Since I typically have a low opinion of those who have high opinions of themselves, I tend to tune out celebrities’ and artists’ political squawkings. The evidence of Trump’s election suggests that many others do, as well, and it’s typically fair to embrace as a starting point “why would I believe that John Q. Celebrity’s success in movies, music, television, etc confers greater insight into politics?” until proven otherwise.
My ignoring of them does not deprive them of their soapbox, however, and we’ve been positively inundated with them when it comes to the subject of President-elect Trump. Many such started with contemptuous dismissal, then, as the reality of his campaign became undeniable, turned into histrionic excess and, at times, absurdity (Cher threatened to move to Jupiter, and I doubt she meant Florida). The excess hasn’t really abated, as evinced by a celebrity offering making the social media rounds. It seems they’ve finally gotten past the pipe dream of rejecting Trump via the Electoral College, and now understand that he will be sworn in as President in a couple weeks.
So, they’ve turned to a different message. They want Congress to obstruct his agenda. Or, more accurately, they want Congress to obstruct an agenda of their own construction that they’ve attributed to him. Their agenda attributed to Trump is about racism, sexism and xenophobia. They “fear for their children” (always a giant red flag), and they demand that Congress oppose those aspects of his agenda that are anti-… a long list that not only covers all the approved identity groups, but extends to environmentalism and “the poor.” They declare that they “won’t remain silent,” as if there ever was a chance of that. They repeat the word “obstruct,” and they declare themselves, repeatedly “the majority” of the American people.
Before we get to “obstruct,” lets contemplate this declaration of “majority.” It’s safe to assume that they’re asserting their “majority” status because Clinton got 2.9 million more votes than Trump did. Or, perhaps it’s because Trump got less than 50% of the total popular vote (46.1%), with 5.7% of voters voting third party. There are two problems with this. First – not everyone who voted for not-Trump did so because of aversion to the racist, sexist, homophobic, nativist agenda he purportedly has (I fully concur on nativist, but I’m dubious as to the rest). Second, the number of non-Trump votes totals 73.6M. There are approximately 236M Americans eligible to vote, so even if we assume that every non-Trump vote was rooted in anti-bigotry (does anyone really believe there are no bigots on the Left?), that still leaves us far, far short of “a majority.”
But, that’s all beside the point. The real message here is the concept of “obstruction.” It’s an obvious call-back to what the Left alleged of the Republican Congress under Obama – that the GOP obstructed Obama’s (presumably good, noble and save-the-planet) agenda. The Left excoriated Republicans for doing so. They even alleged this obstruction magically occurred in Obama’s early days when the Democrats held a supermajority and the Republicans were powerless, but facts rarely seem to bother hyperventilates. They treated this obstruction as un-American and an abandonment of responsibility. It was clear then, and clearer now, that “obstruction” meant “they didn’t let Obama do whatever he wanted to.” So, they don’t want Congress to let Trump be sexist, racist, etc. That in itself is a good thing, but there’s a lot of tendentiousness in the message, and that is a bad thing.
First, it perpetuates the false premise that Congress is subordinate to the Presidency. Second, it perpetuates the false premise that opposition to bigotry is exclusively a province of the Left. Third, it implies that those who voted for Trump voted for bigotry – a risible, condescending and deeply insulting implication that shows they still don’t “get it” and gives Trump’s supporters even more reason to continue ignoring the Left’s belating. Finally, it ignores the lessons of the past 6 years, and that’s the great shame.
America’s voters witnessed Obama’s actual agenda during his first two years in office. They didn’t care for it, and they took the House away from his party. They put Obama into the White House for a second term, so they either liked what he promised the second time around or disliked his opponent enough to keep him. But, they left the House in the GOP’s hands, and gave the Senate to the GOP in 2014. On top of all this, the voters took over 900 state-level legislative seats and 14 governorships away from the Democrats in that time span. All sorts of excuses and rationalizations have been put forth to absolve the Left and Obama for this massive shift to the Right, but it is as much the will of the people as any of the Presidential elections are.
The Left’s caterwauling would have us believe that Trump’s victory is the victory of racism, sexism, homophobia, and the like. They’ve also declared, repeatedly, that the opposition to Obama’s agenda was rooted in racism. Consider the massive losses the Dems have suffered from that perspective, and we’d have to conclude that America is strongly racist, sexist and homophobic. This would obviate their declaration that “a majority” of Americans oppose racism, sexism and homophobia, would it not?
Of course, the reality is that the nation is not racist, sexist and homophobic. Some individuals are, but they are the outliers, not the mainstream. The nation elected Obama twice. Congress’s diversity is steadily increasing. Acceptance and tolerance of gays, minorities, and other “oppressed” groups have been improving for decades. In short, the “President Trump because Racism” declaration doesn’t hold water. Trump got elected for other reasons.
Those other reasons, unfortunately for the Left, are problematic for them. The Left would have to confront their own demons, their internal problems, their increasing disconnect from the rest of the country, and the deep flaws in their thinking if they wanted to consider the real reasons for Trump’s victory. And, they can’t gin up nearly as much moral outrage as they can by peddling a “racist” message. Or, more aptly, a “racist” straw man, because that’s what the hyperventilated outrage that the video presents is directed at. Yes, Trump’s mindset is nativist, and that’s a problem. Yes, Trump’s been a vulgarian, and that’s also a problem. But, those don’t justify the blanket “racist, sexist homophobe” caterwauling.
Nevertheless, our celebrities feel they need to tell our congressmen that they should oppose racism, sexism and homophobia, because Trump. As if, without their oh-so-earnest warnings, congressmen and all the people they represent would stumble back to an antebellum mentality. This is gobsmackingly paternalistic, and it informs us that they still, really and truly, don’t understand why Trump got elected.
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