Underestimating the anger …

It’s rare when the Republican and Democrat parties, and the media, are all in the same boat. 

All three are blind to the anger of American public right now.

They’re baffled by the number of Americans in favor of a temporary halt in allowing Muslims to come here, including the Syrian refugees. They can’t understand why so many “war-weary” Americans want to use military force – yes, even boots on the ground, which almost guarantees U.S. casualties – to annihilate ISIS.  They can’t grasp that a majority of Americans think we’re at war with Islamic terrorists, if not fundamentalist Islam itself, and the solution is to kill all of these terrorists wherever they are, by any means necessary, regardless of the cost.    

They think they understand why some Americans feel so strongly about limiting illegal immigration – because illegals might be taking some jobs from citizens. But they don’t understand why an increasing number of Americans wouldn’t mind deporting all illegal immigrants and building a wall to keep others from coming in.  And they particularly can’t comprehend how such a large number of Americans want to deny citizenship to children born here by illegals.   

The media and politicians in general can’t fathom the animosity toward them from so many people; the lack of trust the public has in them, in Congress, in the President, and even in the Supreme Court. They keep hoping this is just a temporary phase the public’s going through before the unruly rabble comes to its senses again and starts behaving more rationally.

Then there’s Trump – they don’t understand his support at all.  Everything above is reflected in what Trump routinely espouses. And his popularity is rising.  They simply don’t get it. 

They keep predicting he’ll fail. Yet he doesn’t. They amplify every politically incorrect thing he says thinking this is it; he’s gone too far. But the more they do, the more politically incorrect he is, the more he rises in the polls.

They say now that if even if he wins the nomination, he can’t be elected. I say they’ve been wrong about him so far. What’s to say they’re not wrong about that, too?   

Trump scares them, as he should.  He scares me at times, too.  

He’s a symptom of the anger the public has about so many things – political correctness, political timidity in the face of real danger, political corruption, and business as usual. Trump speaks his mind and tells the truth as he sees it. Trump could be wrong – and many times he is – but he always lets you know where he stands. And he doesn’t back down.   

This appeals to many people and alarms others.      

More and more I see the country divided philosophically between two groups:  the “why can’t we all get along?” group; and the “we’ve had enough of this shit” group. 

And the “we’ve had enough of this shit” group is growing. Trump’s their standard bearer. 

I see evidence of this in social media all the time. 

The “why can’t we all get along?” types routinely post comparisons between Nazi Germany and the persecution of Jews to those who would crack down on undocumented (illegal) immigrants, and potential Islamic terrorists; Trump = Hitler. Since Trump leads just about every Republican poll, Republicans = Nazis. Trump’s followers are modern-day Brown Shirts.  

They like to repost stories from Huff Post and Media Matters portraying Trump, and by association Republicans and the right, as engaging in a war on women, a war on children, a war on the poor, a war on the middle class, a war on teachers, a war on the disabled, a war on illegal immigrants, a war on peaceful Muslims, and if possible a war on puppies and kittens. 

For a group generally opposed to war, they talk about it a lot. 

They also post “Like if you’re opposed to cancer” or “Like if you support compassion” stuff and heart-tugging pictures of women and children refugees trying to escape Syria.  Lately there’s been a spate of supposed quotes from Jesus supporting the view that He would never, ever turn His back on helping the poor, the disadvantaged and the persecuted.

Their point of view is reminiscent of the late 60s/early 70s peace and love movements.  If they’re old enough, they probably had the “Make Love not War” posters in their dorm room. I suspect their Prius is plastered with “Coexist” and Obama bumper stickers. 

The “why can’t we all get along?” crowd tries to shame their “we’ve had enough of this shit” opposition. Their catch phrase is like Obama’s: That’s not who we are as Americans. 

The “we’ve had enough of this shit” crowd isn’t buying it. At all.

If anything the “why can’t we all get along?” crowd is making the “we’ve had enough of this shit” group even more strident.  And I’ll say this for the “we’ve had enough of this shit” group: they’re better at sarcasm and have a wicked mastery of irony.

So the image of peaceful Jesus and his message of compassion was swiftly met with an image of Jesus using whips to drive the money lenders from the temple.  Any post about Islam as a “religion of peace” is almost certain to be countered by pictures of ISIS slaughtering captured soldiers, beheading journalists, or committing other atrocities, or with passages from the Quran approving of killing infidels, along with a note:  So much for your religion of peace. 

The pictures of pitiful women and children refugees  leads to counter posts showing mainly bearded military-aged men in peak physical shape trying to overcome a border crossing in Europe somewhere.  Then they add:  See many “widows and children” here? 

They’ll post pictures of Jihadi John with the caption Muslim extremist, across from a picture of Mother Theresa captioned Christian extremist; underneath both they’ll add:  See the difference? 

They also post stats on how many illegal immigrants here have committed violent crimes, how many are receiving benefits, how many are caught and sent back only to return, and how many illegal immigrants have had their children here so those children can become naturalized citizens. 

They are quick to point out every time a white criminal’s picture makes the news, and how silent the media is when the criminal is black – noting that the description is of a “white male” while the description of a black criminal rarely if ever mentions race. 

When a cop shoots a black person, it’s police targeting blacks; when a black person shoots a cop it’s just gun violence.  And they openly wonder why one rogue cop shooting an armed black teen in Chicago makes national news and spawns mass demonstrations, while killing sprees among black gangs in Chicago are largely ignored. 

I’ve often written about “tipping points” – when some event or series of events trigger an overreaction.  The progressive movement and the “why can’t we all get along?” group may have pushed too hard, too fast and created a tinderbox. 

When ordinary folks see harmless traditions under attack – whether that’s by having Halloween parades cancelled, Christmas trees renamed Holiday Trees and Thanksgiving replaced by Harvest Festival celebrations because these are deemed politically incorrect – it bothers them. They have no wish to hurt anyone’s feelings, but fail to see how any of these do. 

It’s the same when there are attempts to remove “In God We Trust” from our currency, banning school-age athletes from praying at sporting events or penalizing them for pointing skyward, or school principals forbidding the Pledge of Allegiance in their classrooms.

There’s a collective sense of “why?” 

However, none of these alone are enough to trigger the anger that exists now. But they contribute to it.  When both major political parties have failed them, because each is held captive by their respective extreme elements, the pressure builds.  Add to that perceived one-sided media coverage, a government apparently out of control, a President who breaks laws, a Congress that refuses to challenge the President, bureaucrats that can’t be held accountable for their misdeeds, and a Supreme Court that seems to bend to political pressure.

And when political correctness appears to trump commonsense – such as refusing to identify the Islamic terrorists as what they are, and ignoring the dangers from unrestricted immigration – a large part of the population joins the “we’ve had enough of this shit” group.    

That’s what we are experiencing now.

Trump is merely the symptom; the anger runs much deeper. To underestimate it or hope it goes away on its own is a mistake. 

Could it propel Trump into the White House?  I doubt it; he may win some primaries but he won’t get the golden ticket. He also can’t succeed as a third-party candidate, but he can destroy the Republican Party in the process. Maybe it’s time for that anyway.   

I think when it’s time to vote the independents – those in the middle 60% of the voters – will vote against someone rather than for Trump, or they’ll stay at home altogether.    

But the anger won’t go away.