CommentsBELL VIEW--Turns out, liberals aren't as smart as we think we are. So says University of Virginia Professor Gerard Alexander in an Op Ed in the New York Times.Like Professor Alexander, I too, have been trying to figure out a way to relate to the 32% of the population that currently governs the country.
The article suggests that liberal smugness risks energizing Trump’s base and ensuring his reelection in 2020.
Professor Alexander provides a long list of liberal offenses to good taste, starting with Michelle Wolff’s “one-sided” routineat the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner. But was she really so “one-sided?” Here she is, for example, taking the liberal media elite to task for enabling the rise of Donald Trump in order to line their own pockets:
“You guys are obsessed with Trump. Did you used to date him? Because you pretend like you hate him, but I think you love him. I think what no one in this room wants to admit is that Trump has helped all of you. He couldn’t sell steaks or vodka or water or college or ties or Eric, but he has helped you. He’s helped you sell your papers and your books and your TV. You helped create this monster, and now you’re profiting off of him. If you’re going to profit off of Trump, you should at least give him some money, because he doesn’t have any.”
Here'sFrank Rich doing the same thing in New York Magazine. Are both attacks on the liberal elite also anti-Trump? Sure. It’s hard to be pro-Trumpon virtually any issue and maintain a shred of decency. Does this belief make me a self-righteous jerk? Or a realist? Let’s take a look. On trade, Trump is … nutty. On the environment … reckless. On race … backwards. On immigration … cruel. On criminal justice … cruel. On healthcare … cruel. Well … you get the point. Show me onereasonable pro-Trump position and I’d be eager to jump on board that common ground.
In Fire and Fury, Michael Wolff’s expose of the early days of the Trump presidency, there’s a story about Trump talking with his national security team about bombing Syria. Trump, at one point, says; “Why should we bomb anybody?” Or something like that. And I thought – “Yeah! Why should we bomb these people?” Then … Trump bombed them. I heard a lot of loose talk from disgruntled Democratic Socialists during the 2016 election that Trump was somehow less of a hawk than Hillary Clinton, to which I replied: “huh?” The guy who said he would “bomb the shit out of” ISIS? The guy who said we should kill the familiesof people suspected of terrorism? The guy who said he didn’t care if waterboarding amounted to torture – he’d do it and a hell of a lot worse?” That guy?
Professor Alexander says that “Some liberals have gotten far out ahead of their fellow Americans but are nonetheless quick to criticize those who haven’t caught up with them” on issues like race and gender. Really? Here'sRonald Reagan in 1980 laying out his “Make America Great Again” slogan. At what point are these people going to … you know … catch up? Professor Alexander suggests that liberals’ “judgmental tendencies became stronger during the administration of President Barack Obama,” to the point where “liberals were more convinced than ever that conservatives were their intellectual and even moral inferiors.” Maybe Professor Alexander hasn’t gotten into discussions with his “conservative” friends where they refer to Michelle Obama as a gorillaor a man. Because I have. Maybe he hasn’t seen the comments sections where these salt of the Earth Americans heap racist slurson Obama’s daughters. Read a few of those and it really makes you start to feel just a teensy bit superior.
Look – Donald Trump mustbe defeated. Sooner the better. If that means cuddling up to unsavory characters – like corporate Democrats – so be it. I have struggled to reach across the divide to my friends and relations in the Trumpist section of America. But denying the obvious fact that support for Donald Trump constitutes de facto racism is not an option. If you’re an oligarch and you don’t feel rich enough – fine – you’ve got a legitimate reason to support Donald Trump. For everyone else, it’s all racism. I believe the people of America have plentyof things we can agree on. But “you’re-not-really-a-racist-even-though-you-continue-to-support-this-racist-regime” is not one of them.
(David Bell is a writer, attorney, former president of the East Hollywood Neighborhood Council and writes for CityWatch.)
-CW
