TRUMP AND THE ARC OF THE MORAL UNIVERSE

The United States of America has just been through the most stressful and bitter Presidential  election in living memory. It pitted brother against brother and neighbor against neighbor.  The painful prolonged struggle was characterized by the subsequent winner Democrat Joseph Biden as being for “The Soul of the Nation”. At heart of the Trump campaign was the fight to establish an authoritarian white supremacist country. 

HOW IT ALL CAME ABOUT 

 A unique set of circumstances including a technological and energy revolution which created tremendous financial strain on blue collar workers, globalization, mass emigration of displaced persons, nationalism and racism resulted in a phenomenon called “populism” altering America and the world. All that coupled with disenchantment with government, which was perceived to be the handmaiden of the elites at the expense of the workers, resulted in a “black swan” event in 2016 with the election, with a minority of votes, of a messianic megalomaniacal “populist”, named Donald J. Trump.The latter put together a coalition of those who wished to halt the evolution of the social order in America via the judicial systems, white supremacists, anti immigrants, authoritarians, isolationists and nationalists The demographic sectors constituting Trump’s coalition included the Evangelical Christians, the conventional Republicans particularly in the rural areas and of course the economically hit.

Central to the American populism movement was white supremacy. Uppermost in the minds of the protagonists of permanent white control was the fact that America, by 2050, was on the trajectory to have a white minority. 

At the helm of this revolution was Donald J. Trump who reigned between the years 2017 and 2020, The latter was an alleged billionaire, snake oil salesman, stable genius, real estate developer de luxe, repeated bankruptcy recipient, television star, totalitarian and unashamed crook. He will be as much a part of history as was Jefferson Davis head of the Confederacy in the Civil War and Jim Crow in whose name segregation was introduced in the South. All three in their time in one way or another were racist,  hindering the advancement of the “other” in particular the African American and or discriminatory towards them. They believed that only the white people were the true Americans. Their goal was to turn back the progression of the Arc of the Moral Universe that underlay the American Decleration of Independence. 

HISTORY IS VIEWED THROUGH VARIOUS PRISMS

There are many prisms through which to view history. The American narrative is interpreted most often through the paradigm of an aspirational manifesto and an evolving democracy born of a fierce independence, individual rights and the power of the people. The aspiration description may be accurate but the very equality they were defining two hundred years ago was woefully inadequate with very limited franchise and the existence of slavery. Yet the Constitution of its time was revolutionary being a creature of the Age of the Enlightenment which heralded in liberal democracy and free markets. Since then there has been an imperfect slow march to equality punctuated by periods of grave injustices and prejudice.

What also made the fledgling democracy unique was that most of the population was not indigenous, being constituted by waves of immigrants from different origins, backgrounds and beliefs. In addition there was a large population of slaves kidnaped from Africa who have ostensibly been liberated for a hundred and fifty years. The newcomers were always looked upon with suspicion while the former African America slaves have battled for equality to this day. Nevertheless in a world stricken with constant wars between peoples who regarded themselves as different, peaceful America with all its population groups stood out as a beacon of light.

THE STRUGGLE TO INCLUDE THE FORMER SLAVES AS PART OF  “WE THE PEOPLE”

It tis fair to say that America through all has been dominated by white peoples of Anglo Saxon culture and origin. Nevertheless there have been three occasions in the two hundred and fifty year history which are regarded as seriously challenging the status quo and advancing the Arc of the Moral  Universe. The first and most significant was the Civil War of 1861 where the North fought the South to secure the slaves’ emancipation and the second was Reconstruction where the freed slaves advanced in every direction. That progress was halted by what was entitled the Jim Crow Laws where segregation was strictly enforced by the Southern States and the vote was virtually denied the “Negro”. This disgraceful period in history included outright repression and even lynchings. 

Gradually through court battles, activism, protests and finally legislation the Southern racial laws were whittled away in the fight for Civil Rights, the third movement to move The Arc of Moral History. Segregated facilities were declared inherently unequal by the Supreme Court in 1954 in a landmark case on school discrimination. As early  as 1957 Civil Rights Legislation was introduced under President Eisenhower establishing a division in Department of Justice to try and protect the right to vote. That was the same year that Rosa Parks with her civil disobedience kicked off the Civil Rights Movement which was to be lead by Martin Luther King in the 1960’s resulting in President Johnson’s legislation to end the Jim Crow laws. 

It was Reverend  King who coined the term - the Arc of the Moral Universe. He pointed out that the arc of positive change was long but it bends towards justice. For the next half a century more and more African Americans rose to leadership positions in every sphere of life culminating with the emergence of Barak Hussein Obama, an African American who has been the most intelligent and charismatic leader this Century. He rose to the highest position in the land, the President of the United States of America and Commander in Chief. The highly successful African Americans in the eyes of the rural and workless blue collar whites “have nots” became part of the elites. (On the other hand the majority of African Americans were still receiving an inferior education, were far more likely to be arrested and jailed for the same crime and be discriminated in the work place). 

With the elevation of Obama to the WhiteHouse the worst possible nightmare of the segregationists had come true as it heralded the potential takeover of the country by those who they argued weren’t true Americans. 

So enter Donald Trump.

DONALD TRUMP A RACIST AND WHITE SUPREMACIST FROM WAY BACK

 Lindsey Graham got it right the first time when he characterized Trump as being a “Race baiting xenophobic religious bigot”. At heart besides all his other asocial and anti democratic attributes the current POTUS is a racist and a white supremacist. He has another unique characteristic in that he can intuitively and instinctively get into the minds of the underdog and persuade them that he is their champion. He has honed this skill to the extent that he draws tens of thousands to his Nuremberg style rallies while never failing to garner media attention for his outlandish statements 

Trump’s racism dates to the very beginning when he and his father were charged for discrimination against potential black renters. One infamous incident that is recalled again and again was Trump’s sustained campaign for the death penalty of black and Latino youths who were labelled the New York Five. The latter were wrongly convicted for a brutal rape of a jogger. The men were subsequently awarded a massive sum for wrongful conviction. Eventually the perpetrator confessed to this crime where his DNA matched that of the rapist. To this day Trump, who over the years placed full page adverts in the NY Times for the return of the death penalty in the state of New York, has not retracted his untruthful destructive tendentious argument, claiming that there are “People on both sides” of the debate. This answer/non answer has been a hallmark of his signaling to his racist fellow travelers his support which in his current role as President is extremely significant. What triggered Joseph Biden off on what initially appeared to be a quixotic presidential bid was Trump claiming that the violent white supremacists in Charlottesville who were defending their Confederacy heritage were “also good people”. 

TRUMP’S RACIST ELECTION CAMPAIGN - OBAMA AND MAGA

 Trump began his unofficial election campaign with a sustained mendacious racial attack on the 44th POTUS. He latched on, with a vengeance, to a fringe conspiracy theory that Obama was not born in America and therefore he was an “illegitimate” President, in what became known as “the birther conspiracy”. Trump lied after lie claiming to have non existent information that supported this theory. He had investigators that were about to produce incontrovertible evidence and on and on. It took five years for Trump to concede that the first black President had been born in America. All this was code for a black man not being a true citizen. (He maintained an obsession with Obama throughout and in his shambles of a term of office the only consistent thread in any of his policy platforms was to eliminate Obama’s legacy. His inane inaccurate comparisons with Obama’s achievements were reminiscent of five year olds’ sibling rivalry.}

To prove that he was an all around bigot he kicked off his official Presidential campaign by calling Mexicans, murderers and rapists, following up with a proposal of a ban on all Muslims entering this country and claiming that a judge who came from Latin American descent was biased against him in the case where he was being sued over the fraud he perpetrated in the creation of Trump University.

The largest symbol of Trump’s belief that the only true Americans were white Americans was his Make America Great Again, (MAGA), slogan coupled with his attack on immigration. His mind, such as it is, was like an open two page book and he blurted out that we need immigrants from countries like Norway. In any case America was pretty great anyway with a thriving Obama economy with the respect of the world so MAGA meant what everyone perceived it to mean - white supremacy. 

So it was pretty clear where Trump was coming from. His objective was not to solve the economic, globalization, climate, technological, populist  and mass emigration problems the world was facing. On the contrary he told the blue collar workers and miners a tissue of lies and gave them false promises, became a devout fundamentalist Christian and most importantly signaled to the segregationists and White Supremacists that Civil War II was about to halt the Arc of the Moral Universe that began in the 1960’s.

The darkest depths of the Trump psyche was revealed in his campaign against Hilary Clinton when he let it be known that he was quite willing to have guns in the street back him. He all along claimed that the election was going to be rigged and the only people who might be able to do anything about would be the “Second Amendment People”. Till this day he has encouraged the militia types, empathized with murderers- the Kenosha shooter was “acting in self defense”, failed to condemn the white supremacists conspiracy to kidnap and murder the Michigan Governor, legitimized potential white terrorist groups such as the Proud Boys and screwball conspiracy amalgams such as QAnon. Finally and most tragically he failed to deal with the racial injustice as illustrated by the ten minute agonizing murder of George Floyd, rather turning it an issue of the police versus the lunatic left.

THE BIDEN/HARRIS TICKET

“Cometh the hour cometh the man”, has never been more apt in the circumstance of Joe Biden’s ascendency to the Democratic nomination and now the presidency. Biden is the most experienced politician around. While he always has been unshakenly left of center and not afraid to lead but never far enough ahead of the curve to not be in the center and mix of political compromise. His decision early on to chose a woman as his running mate and then to follow up with one of color when the mood of the country had elected a populist took guts. He set out to create this clear cut distinction with authoritarian racist Trump rather than blur the edges.  

While he was never charismatic, influential or polarizing enough to win the Democratic Party nomination he was the ideal nominee for the number one position in 2020. He has the gravitas, the respect, the experience, empathy, humanity, toughness and the belief in the American institutions of democracy - built over half a century of service, to calm the nation and bring normalcy to a chaotic country which is facing a nation and a world wracked with economic, health, climatic and social crises not witnessed in almost a century. Crucially he was one of the few politicians who had any credibility left with the white American union workers who proved to be central to his victory.

 To quote Lindsey Graham on the President Elect, “Biden is as good a man as God ever created”. As Kamala Harris added “He is a healer”. 

Kamaia Harris, the Vice President elect, is the sharpest mind in the Senate. In addition to being charismatic, she is highly personable with enough savvy to adapt to the role of being a campaigning foil to the Presidential nominee and to the Presidency itself. It has to be remembered that it was Harris who shot to prominence in the Democratic nomination contest by tearing Biden apart for his fraternization with segregationists early on his career. 

The pair stuck to their plan electioneering in terms of their respect of the Covid restrictions. They were positive throughout never sinking to the levels of the opposition.

AFRICAN AMERICAN SUPPORT

Biden summed up the African American defining role in his victory in his speech when the election was called for him, “They have always had my back and I will always have theirs”. Without the de facto African American legislative leader, James Clyburn’s support, when Biden was on his way out of the Democratic nomination contest, almost penniless, he would never have become the nominee, The seasoned Civil Rights campaigner galvanized the African American support behind the former Vice President. It was a brave call because the Party Establishment were largely staying out of the fight to position themselves to be with the eventual nominee. “We know Joe and Joe knows us”, Clyburn emoted in a successful appeal to garner support for the ailing Biden effort. 

In addition Stacey Adams delivered the Southern state of Georgia and who knows whether she can get the same turn out to win the two Republican Senate seats that have to be recontested in Georgia. Ninety percent of the African American women and eighty percent of the men filled in the circle for Biden.

THE ELECTION SUBTEXT IN THE CONTEXT OF THE ARC OF THE MORAL UNIVERSE

Trump who had been largely about the reaction to the fear of a loss of white control of America and as a result of the Obama’s Presidency specifically, had he advanced his cause of white supremacy he should have increased his margin of his 2016 victory rather than lose his Mid West white worker support, decrease his rural vote almost all round to the extent of losing Arizona and Georgia. 

Whichever way you look at this Biden/Harris were an extension of the Obama/Biden regime. Biden was not only Obama’s numero uno he articulated the POTUS 44’s slogan, “There are no blue states there are no red states only the United States”, again and again. In his post election celebration, with regard to his ambitious agenda, he argued, in the words of Obama, “Yes we can”.

His choice of a woman of color, a heart beat away from a seventy - eight year old President, was about as “in your face” to white supremacy as you can get. His insistence that he was “transitional” in this context underlined the message that the continuation upwards of the Arc of Moral History was on the ballot.

A FINAL WORD OF CAUTION

The Democratic House lost a few seats. What apparently resonated in these constituencies  was the “Unfund the Police” slogan. That needs to be clarified and separated from the racist behavior of a number of cops. Then the unsubstantiated fear that violence was going to pour into the suburbs and they were going to be overrun by low cost housing projects under the leadership of Cory Booker needs to be countered. The Progressive caucus of five members, all elected in overwhelmingly Democratic constituencies, should take a pause and read, Martin Luther King, Mandela’s “Long Walk to Freedom”, Cunningham, Lewis and Clyburn.  

Donald Trump and or Trumpism is far from dead. This is only the end of the beginning of finally accepting all American citizens as part of “We The People”.