Face it, Donald Trump is not popular. He lost two popular votes
for president—the last by over seven million votes. His poll numbers never have
topped even 50%, instead mainly hanging around the 30s-40s.
Those of us who
dislike him (aka the majority) look at the guy in disbelief when we see fans
clamber to be near him and wonder why? Why do these people like him?
The same reason we see creepy, old rich guys married to beauty queens,
Americans have fallen for an image of the man.
His whole life has revolved around his claim to be rich and successful. The
reality is quite opposite on both fronts.
His wealth came from an inheritance not any business savvy. Due to debt and bad business choices it's
doubtful he could live on his own if those debts were called in suddenly. Unlike
all other presidents, he’s never released his taxes, but through leaks and
investigative reporting we've come to learn that he may actually be dirt poor.
Likewise, his businesses have repeatedly failed, from his bogus university to
his rancid steaks, all have been shut down, with many leading to bankruptcy and
ruin (for any gullible investors). His fake charity was dismantled by the court
because he was grifting the money from donors and keeping it for himself. It’s
possible he’s been laundering money, or at least, helping others to do so. What
else would you call it when a Russian oligarch buys a property for four million
even though it had been valued at far less?
In spite of these massive failures, he still has legions of adoring fans. It is
all because the one thing he's very successful at, is presenting a facade that
has those legions enthralled.
Over the years he's grabbed headlines with his flamboyant lifestyle, from gaudy
living quarters to marriages with glamour girls. He may not know business, but
he sure knows how to make headlines.
And that seems to be enough for his cult following. Even though he would never
be seen hanging out with these often poor and uneducated folks, he has
convinced them that he speaks for them. They like his brashness, which if
displayed by a female opponent they'd see as repulsive, and so forgive his
racism, misogyny and xenophobia.
All because he's a star. Through TV shows, movie cameos and radio interviews he
has polished that star and it sparkles in the eyes of his followers.
The media, who he pointedly attacks, helped further give him this star status.
I remember how frustrated I felt during the 2016 election when the Main Stream
Media (MSM) would leave whatever news coverage they were involved with to show
his plane landing at some event/rally. He didn't have to spend any of his own
money promoting himself during the primaries because the MSM was providing
endless coverage of his every move. Maybe the MSM deserves all the hatred
directed toward them these days because they created the monster.
Oh, that is unless the star is a person of color. OJ has not
faired that well. But that’s another story.
The Thurber Brigade wishes to apologize for this sidestep about
the previous president. We had hoped that when he fled the White House we would
never have to mention him in a blog again. However, he refuses to go away. So,
we feel obligated to keep making fun of, sneering at, and deriding The Orange
One and his cult following. If there were such a thing as a god, that being
would have struck The Big Guy down or at least have him locked up. Sadly, that
is unlikely to happen so we’ll keep having these occasional sidesteps in order
to make ourselves feel better. Sorry.
Way back in the Fifties, America woke up one morning to an alarming
beeping sound. Not from an alarm clock, but a little satellite sent to space by
the Soviets called Sputnik. We were shocked that our biggest enemy had proven
that they were better than us. How could a country that could barely be called
a second world country be so advanced that they could send something to orbit
above our heads?
America panicked. Fingers were pointed trying to lay blame, but the
ultimate result was that our country made a big push in math and science. In
education. We began to spend more money on education, and stressed to our next
generations how important having said education was to our country’s future.
And it worked. In a matter of years we sent Americans to the moon.
So did America keep on this upward spiral of knowledge? Nope.
Republicans decided it was more important that those with wealth should be able
to make even more money. Starting with Reagan they began cutting away at funding for anything that would advance our culture and society. They
drastically cut taxes to the rich and in turn slashed spending on education,
the arts and social programs designed to aid the welfare of society.
This concept creeped down to the local level too and shortly state legislatures
were cutting back on their funding to public schools and universities. This
resulted in the cost to students skyrocketing and to get an advanced degree now
meant the person would be saddled with debt for years to come.
People of lower social status and wealth recognized this de-emphasizing of
education and began to respond in kind. They began to embrace the idea that not
being smart was not a bad thing, even something to be admired and exalted.
I remember during the George W, years his devotes bragged about being
“knuckle draggers.” When I worked in a local school district, I remember kids from the lower social-economic class who would tease other kids for wanting to do well in class by calling them "school girl/boy."
It grew even more with the Trump campaign that had crowds of angry white men
shouting how proud they were to be deplorables. He purposely targeted the
feeble-minded by playing to their prejudices and promising to enrich them—even
though he didn't care for the lower classes at all and sought little more than
a new means to enrich his personal bank account.
The GOP recognized this change in thinking and soon coyly changed the
perspective of “elites” from those of wealth who looked down on the lower
classes, to those who were intellectually advanced. Now the so called elites are the
educated. Sound familiar? That's because dictators often put the intelligent up against the wall first. That's why you'd see book burnings in Nazi Germany as well as professors in jail for not following the party line (also popular in the Soviet Union.
So are we destined to become the decaying society satirically portrayed in the
movie “Idiocracy?” A country so stupid they don't even know you use water to
grow plants, not some popular fizzy soda? A place so brain-numbed that it votes
in leaders who are better at flexing muscles than their brain? As it stands,
I'd say very likely.
