Resistance not capitulation
by digby
 |
| Some of them were very fine people? |
So I keep reading these end of the year pieces in which jaded observers instruct people like me that continuing to be outraged by Donald Trump is a waste of time because he lives on outrage and the only way to defeat him is to be sympathetic to his followers and let them know that you really care. To think that something like being in collusion with a foreign government to win or that authoritarian impulses are to be resisted whenever they occur is to be a fool and dupe and playing into his hands. And this is supposedly true even if they’re not strictly his (tiny) hands one is playing into but rather unaccountable, antagonistic actors who are using modern tools to change the way the world is organized.
Well, I’m going to just say no to that. First, it’s premised on the idea that Trump’s followers are suffering from some unbearable economic woes and that’s just not true. Poor people didn’t vote for Donald Trump. It’s not about poor people. Most Trump voters are “suffering” from a feeling that they’re not as successful as they think they deserve to be, especially when the people they hate are making their way up the social ladder, which they define as unfairness. These are people who are seeing their superior social status as white people erode as the nation diversifies.
How is one supposed to be sympathetic to that alleged problem? It’s like having empathy for rich people who are unhappy that they’re not as rich as Bill Gates. It’s ridiculous. Moreover, the only way to empathize with people who are upset about the fact that people who aren’t like them are achieving social equality is to tell them they are right and the people who aren’t like them are undeserving. That’s not empathy, that’s capitulation.
Liberals and progressives have always set forth policies that are far more geared to the needs of working people than conservatives have done, with their individualistic “pull yourself up by your bootstraps unless you were smart enough to be born rich” ideology. Modern Democrats have not been perfect, but they are hell of lot more empathetic to people with economic needs than the modern right has ever been. They can certainly be smarter about how they talk about that, but in the end, the positive effect will be marginal as long as the center left and left are a coalition that includes immigrants, people of color, feminists and educated urban dwellers because that’s what they can’t stand about us.
Clearly, we are in a period of transition and we’re not exactly sure what shape the future is going to take. That’s scary in the best of times, but right now, with our current leadership and the sophisticated manipulation of the media, it’s particularly unnerving. But I think this is a time that that the best policy is to keep your wits about you, cling to the facts, question what you see but trust your instincts and resist this unbalanced authoritarian strain no matter what. Just try to tell the truth as you see it.
Anyway, that’s what I’m going to try to do as we face year two of this nightmare. It’s not easy but it makes it easier knowing that there are a lot of people out there who stop by and read this old-fashioned blog every once in a while and get something out of it.
If you feel like dropping a little something into the Hullabaloo kitty over this holiday period, I would be most appreciative. Together we can get through this.
Happy New Year, everybody.
cheers — digby
.