Garrison Keillor wrote an awesome takedown of Donald Trump entitled When this is over, you will have nothing that you want.
Labor Day and it is not going well. You had a very bad month. You tossed out those wisecracks on Twitter and the Earth shook and your ratings among white suburban women with French cookware declined. The teleprompter is not your friend. You are in the old tradition of locker room ranting and big honkers in the steam room, sitting naked, talking man talk, griping about the goons and ginks and lousy workmanship and the uppity broads and the great lays and how you vanquished your enemies at the bank. Profanity is your natural language and vulgar words so as not to offend the Christers but the fans can still hear it and that’s something they love about you. You are their guy. You are losing and so are they but they love you for it.
As someone who thinks Donald Trump is both a vile pig of a man and a threat to the free world, I loved it. But that’s not surprising, it was written for people like myself who already view Trump with contempt.
[pullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]Trump supporters are like those who are abused by a dating partner imagining that if they only get married the abuse will stop and they will be happy once more.[/pullquote]
Instead of writing to Trump, I wish that Keillor had written to Trump supporters. He could have pointed out the obvious, if Trump is victorious THEY will have nothing that they want.
They are whooping it up now because Trump has made America safe for the bigotry and hatred towards Hispanics, blacks, gay people and anyone else they resent, temporarily diverting the blue collar white powerless from their powerlessness.
For all the efforts on the Left to characterize Trump supporters as uneducated clowns, they have a point: Government and the economy have NOT worked well for blue collar Americans. Over and over again they’ve been forced to do without — jobs, status, hope for the future — while America’s upper class has never had more — wealth, power, hope for the future. Even worse, blue collar Americans have been forced to foot the bill for the upper class’s success and excess.
But if Trump wins the election, they will have nothing that they want. Why?
For a very simple reason that is easy to discern if you pay attention what Trump DOES instead of what he says. They’ve been victims of a bait and switch. Republicans taught them that government was the enemy of blue collar workers when, in truth, government was the enemy of the privileged class.
Vote for lower taxes they were told. Starve the government because government is both incompetent and competently stealing your money to give it to “the blacks” or to themselves.
But blue collar workers weren’t paying much in taxes and that money was spent on services that THEY used — public schools, state college tuition, roads, bridges. It was the already successful upper class, like Trump, who stood to gain the most from lowering taxes since they paid far more. They also stood to lose the least; they were already sending their children to private schools, private colleges and flying their private jets over the crumbling roads and bridges below.
Your way of life is being destroyed by minorities, gay people, anyone who isn’t like you they were told. Resent them, torment them, blame everything wrong on them.
But the way of life of blue collar workers was not being destroyed by other blue collar workers who happened to be minorities or gay. It was being destroyed by business titans like Trump who routinely cheated blue collar workers by refusing to pay them what he had contracted to pay. It was being destroyed by businesses like Trump’s that routinely hired the illegal immigrants that they were taught to fear. It was being destroyed by wealthy manufacturers like Trump who routinely fabricated his products everywhere but in the US. Why? So he wouldn’t have to pay the living wage that American blue collar workers would demand.
Your way of life is being destroyed by people who don’t love America they were told. Hate them because they are terrorists and they hate you.
But the way of life of blue collar workers was not being destroyed by terrorists and others who don’t love America. As tragic as terrorism can be, in truth it is not even a pinprick in a country as large and wealthy as ours. It was being destroyed by Trump and his ilk who wanted everything for themselves and had nothing but contempt for “the uneducated.”
Trump supporters are like those who are abused by a dating partner and imagine that if they only get married the abuse will stop and they will be happy once more. It won’t stop; it will only get worse.
Sure the people whose way of life have been gutted by Trump and his ilk might have the temporary satisfaction of hating those who are different. A few might even get jobs among the Trump Brown Shirts tasked with deporting Mexicans or vilifying women. But if Trump is elected they will have NOTHING that they want.
They won’t have a fairer tax system. Trump has already signaled that he will be the biggest beneficiary of his tax plan.
They won’t have a fairer economic system. Trump has already signaled that he plans to reward real estate moguls such as himself in place of hedge fund operators. He plans no relief for blue collar workers.
They won’t have more government services because Trump has already signaled that he has no intention of paying for them.
They won’t have a brighter future because Trump and his ilk will continue to subvert the US government toward meeting THEIR needs, not the needs of the majority. Illegals will still be hired; jobs will still be shipped overseas and blue collar workers will still be treated with contempt instead of with respect.
The ultimate irony is that Trump views his supporters in the same way he views his vendors — as chumps to be cheated and exploited.
For Trump, the surest sign that you are an idiot worthy of his contempt is that you support him, because that means ignoring what he has done in favor of what he “promises” he’s going to do.
Trump supporters: if you elect Trump YOU will have nothing that you want. Think about that when you step into the voting booth.
