At its core, this election is simply about saving angry white males from themselves...
Of course, there's more of us than there are of them, so we're going to help them from committing collective self-harm. I have no doubt about that.
But why are we in this situation? Why has Trump become the centralized point in the identity politics of white male anger?
Let's first point out that Trump isn't the problem... He's merely the symptom. He's the psychological id of an ugly streak in the American psyche that promotes racist, white supremacist ideology, sexism, hatred, fear and anti-intellectualism. Those feelings, in turn, promote feelings of isolation and inadequacy in ordinary people. If prevents those people from looking for the solutions to their own problems inside of themselves. It's even distorts what the problems actually are. It helps to promote their feelings of anger and fear against those without power, creating scapegoats out of "the other." If anything, it's also the same sense of privilege that actually breeds feelings of inadequacy when loss of traditional privilege occurs.
In the wrong hands, it's the stuff that threatens American representative democracy with oligarchy and fascism. It the stuff that breeds violence and abuse. It's the worst of our very own nature that we inflict on ourselves.
Because angry white males are focused, centralized and identified with this ugliness, they're under the belief that the country's central core, it's meaning and identity is what America is all about. They actually think that they OWN America all by themselves. Of course, they don't, especially if the rest of us has anything to say about it. That's why this election is so important... We can't allow these people to identify the rest of us through their own collective victimhood, defined by their own reflected feelings of inadequacy and loss of privilege.
Trump is now the chief abuser and all of America are his victims in a way. And we have those people who are the most susceptible victims of that abuse, because you can't have the abused without their abusers, especially white male victimhood in particular is involved. It's the feeling of victimhood through the perceived loss of privilege. To these people, electing an intelligent, compassionate woman is an insult to their own self-imposed identification with toxic masculinity and white privilege.
Trump is exploiting those feelings and he's doing it through a process of emotional abuse. Here's a list of traits found in victims of emotional abusive relationships. If anything, it fits the profile of a typical Trump supporter to a T:
Although there is no specific ‘type’ of person who is more likely to be abused, there are abuse victim characteristics which people in an abusive relationship tend to have in common or display. These can include:
Low self esteem
Emotional and economic dependency
Continued faith and hope abuser will "grow up"
Depression
Stress disorders and/or psychosomatic complaints
Accepts blame and guilt for violence or abuse
Socially isolated, eg avoids social interaction, never seems to be alone
Believes social myths about battering
Believes in stereotypical gender roles
Has poor self image
Contemplates or attempts suicide, or self-harms
Participation in pecking-order battering
Appears nervous or anxious
May defend any criticism of abuser
May have repeatedly left, or considered leaving the relationship
http://www.hiddenhurt.co.uk/abuse_victim_characteristics.html
How many times have we heard his supporters excusing and defending Trump's abusive behavior and language? All of the time, of course. It's not a coincidence, it's planned and predictable and pretty much plain as day. We only damage ourselves by refusing to admit what's actually going on.
Trump is someone who has narcissistically promoted himself by representing America's core negativity. He isn't the face or voice of hatred, he's the reflection and echo of it. He resonates with his supporters because they hear and see in him what they hear and see in themselves.
The cure? I'm not saying that it's going to be Hillary Clinton all by herself, because, all-in-all, she's only one person, in spite of the fact that she's overwhelmingly qualified to be The President. And she will be The President.
The cure is put upon those of us who have the power to prevent the empowerment of our own collective self-destructiveness. The most direct method is to prevent Trump from getting elected. But that's only the beginning, because this ugly side of ourselves has always been focused like a laser at destroying Hillary Clinton and what they think she represents for quite a long time. By simply being a strong, intelligent, capable, compassionate and industrious woman in her own right, she has become a lighting rod for this American white supremacist, sexist and anti-intellectual ugliness. One doesn't have to like Hillary Clinton, all one needs to do is recognize the forces who are trying to take her down. By taking her down, they'd take the rest of us down and themselves down as well... Don't forget that.
Not one of these forces is beneficial or positive in any way... If anything, if left unchecked, they have the power to destroy us all.
The thing is, despite the fact that she will inhabit the most powerful office on the planet, she shouldn't be expected to do all of the work on her own. She's going to need all of our help in the oncoming years.
The question that we should all ask ourselves is, what are we going to do about it? We all need to answer that question to the best of our ability. Be that as it may, I am confident that we can answer, if we choose to.
In the mean time, I'm looking forward to seeing how well we'll answer that pressing question on Tuesday and I right now, I feel good about the prospects. So remember, friends don't let friends vote Republican. But most of all, We are all Stronger Together.
On to VICTORY!
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