The Trump Movement: Not as Fringe as Some Might Think

by Solomon Comissiong

“The best thing about Donald Trump is that his candidacy has reminded some how viciously racist the United States is.”

The 2016 United States (s) election season is in full throttle and coming to a theater near you. The two-party dictatorship (Democrats/Republicans) are doing their best to hurl their baseless rhetoric at the often naïve US population; an electorate routinely duped into voting against their own interests. This election season has resembled a theatrical tragic comedy, especially with presidential candidates like Donald Trump and Ted Cruz. Trump and Cruz (and others) gin up their xenophobic, right wing, racist base by throwing them verbal meat to feast on with their intellectually starved minds. For instance, Donald Trump’s socially challenged constituency seem to grow more rabid the more racist and xenophobic his rhetoric becomes. They are eerily zombie-like, however this demographic does not like feasting on brains or anything connected to thought; they feast on hate. They particularly hate anything non-white.  

Donald Trump’s offensive personality may have excited his base. And like a deadly disease, his rhetoric may have metastasized his base. However make no bones about it – these people have always been there.  Donald Trump merely aided in pulling them out from under the rocks they dwelled under. His followers are in the millions, and they represent a sizable chunk of people who reside within the manufactured borders of the United States. They are mostly Euro-Americans, who for some warped reasons want “their” country back. Yes, that's right, they want a country back that their ancestors stole centuries ago.  And they want Trump to help “make America great again”. One wonders if they are nostalgic about the “good ole days” of chattel slavery, Jim Crow, when whites would routinely take their children out to watch an African/black person being hung, as if it was a sporting event.

“They want a country back that their ancestors stole centuries ago.”

Those who are in shock when listening to the brash nature in which Donald Trump conveys his racist thoughts, need to wake up and realize what country they are actually living in.  This is the United States of America, a country that is little more than a white settler colony. With rampant police brutality mostly aimed towards people of color, the prison industry complex, and institutional racism woven throughout US society, little has changed except for the methods in which racists carry out their social carnage. Many of Trump’s supporters are unapologetically white supremacists. He didn't make them this way, US society did. 

United States society is a fertile breeding ground of racist, white supremacist and xenophobic ideologies. It is a place that extols dead slave masters, those who carried out genocide and those who were well known white supremacist. Only a society riddled with racism would honor these kinds of “people”. The US is such a society, honoring devilish people even within elementary school textbooks. This is one of the nefarious methods that ensure the cultivation of the next generation of racists and champions imperialism. Preying upon the minds of impressionable children is an instrument within their evil toolbox.

The United States has stood as one of the world’s most structurally racist societies, dating back to its illegal inception. An honest exploration of history makes this point difficult to debate. Trump supporters see nothing wrong with these facts. They are proud of these facts and believe this is what makes “America” strong. “Making America great again,” means a return to an even more superficially racist past.

“This is the United States of America, a country that is little more than a white settler colony.”

When Donald Trump speaks of torture as and effective means of acquiring information, his supporters cheer. When Trump speaks of building a wall to keep out Mexicans (brown people) and refers to them as rapists and murderers, his supports become euphoric. And when Donald Trump speaks favorably about profiling and persecuting Muslims, his crazed supporters couldn't agree more. This is who they are and who they have been for quite some time. Donald Trump merely made it more popular for them to come out in the open. His rallies are like a gathering of racist village idiots.  In a many ways his supporters are vastly more right wing and racist than even he. This is plainly evident when one watches footage of his rallies. Again, it is a point that is hard to debate otherwise.

I am often surprised when some people are shocked at Donald Trump without mentioning anything about his ever-expanding cult. It is like they believe that if Trump loses or even drops out of the race, all is right in the world again. Even if he were to lose this presidential race, his followers will still be pervasive. The best thing about Donald Trump is that his candidacy has reminded some how viciously racist the United States is.  It truly says a lot of the societal fabric of the US that so many people would support someone like Donald Trump. His views are clearly far from fringe, they are widespread.

The more we remain in shock about Donald Trump (and his constituency), the more valuable time we will waste instead of organizing. And when I mean “we,” I mean people of color. I also mean anyone who truly wants to see a socially progressive and revolutionary change in United States society – a change that eviscerates all forms of structural oppression that currently plague US society. This kind of revolutionary change will also benefit the rest of the planet. Countless millions would be freed from the deadly clutch of the United States’ imperialist empire. However, change begins with us. We must begin/continue the necessary work of mobilizing, then organizing to build this new society – one community at a time. We must challenge as many as we can, to imagine how their lives would markedly improve should we collectively build a radically better society. Explain to them how (and why) it is possible. This is when the revolution will isolate and marginalize the archaic (and socially destructive) views of the likes of Donald Trump and his minions. Let the revolution begin…

Solomon Comissiong (www.solomoncomissiong.com) is an educator, community activist, author, and Founder of the Your World News Media Collective (www.yourworldnews.org). Solomon is the author of A Hip Hop Activist

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