I feel like I’m put into a position of defending Donald Trump to my liberal friends. Trump was not even in my top 10 of the initial Republican candidates back in 2015, but I’ll try to explain the Trump phenomenon and his huge popularity without it coming off as a commercial. I’ll also try to address him being painted as a bigot and racist, and as trying to install a paternalistic, suppressive white power structure.
Many people support Trump because he has somehow avoided catching the diseases of white guilt, political correctness, and constant virtue posturing. His commonsense arguments seem stark and unusual against a backdrop of extreme political correctness.
Here are the main things Trump’s talking about that are striking a chord in people:
- HEALTHCARE REFORM—the majority of Americans do not want Obamacare. It’s inefficient, burdens millennials unfairly (in an economy that is already stacked against them) and it is unconstitutional.
- CHINA TRADE REFORM—the U.S. trade deficit now stands at 45.7 billion dollars. Exports are the lowest they’ve been in five and a half years, and many good full-time jobs in the U.S. are being replaced with crappy part time jobs. We have lost our mojo as a nation, crushed by regulation and taxes.
- VA ADMINISTRATION REFORM—many of our military are receiving slow, poor service from the VA, and many are dying due to that service. That’s unacceptable given that they have risked their lives for the country.
- TAX REFORM—high taxes are squashing entrepreneurship and business in general, they are too complicated, and to boot, the IRS has targeted certain groups and destroyed evidence in cases against them, which is very worrying.
- 2nd AMENDMENT RIGHTS—many people believe guns prevent crimes but such instances don’t make the headlines as much as the mass shootings. Many people think taken as a whole, the 2nd Amendment should remain.
- IMMIGRATION REFORM—The vast majority of illegal immigrants from Mexico and Central America go on welfare and food stamps and they do not assimilate well. And they are committing crime at a much higher rate than generational Americans, not to mention once eligible, they are almost all voting democratic. So they are taking their failed socialistic systems full of corruption and poverty and bringing it here and making the U.S. more like their old countries. And lots of Muslims around the world are engaging in jihad against the west, so Americans think we need to be very watchful of anyone subscribing to that mindset. People don’t want Hillary to do to the U.S. what Angela Merkel has done to Germany, giving in to political correctness and white guilt and letting her country’s general condition deteriorate dramatically. Letting in so many young Muslim men is a very inconsiderate thing to do to native western women, because they are the ones living in the most fear of being raped by men adhering to the traditional, submissive views of Islam. Islam means submission and women understand that more than anybody. Letting in so many young Muslim men is anti-feminist. And at any rate, people think the federal government should check who comes in the country and only allow legal, lawful immigration. And that special group should be vetted to make sure they believe in American ideals and have taken a serious oath to uphold those ideals of liberty and limited government.
Trump supporters want a more prosperous and well-functioning America for everyone, not just white people as many on the left claim. If people who happen to be white look at a lot of failure-bound movements that come from or are largely supported by black or brown people (for lack of better terms), like socialism, racial division tactics, and anti-free market, anti-limited government views in general, then yes, there is a large number of white people who will speak up. Just because a lot of unhealthy ideas for society do come from or are largely supported by people with brown skin (for lack of a better term), it does not make a white person a racist to criticize socialism, Saul Alinsky-style racial division and islamo-facism. White people take offense to the notion that western European-style countries (including America) must be blamed first for all the ills in the world when actually western European-style societies have gone the farthest in the realm of equality, liberty, creativity, and progress.
Think about this—people have been beating down the door to get into America since its inception. If America has been such a terrible place filled with paternalism and oppression, why does everybody want to live here? They come here to get the big government of their native countries off their backs and so they can be free and work hard to make something of themselves. At least that’s how it used to be. Now that is changing—more and more people are coming to get free hand-outs while remaining in their cultural sub-groups, with no idea of what common American solidarity feels like.
The West is the best, and America is among the best places to live in the world, and there are many reasons to be proud of what we Americans have done, and what Western civilization has accomplished in general. Trump supporters want to bring that spirit of America back, and they love that he goes against the establishment Republican king makers, who can’t get off their gravy train long enough to learn about the serious concerns of regular Americans.
Dubya gave us Obama, and now Obama has given us Trump. So if you on the left are looking for someone to blame for Trump’s rise, don’t blame your fellow Americans because the Obama administration is mostly to blame. Eight years of stirring the racial division pot, putting down America, bad economic policy, and letting ISIS grow like a cancer has given us Trump.
It’s like this to Trump supporters. You have multiple pipe bursts in the basement of your house. Water is everywhere. It’s a complete mess and out of control. You call a plumber to your house that you believe is fastest, smartest and most dependable plumber in town. When they get to your house, yes they are rude, cursing to themselves, cursing at each other saying, “get the ?#@*&! out of the way – I got this #?#@#! leak – go take care of another ?#@*&! leak you #?#@#! !” And they are yelling at your precious little dog to get the hell out of the way, and they are tossing aside your box of memorabilia in a very inconsiderate way to get to a location.
Yes the crude behavior bothers you a little, but you accept it because the team is doing an awesome job fixing the catastrophe in your basement. Now your dog won’t drown (and he’ll recover from being yelled at). All your memorabilia won’t soak. Your basement is being saved because the ill-mannered plumber and his team are quickly stopping the leaks. Obviously lots of people believe Trump will deliver on things they care about. Most right-leaning voters think Trump is the best plumber to get the job done. The million dollar question is: will he deliver if elected president?
Politicians talk about democracy all the time and want to spread democracy all over the world. But when democracy rears its head in America, then the elite power brokers pull out all the stops to try to sabotage it. The establishment right is trying their damnedest to do this. They wheeled out Romney to impede Trump. The Bush Dynasty has tried fervently to trip up Trump. Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised to turn on my TV and see Michael Dukakis or Joe Lieberman giving a speech against Trump, paid for by the big Republican donors.
For better or worse, Trump is what most right-leaning people of this country want. I’m not saying vote for Trump, but at least listen to and respect the voice of the people and try to understand the reasons behind their support for the man.
