The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Who is Trump’s audience?
In last year's Veterans Day speech, weighed down by feelings of grievance and vengeance, Donald Trump called those on the other side of the aisle, “vermin,” suggesting they pose a greater threat to the United States than the leaders of the totalitarian regimes of Russia and China.
Trump said, “We pledge to you that we will root out the communists, Marxists, fascists, and the radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country, that lie and steal and cheat on elections.”
Referring to people as “vermin” is not the kind of language we expect from a candidate for president, certainly not from any person of good moral character, but that is what Donald Trump said, and says often, with intense anger and hate.
When you couple this with… his affection for authoritarian rulers; his support of Russia's Vladimir Putin over Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky; his utter disdain for the requirements of democracy; his determination as president to pardon those he calls hostages, the very rioters who violently attacked the U.S. Capitol to overturn the 2020 presidential election; and his pronouncement that there will be a bloodbath in the country if he does not win the 2024 presidential election… I can't help but wonder, who is Trump's audience?
Trump is certainly not speaking to me, nor my family, nor most people I know well. But evidently, he is speaking to many of my fellow Republicans, a party I am still part of, if presently in name only, a party determined to elect him president, and support his message of retribution.
I hope the towns and cities of the Fourth Congressional District I represented in Congress for more than 21 years, have not succumbed to his message of retribution, and his support of Putin and other authoritarian rulers.
I keep asking myself, are people truly listening, and actually thinking about what Donald Trump is saying, and questioning what it will mean if he is once again our president? I wonder, can any real good come from such anger and hate, and his support of aggressive totalitarian regimes?
I appreciate that it is not Trump's character, or the economy, but illegal immigration that has the attention of many Americans, and understandably so. President Joe Biden's open border policy has overwhelmed some of our states, and a number of our cities. And all President Biden has to do is reverse the Trump policies he overturned the first week he was president, policies that were actually working. But that would require him to acknowledge he made a mistake, something politicians
Trump is certainly not speaking to me, nor my family, nor most people I know well. But evidently, he is speaking to many of my fellow Republicans, a party I am still part of, if presently in name only, a party determined to elect him president, and support his message of retribution.
in this day and age are reluctant to do.
The economy and immigration notwithstanding, a president's character is still paramount. Yes, even more important than a seriously flawed immigration policy, because ultimately, for better or worse, a seriously flawed president can steer the nation in a terribly wrong direction, and take public policy to places we should not want to go.
For me, Donald Trump was everything my parents taught me not to be, and everything we taught our daughter not to be. But I thought, while I did not vote for Trump to become the 45th president of the United States, perhaps the office would change him.
Perhaps, given he was not a traditional candidate, he would seize the unique opportunity given him, to bring us together, free of immature, crude and juvenile rhetoric, and finally tackle and solve the significant challenges ignored for years by both political parties.
As president, Donald Trump did the opposite. Instead of uniting us, he chose to further divide us. Instead of discussing and confronting the big issues, it was every day all about him, blaming others for the continual dysfunction around him.
And now, four years later, Trump's message of grievance and vengeance seems more intense and angrier, and sadly more accepted by his supporters. We need to ask, what is to become of our democracy under Trump's leadership, and his enthusiastic support of totalitarian regimes?
It is hard to imagine the ultimate condition of our country and the world, under the leadership of any American president weighed down by such intense anger, and motivated to inflict retribution on his perceived enemies. Candidly, it is hard for me to imagine the tolerance of so many good people, who support such an angry, immature and flawed human being?
Our future, in other words our children, deserve so much better. Anger, hatred, bullying, name-calling, childish behavior, victimhood, have no place in a democratic society. There should never be an audience for vengeance and hatred to float aimlessly, like wandering pollen, among so many unsuspecting citizens. And it is truly outrageous such conduct is tolerated, and in many cases actually endorsed, by countless elected Republican officials who know better.
For the well-being of our country, a clear majority of Americans need to reject leaders such as Donald Trump, and appreciate and support leaders who seek to bring out the very best in us. Our challenge and responsibility are to notice and admire such leaders, and for a better America, help them gain the recognition and support they need and deserve.