lazy and a terrible team player. He would become disliked and no one would want to work with him. They would actually start to ridicule him as a whiner and want the management to fire him. His criminal history makes him virtually unemployable for almost any job. He could never get security clearance for a federal job but he can be president! Truly astonishing.

For many reasons his circus act has captured White men’s imaginations. Many men ( Black, White ,Latina and others) doubt that a Women has the “stuff” that it takes to be a president; their status and sense of where they are in the pecking order is threatend by a female with that much power; the fact that she is a Black South Asian women only adds another level to their dismissiveness. The Don plays into this misogyny and his appeal, specifically to White males without a college degree speaks to this. There is a calculated strategy to tap into White Male Supremacy. At a recent rally he had this to say about the famed golfer Arnold Palmer:

“This is a guy that was all man. This man was strong and tough. And I refuse to say it, but when he took showers with the other pros, they came out of there, they said, ‘Oh, my god, that’s unbelievable?”

That was followed up at another rally with Tucker Carlson:

“If you allow your hormone-addled 15-year-old daughter to slam the door and give you the finger, you’re going to get more of it.” There has to be a point at which Dad comes home. Dad comes home and he’s pissed,” “He’s not vengeful, he loves his children. Disobedient as they may be, he loves them…And when Dad gets home, you know what he says? You’ve been a bad girl. You’ve been a bad little girl and you’re getting a vigorous spanking right now. And no, it’s not going to hurt me more than it hurts you. No, it’s not. I’m not going to lie. It’s going to hurt you a lot more than it hurts me. And you earned this. You’re getting a vigorous spanking because you’ve been a bad girl, and it has to be this way.”

J.D. Vance had this to say on Joe Rogan’s podcast: “Research connects testosterone levels in young men with conservative politics.” 

The Don recently said: “I will protect women whether they like it or not.” Just the kind of guy a women would want protecting you: a sexual predator. How many woman have been traumatized by those very words?

People remember the economy being good under him. The reality was the Obama administration had rescued the economy from the brink of disaster and handed him a strong economy with 75 months of job growth. All he did when he was president was give tax breaks to the richest Americans. His new economic plan, which is to continue the tax breaks to the rich and impose 20% tariffs on imported goods, will increase costs to each American by $4,000 a year. His threat to deport millions of immigrants could disrupt the labor market with inflationary consequences. A Wall Street Journal survey found that 65 percent of economists believed that The Don’s economic plan would drive up the deficit substantially more than Harris.

The fact that people see him as a good businessman is beyond belief. He has declared bankruptcy six times, has defrauded thousands of people who believed in the merits of Trump University, which was ultimately shut down and determined to be a scam. His charity was also dissolved because of improper use of donations for his own purposes. In reality, he is a total dirtbag con artist. He is P.T. Barnum, the king of grift. He lives by the adage coined by W.C. Fields that “a sucker is born every minute.” He uses his position to sell sneakers, $100,000 watches, and even bibles. It seems his days as a reality TV star on the Apprentice has captured the imaginations of many; they refuse to see him for the lying cheat he is. When are people going to discover that the emperor has no clothes?

The increase in support of Black men and Latinos belies the fact that he has maligned and dehumanized them his entire life. Let’s face it; Black men are angry and have been continually disappointed by both Democrats and Republicans. There is this belief among Democrats that Black men will just come home and. vote for them. They feel ignored and there is justification for the anger and disillusionment that the government continues to not respond to their needs. However, the fact thatThe Don is interested in operationalizing stop-and-frisk policy across the nation, create barriers to voting rights and civil rights doesn’t seem to penetrate. The fact that he wants to deport millions of Latinos doesn’t seem to chill them to the bone. I wonder if they have really considered what it will feel like when they watch some of their neighbors be taking away in military vans and placed in detention centers.

As far as the Muslim vote is concerned, I want to first say, that I really have no right to question their actions and can not know their pain. I am appalled by the leadership in Israel, and though I understand its right to defend itself, it is becoming an ultra-right illiberal country. It is led by a desperate, despotic man who is trying to stay out of jail (sound familiar?) and who is continuing a war with no plan for peace and its own security. It’s actions only breed increased anti-semitism against Jews all across the world and has turned the world against them, making them a pariah state. As a Jew, angered by the U.S’s collusion with the Israelis devastation of Gaza, I still find it hard to believe that any Muslim could vote for a man (or a third-party in protest) who, upon becoming president, ordered a Muslim ban and who has supporters like Rudy Giuliani making statements such as: “The Palestinians are taught to kill us at two-years old.” Were The Don to win, he will give Israel carte blanche to “finish the job.”

So we’ve come full circle and landed in a place where America’s democracy is on the line. Kamala Harris had her closing argument speech at The Ellipse, the site of The Don’s speech on January 6th 2021, where he encouraged his supporters to attack the Capitol to stop the counting of the electoral votes. Her presence was an attempt to reclaim the space, undo the stain of the past. She spoke about coming together as a nation, lifting people up, turning the page on division and nastiness, offering economic programs that will impact the working class. She offers hope of a multicultural America where everyone’s rights are respected, where people can vote freely, women have control over their bodies, people can read the books they want to read, love who they want, get the affordable healthcare they deserve and make the richest people in this country pay their fair share of taxes so everyone can be lifted up.

On the other hand, The Don intentionally chose Madison Square Garden to present his closing statement. Madison Square Garden was where in 1939 American supporters of Nazi Germany had a rally. The symbolism should not be lost on us. After all, The Don’s desire to be an autocrat and belief that “Hitler did some good things” or he wished he had “Generals like Hitler’s, underscore megalomaniacal desire for power and retribution. Speakers at the rally called Kamala Harris “the devil,” and the “antichrist;” one said she had begun her career as a prostitute. A comedian told this joke: “I don’t know if you guys know this, but there’s literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now. I think it’s called Puerto Rico.” His set also included lewd and racist comments about Blacks. The Don concluded with his grievance filled, dystopian rant about getting rid of the “enemy within.”

It’s been said many times that people are numb to it all, but the contrast between the two candidates couldn’t be more drastic. One is trying to bring people together; one is trying to tear us apart. One sees America as a place of hope and opportunity; the other as a place that needs to be saved from the wreckage of the evil forces (Democrats) that are destroying it. One sees it as a place that values the lives of immigrants; the other sees them as stains on our country that need to be rooted out because they are destroying our communities and eating “cats and dogs.” One values a multicultural, multiracial country where all have opportunity; the other heralds White Supremacy. One values women and their right to make choices about their bodies and to rise up on the economic ladder; the other demeans women calling them “cat ladies,” refers to Kamala Harris as “low IQ,” a sex worker, and the “Anti-Christ, and to repeat again what The Don said: “He will protect women whether they like it or not!”. One welcomes people of all faiths to freely practice; the other promotes a White Christian America. 

Yes the choice is stark. And yes, swaths of working class America feel disenchanted and abandoned by our political system. There is a lot of anger and The Don is the perfect vessel for their anger. Unfortunately, their anger leads them to look for a demagogue who promises that he will fix it all. They have exalted him to some kind of savior, as some call him the “Orange Jesus.” They see him as the cure to all their ills. He promises to restore them (White people) to their proper place in the  hierarchy. He promises to purify the land from all the “vermin,” restore the old fashioned order when “men were men” as opposed to being a man like “Tampon Tim (Walz).”

In the 30’s, Hitler  blamed the Jews for Germany’s problems. He promised to return Germany back to its place of prominence and chose to blame and dehumanize an entire people which led to the  extermination of 6 million Jews.  “Jews will not replace us,” was the chant we heard during the Charlottseville march in 2017. The Don’s response then was not to condemn Nazi sympathizers, but to say there were bad actors on “both sides.” I truly believe that if The Don was there instead of Hitler he may have very well done the same atrocious things!

The level of his vitriol towards women, Blacks, Jews, Latinos, and the LGBTQ community have only intensified since then. Yet the race is dead even. The fact that half the country supports this man requires some deep soul-searching. What about America makes this possible?

Rather than “how is it possible?”, we must sadly acknowledge that, of course, it is possible.

On the most basic level humans are tribal. Despite are cognitive sophistication we are often led by the more primitive part of our brain (the limbic system.). When we feel threatened we are easily transformed into an us vs them mentality. We see each other as the enemy. We need to protect what’s ours and begin to believe that the other tribe is trying to use its power to dominate us. The reason The Don’s politics of division and demonization works so well is because he promulgates the threat and fear of the other (tribe) and speaks to the more primitive side of people. When you make people feel that their neighbors or the other party is destroying your way of life, it scares them and makes them want to protect themselves against them; there is nothing like life threatening Limbic fear to motivate people to see others as the enemy. When people are dominated by a sense of threat to their well being, they lose the capacity to think through things and decipher what is real and not real. The Don is the perfect vessel for this as he is dominated by his limbic system. His whole life has been about power and greed and doing whatever is necessary to protect it. He has played the grievance card his entire life. It is wired into his DNA and his ability to connect others to that feeling is a natural as a baby’s smile. He embodies it and as we see, he has been able to emotionally manipulate millions of people to feel what he feels, even if they really don’t feel that way. It is his evil super power.

I am not American a fabulist who basks in the myth of American exceptionalism. We are a country with many flaws and committed bad acts. This is a country that was initially created by the eradication of an indigenous people, built on the back of slaves, oppression of women and consolidated by a White Male Christian Patriarchy. These events are in our DNA. We have never truly reckoned with this in any substantive way.

Yes, we have real problems in this country. People feel deprived of the American dream they were promised, and there are many reasons for this, which I can’t explore in this piece. Of course there are many issues people are voting on: their beliefs on abortion; their belief that the country was better under The Don; their belief that the political establishment has cast them aside and they want someone who will smash it and return it to its proper place of White male dominance. This struggle is part of the American narrative. The tension between the movement toward freedom and equality has been met with backlash throughout our history: The Civil War that freed the slaves, the Jim Crow laws that tried to undo it. The desire to be a nation of all creeds, met with the Chinese Alien Act and the internment of the Japanese, the separation of children from their families, and if The Don wins, the potential deportation of millions of immigrants. The increased agency of women with the right to make choices over their own bodies and the necessity for them to be treated as equals who are as competent and powerful as men, as opposed to the promulgation of toxic masculinity, and demeaning of women we see in the current campaign. 

We are a nation that has always lived in this tension. There have been right wing movements throughout our history: Jim Crow, the KKK, the rise of Nazism in the 30’s, McCarthyism in the 50’s, The John Birch society in the 60’s, the war on drugs in the 80’s and 90’s that specifically targeted Black people, the rise of Evangelism which promotes America as a White Christian nation, the current assault on immigrants, all trying to wrestle the progress we make toward becoming a more just and inclusive nation

During these battles, our democracy has met the challenge to adjust to increased rights for Blacks, women, members of the LGBTQ community, and embracing those from other countries that come here in the hope of building a better life. But this time it feels different. We have never had someone running for president who has wanted to be “king.” We have never had someone who seeks revenge on the “enemy within,” who wants to use the military against its own people. We have never had someone who has been described as “fascist at his core.” In 2042, this country will no longer be a majority White country. This is terrifying to the White Power brokers who are in charge. And in this election we have our national struggle laid out in front of us. We have a White Supremacist who wants to make sure that our country returns to a place where the hierarchy of White Supremacy is restored and a Black South Asian woman who represents the very essence of multi-ethnic, multi-racial, pro-woman, pro LGBTQ America that we need to become. Given the outright misogyny, will a majority of White women finally join together and reject the desire to support a White Male Supremacy? This hasn’t happened for a Democratic presidential candidate since 1964. Now’s the time for White women to take a stand against a real life “Handmaid’s Tale”.

This time we are unsure what the people of this country will choose. Will we choose progress, or regression? Will we choose to see all Americans having equal rights, or will we be forced to bend to the will of a White Male Patriarchy that insists on maintaining its power? Let’s hope that enough Americans want to move forward. Let’s hope.