The coming backlash

Betting that we will see in the midterms a hard response to the sick cruelty and racism Trump raised from the sewer.

When it comes to Trump’s bigotry, no additional evidence is needed. That’s not an assertion. It’s a fact: He is an unapologetic racist.

That he posted a racist image of former President Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama as apes — and refused to apologize for it — is disgusting and outrageous. As MaxTheGirl pointed out on Facebook, any CEO who shared such a vile meme would be instantly fired.

But no one should be shocked that Trump is a white-hot racist. (I would call him a degenerate racist but for the fact that “degenerate” suggests a decline from a higher state that Trump never occupied; the first time The New York Times mentioned his name in print, he was a 27-year-old defendant in a housing discrimination lawsuit.)

In the summer of 2019, he called Baltimore, a city with a majority Black population, “a place where no human being would want to live.”

Backlash: Some of the nearly 63 million Americans who voted for him the first time might have done so to “get their country back” after eight years of Obama, the first Black occupant of the White House.

Some of the 77 million who thought a second Trump term would be a good idea liked his vow to close the border, round up undocumented immigrants and keep new ones from landing here. But that had little to do with upholding laws and making the country safe. Clearly, the immigrant purge being carried out by masked ICE agents, on orders from the racist Stephen Miller, is all about making America whiter.

Thus, it’s no stretch to say that much of Trump’s domestic actions — the immigrant crackdown; attacks on diversity, equity and inclusion; the removal of exhibits and educational materials referencing slavery from national parks; the constant claims of voter fraud in majority Black cities — flow from the racist sewer in Trump’s head.

Worse: In foreign matters, experts believe his approval of the destruction of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has already caused the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people of color in what Trump openly termed “shithole countries.”

Nor is it a stretch to say that people who support Trump — especially at this stage of the tragedy — share his racist views and want a whiter country.

And yet, looking back on this long tragedy historically, I have a question: If not for the power generated from Trump’s notoriety as a reality television star, if not for his cynical eagerness to push racist buttons, if not for his constant lies about the threats posed by the undocumented population, would the U.S. today be a profoundly divided nation in decline? If not for Trump, would whatever social progress gained from Obama’s two elections have been negated by the march of torch-bearers?

I don’t think so.

Many of us believed that America was finally on the right path — if not post-racial, at least becoming more accepting and empathetic with each generation.

You would think, for the sake of peace and progress, we would actively heal the remaining wounds and avoid reopening old ones. The “greatest nation on Earth” would have accepted the reality of a diverse society by now, would have learned to judge people for “the content of their character” and not by “the color of their skin.”

While there will always be bigots among us, a progressive and prosperous nation certainly would never, ever elevate any of them to positions of power.

But look where we are: An obnoxious bigot in the bully pulpit, giving chief-executive approval to white supremacy and a cruel purge of immigrants by an SS-like police force.

Pollsters ask a familiar question: Are you better off than you were a year ago, or four years ago? The question usually relates to economics — employment and income, consumer prices and the general cost of living under a particular president.

There are, however, other ways to measure the quality of American life at any given moment.

Maybe pollsters should ask this question: When it comes to understanding and empathy, accepting the racial and ethnic diversity of our country, are we better off than we were a year ago?

The immediate answer, delivered on Super Bowl Sunday, would have to be no. Under Trump, the nation is on the wrong track — headed backwards, to some openly racist time, or part way there.

I don’t believe the majority of Americans want that.

So, just as Trump exploited prejudices to create an Obama backlash and win his first presidency, I’m betting that we see another backlash develop this year — in the midterm elections — against the sick cruelty and racism Trump raised from the sewer. (His attacks on Obama are on a man who won nearly 70 million votes in his re-election victory and generally ranks as the most popular living president.)

Polls suggest that more Americans are feeling pinched; better than half say the economy has become worse in the last year. But, along with that, maybe more Americans are recognizing the high price we pay, morally and spiritually, for having this unapologetic racist in the White House.