The desire to standup up for the disadvantaged and the oppressed is a driving force for many in the social justice movement. Consider me not too surprised, then, to bear witness to the latest bit of bizarreness in a time that’s chock-full of them: someone white-knighting Trump’s supporters.
I recently engaged in a dialogue with a couple people who were hyperventilating over Trump’s failure to release his income tax returns. I’m not sure what they expect to find in those returns, other than perhaps that he either didn’t pay as much in taxes as they think he should, that he wasn’t as charitable as they think he should have been, or that he used certain elements of the tax code to his benefit in a manner that offends them. There were suggestions that Trump might be “compromised” by foreign entanglements, but a – such wouldn’t show up in tax returns, b – I’ve heard no substantive allegations whatsoever in this regard, and c – do we really think the Untethered Orange Id will let himself be someone else’s patsy?
The funniest part of the exchange was this lulu:
Each and every person who voted for him should care whether he is fulfilling his promises to them. THEY are the ones being ‘crapped on’ by him, by his refusal to make good on the promises he made.
Apart from the joke of expecting politicians to keep their campaign promises, apart form the hypocrisy of critiquing Trump while excusing Obama’s broken promises as the result of an obstructionist Congress that didn’t exist when ObamaCare was written, there’s the bizarro-world aspect of claiming her concern is for Trump’s supporters. I have yet to hear a self-identified Trumpkin complain about his failure to release his tax returns.
Nevertheless, some people have taken it upon themselves to “ride to the rescue” of the poor, primitive, naive, unaware-they’ve-been-lied-to Trump supporters.
This bit elicits the parochialism behind Thomas Frank’s book “What’s the Matter With Kansas,” and the broad nannyism that is emblematic of modern progressivism. People aren’t to be trusted to look out for their own interests, or to judge for themselves whether the pols they elected are fulfilling promises to their satisfaction, or to even understand what’s good for them. The Best-and-Brightest, the smart ones, the progressive elite… they are the ones who are obligated to look out for the benighted masses, whether or not those masses want them to.
Of course, I don’t buy for a minute that Ms. X’s concern for Trump’s supporters was genuine. Far more likely she was attempting to legitimize her own personal outrage and bolster her own desire to see Trump’s returns by claiming some moral outrage on behalf of those who supported the Tangerine One. In a different form, and rooted in a more substantive issue, this sort of argument can have some merit. For example, it’s not wrong to point out to an Obama supporter that Obama made some very explicit promises about ObamaCare that weren’t fulfilled (keep your plan, keep your doctor, make things cheaper). BUT, that’s something one presents TO an Obama supporter to suggest that he might rethink his support. It’s not the same as calling for Obama to make good on those promises on behalf of Obama’s supporters – especially if the latter have demonstrated they don’t actually care.
Still, white-knighting is what many people do to bolster their own positions. I just find it funny that a liberal white knight would claim to be standing up for a “basket of deplorables.”
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