INTRODUCTION
Well, that happened. With one of the lowest voter turn outs in history. Donald Trump (with only 27% of ballots cast in his favor) will become the 45th President of the United States on January 20th 2017. Like George W. Bush before him, Donald Trump did not win the popular vote, but won through electoral college votes, a development that has lead to the questioning of the relevancy of the electoral college system. With an election marred with vitriolic hate, racism, sexism, and xenophobia, a majority of Americans watched in liberal horror as the billionaire and former reality TV star crept his way to victory by galvanizing uneducated white working class men and women, educated white men, and even 30% of the Hispanic/Latino vote; despite Trumps racist rehetoric against them.
The results of the 2016 election were due to a racist, sexist backlash against social justice. Whether that is white supremacy reasserting its dominance, or the the last big gasp of a dying ideology, remains to be seen (though I am keen to think the former rather than the latter...I am a cynic). Though what is true, is that the news organizations, and pollsters had written off the importance of the white working class, voter apathy, and the drive of anti-establishment populism that fueled a Trump win.
THE REEMERGENCE OF THE OVERT RACIST
In the days since, like trying to make sense of a sudden death, much of the country seems to be in mourning. Passing through the Kubler-Ross stages of grief, the local and national news was rife with stories of protests, fearful immigrants, and violence...on both sides . Many educated liberal whites and people of color could barely make sense of what happened. They, having grown up and become politically aware under the warm embrace of President Obama, the historic first black president, they were lulled into thinking that we, as a country, had truly moved past our country's history of oppression, segregation and discrimination. With the election of Donald Trump, they realize that the Obama Presidency was just a hiccup, an aberration of social justice; rather than a real shift of the perception of the US population.
With the win(d) at their back, many of the racist, sexist xenophobes that were part of Trump's base and were instrumental in his grasp for power, have now felt embolden to overtly and unashamedly express their own brand of hatred. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, there has been a sharp increase in hate crimes since the election. When President-Elect Trump heard about such activities he responded with a flippant "Stop it." .
NEW INSTITUTIONAL OVERT RACISM
Making sense out of our "new" reality
In a previous post on Trump and the Rise of Reality politics, I had mentioned that a Presidential candidate who understands how the public is swayed not by the facts, but about the perception of those facts would be able to win an election (mainly because in that moment beliefs will truly "Trump" Facts). In that post I had mentioned that such an idea is based in the sociological perspective known as Social Constructionism, (see link above for an explanation). However, since most of the world is not well versed in sociological theory, Oxford dictionary has coined a new term that has increased in popularity to explain to non-sociologists the wide reaching effects of constructionism, and more specifically, the effect of fake news stories that have been distributed through social media which has a significant outcome on the 2016 presidential election
That term is Post-Truth which is defined as:
“Relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief.”In this case, the “post-” prefix doesn't mean “after” so much as it implies an atmosphere in which a notion is irrelevantSociologists that focus on the social construction of reality, understand that most of all aspects of our lives within society are based upon what Berger and Luckmann call a Subjective reality. which others have called a "reality tunnel". What this means is that from a Sociological point of view, we have already been beyond truth; it is currently so extreme that many non-academics are taking notice and coming to the realization that we only have a tacit agreement about what is acceptable with others within our society.
Yet, as the American people are getting used to a new reality, the rationalization machine has been in full swing. Many demoralized anti-trump voters saying "Hopefully, he will be on a short leash." or " I hope he didn't mean all that he said." and " Perhaps he just said those things to get elected." While these claims are those of desperate people grasping at straws, these comments miss the larger, more unsettling, point: It doesn't matter if Trump is all talk; that talk was validated by those that voted for him, and even more troubling, those that didn't vote at all. The actions of the Trump voters illustrate an acceptance and support of his discriminatory platform. Just as disturbing is the acquiescence, passivity and capitulation to such vile beliefs through the apathy of the non voters. Trump supporters can then try and hide behind his (terrible) economic platform and anti-establishment bluster in order to minimize, in their minds, the deep personal truth of racism and sexism that they believe in.
In much the same way, the nonvoter is not as threatened by Trump's racist sexist demagoguery either; revealing their own forms of privilege, implicit bias, self hating internalization, or racial disassociation. Additionally, there have been several reports of individuals who are participating in the Anti-trump movement that did not vote. While these reports are far fewer than originally thought, the fact that there is even one of these individuals, by that I mean one who could legally vote and chose not to, then engaged in public protests, is disgusting. Like a petulant child that is defiant at doing a needed house hold chore, who then complains when the home is not kept up to their desired level of comfort, the protests of voluntary nonvoters have no right to complain. Their political voice died the moment they decided not to cast a ballot.
However, one of the more resounding refrains coming from the various news media is, now that Trump is our President-elect we should, at least, "give him a chance." Unfortunately, this all went out the window when Trump started to appoint various people into key positions in his burgeoning administration.
The Appointments
The Trump administration is slowly starting to take shape. As of this writing, Trump has appointed his chief of staff, his chief strategist, director of the CIA, NSA adviser and the Attorney General. Given Trumps election platform and support of white nationalists , it should be of no surprise that all of these appointments are white men. And, as if doubling down on his outsider image and racist/sexist radical base, each of those appointed have a troubling history with limiting civil liberties or embracing ideologies that support the roll back of rights. While all of these privileged white men are a threat, the one that is the most dangerous among them is Steve Bannon as chief Strategist.
Steve Bannon
Steve Bannon is one of the architects of the "alt right" movement that make up a lot of President-Elect Trumps base supporters. The Alt-Right which Bannon has unified through his media company Breitbart; is comprised of mostly white nationals. Thus, the Breitbart company allows white supremacist groups a space to congregate and become politically active. The potency of their political power was felt by the election of Trump, and with the appointment of Bannon, has exponentially strengthened considering he [Bannon] is now in the Karl Rove position of the Trump Administration.
" Darkness is Good. Dick Cheney, Darth Vader, Satan. That's Power." - Steve BannonBannon, who's had a long history of domestic violence and racism and sexism himself. Is keen on shaping the Trump political Strategy in his own image . This means that there will be a roll back of people of color's rights beginning with immigration.
An Example: Recently a Trump administration spokesperson (Not Bannon) cited the Japanese Internment Camps of WWII as a good example on how to deal with, in his words, Muslims.
If you need more evidence as to the threat posed by Bannon's appointment: Even Glenn Beck thinks he is dangerous!
CONCLUSION
It seems that the 45th Presidency is shaping up to be a raging hate-filled white heteosexist patriarchal dumpster fire. Rather than just rage against it; during the next 4 years we need to support organizations and institutions that support civil liberties and protect those, whom will be targeted for persecution under a Trump Presidency that's guided by the deplorable hand of Steve Bannon, their lives made infinitesimally more dangerous by the President-elect's supporters on a daily basis. So give money to progressive organizations, Newspapers with journalistic integrity, and private companies that value all people equally. Otherwise the future looks bleak.
