General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWill it be racism that finally takes Trump down?
I know that most of his ardent followers are racist and enjoy what he's doing. But I am getting the sense that the rest of the U.S. doesn't like it that their leader is a white supremacist. GW Bush seemed invincible for a long while, but his popularity dropped real fast after Terri Schiavo and Hurricane Katrina. Maybe Trump will have a similar fate.
America could put up with corruption, sexual assaults and affairs, and colluding with Russia to steal the election. But I have a feeling that this is different.
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)virgogal
(10,178 posts)walkingman
(7,512 posts)Dan
(3,524 posts).... this ugliness is not something that America voted for....
obnoxiousdrunk
(2,906 posts)It could give him a second term ...
WhiskeyGrinder
(22,153 posts)Blue Owl
(49,939 posts)I do not believe tRump represents the majority of us...
Mike Nelson
(9,903 posts)
all of us voting like the nominee was our 1st choice - and we should all find and register a new voter to vote alongside us and offset the cheating. That's the only way and it has been since Hillary won and Trump was elected.
CanonRay
(14,038 posts)ConnorMarc
(653 posts)America still struggles w/the original sin of racism.
They've just never come to terms w/it.
Until it's faced down and stomped down, it will always be just under the surface, if not the surface, as it is right now.
lunasun
(21,646 posts)Ahpook
(2,747 posts)I have an OLD friend that voted for Trump simply because he was a "different" politician. He is terrified of the way the country is going and hoped Trump could change things.
He is not toxic, but again terrified of what the US has been doing.
I suppose I get that sentiment, but foolish as well
On edit: Could that be the thought process of quite a few of his voters? I've known this dude for years and he is not an asshole that goes to the rallies. He had hope!
uponit7771
(90,225 posts)... hate non whites
ConnorMarc
(653 posts)He started his campaign on racism and bigotry.
Not to mention his birtherism from well before he officially began his campaign.
White privilege is a helluva thing.
JI7
(89,182 posts)uponit7771
(90,225 posts)struggle4progress
(118,041 posts)There is no magic. Only our hard work can make a difference
PandoraAwakened
(905 posts)No inasmuch that, as other postings point out, racism is still alive and well in the U.S. It only decreases by demographic attrition. In other words, as older people who grew up steeped in such hate finally die out, then and only then does the racism die.
I have always predicted that the combination of the Silent Generation and the Baby Boomers would represent, if not exactly a last gasp, at least a severe curtailing of American racism once they finally pass on. So, we have about another 20 years before this herd is sufficiently culled.
While it is largely young white males carrying out violence in the name of racism, it is important to note who their enablers and cheerleaders are---predominantly old white men. Behind nearly every one of these white nationalist cults is an old white male sitting in his comfortable home churning out hate-filled writings to be fed to vulnerable young men via the Internet.
Now, for the good news: Yes, this could be the undoing of many Rethuglicans, if not the whole despicable party itself.
Why? Because the party has worked so hard from Reagan to the present in maintaining racism just below the surface with dog whistles, etc.
What Rethuglicans did not anticipate or plan for was an idiot like tRump coming along and gleefully pulling the blanket off their collective cover of hate for all to clearly see. They never saw it coming that anyone could be so stupid as to not only fail to continue the wink-and-nod nuances of racism that they had so carefully cultivated, but to so completely misread the strategy as to blurt it out loud!
Because the only plan they've ever had has been to lie and deny their own racism even as they consciously perpetuated it, they have unwittingly reinforced the very true notion that racism is evil. As a result, Rethuglicans are painted into a corner and are rightfully gobsmacked into silence. They have no idea what to do because they have forever lost their dog-whistle strategy. Now, all that's left for them is to simply move along...as in to the great beyond where, hopefully, they finally learn that karma is a bitch.
Last, but not least, the specific question put forth by the OP: Will racism be tRump's undoing? Yes, but not in the way you're perhaps thinking (as in, voter rejection, etc).
What else is racism but a thought, albeit an extremely hateful thought? THOUGHTS ARE THINGS.
What becomes most affected by thoughts is the body in which they exist.
Hateful thoughts eat the body from the inside out, starting with the brain. Hate of others (racism, xenophobia, misogyny, homophobia...pick your poison) is merely how the brain copes with hating one's own self---a form of deflection, if you will, to hold the self-hate at bay.
This is why tRump developed NPD (Narcissistic Personality Disorder) decades ago, as a bodily defense against his own self-loathing for the many evil and despicable thoughts and deeds he had already done long before you even knew his name.
Unfortunately for him, there is only one route this disorder takes and there is no cure: Following a long period of NPD, the brain finally gives up the charade and dementia sets in. This is the stage tRump currently is in; the clinical symptons are readily on display for all to see. At the start of his fake presidency, tRump was already at early dementia. Now, he's very close to the 70% mark of full-blown dementia.
For most, the dementia stage resulting from NPD progresses more slowly over a period of 10 years or so. However, returning to an understanding that thoughts are things, if one gives voice to thought, that is not only a natural amplification, but an ACCELERATION of whatever trajectory has already taken hold of the body as a result of those thoughts. In other words, the bully pulpit of the presidency has only served to hasten the physical demise & inevitable collapse of this already very sick man.
So, yes, tRump's racism, along with all his other hateful thoughts, will be his undoing--in a roundabout, but perfectly sensible and, many will think, poetically justifiable way. I, for one, see the final short-circuit of his brain happening soon, long before he's slated for that orange jumpsuit.
NCLefty
(3,678 posts)The media has to be extra vigilant now, but I doubt they can break their old habits.
We got so screwed by the non-voters in 2016. :/