Multiverse theory and the Trump phenomenon. Or disaster, if you will.

[guillaumeb]

Basically the idea that there are parallel universes existing side by side, as it were, with no connection between them.

And I was wondering if this is one way to approach 2016.

Looking at the election results,and looking at the map of exactly where the Trump voters are generally concentrated, the two groups of voters seem to be even further away from each other after this last election. It almost seems like there are two countries co-existing uneasily at best in the same geographic entity. In Trumpland, it is 1951. Where I live it is 2016.

And yes, I know that two entities cannot exist in the same space at the same time, but the physical space in which we all live seems to be divided into two political universes.

But in Trumpland everything will soon be great again as a wall is magically built to insulate white America from the brown and black and yellow hordes that menace from all sides. And that wall might even include a magical umbrella to insulate from climate change. White America will finally be free and safe in its coal burning bubble.

In Trumpland giant gas guzzling cars will once again allow white Americans to drive wherever they want, including the now safe inner cities. Women will once again stay home and have babies as their husbands work in the factories.

I could go on, but it is obvious from reading numerous comments on right wing sites that there are two very different realities, two very different histories that apply to this country. And Trump has tapped into that nostalgia, that desire, for a 1951 that was not really what people misremember.

Thoughts?

[mtnsnake]

1. Well done!

Yeah, I think you nailed it. Great analogy, right on the mark, and fun reading besides!

[guillaumeb]

2. Thank you. Sometimes I try to be funny, sometimes what I write comes out funny.

But when I talk to Trumpers, and I have talked to a few, they really do have their own set of facts.

[Faux pas]

3. Kickin' to bookmark.

[guillaumeb]

4. Thanks. The harder question is:

how do we reconcile these two realities?

And because it is a hard question, I have no idea of the answer.

[Garrett78]

5. I need a portal to a parallel universe and STAT!

I've posted before that tens of millions of Americans are essentially living in an alternate reality. Tens of millions subscribe to patently false beliefs. And presenting them with facts backfires, as the false beliefs become further ingrained.

The bright side is young people can be reached, and the country is getting more diverse. Dems just have to outnumber the crazies. Fight voter suppression and find a way to engage the disengaged (the 40% who don't vote in presidential elections and the 60% who don't vote in mid-term elections).

[guillaumeb]

6. Agreed on all points.

Unfortunately racism is not confined to the older Americans. And I really feel that this represents one of the last gasps of the racist brand of the GOP.

And agreed, of course, about motivating voters to actually vote in every election. But to do that we must convince them that there is a reason to vote.