The hideous truth about Trump: Why the “Trump Surge” is here to stay — even if his campaign isn't [View all]

[DonViejo]

The hideous truth about Donald Trump: Why the “Trump Surge” is here to stay — even if his campaign isn’t

The forces animating the Donald's soaring popularity are omnipresent: The deep-seated anxieties of white America

BRITTNEY COOPER

Donald Trump’s formidable lead among Republican contenders for the presidency suggests that good political common sense is officially in short supply. My statement does not lack for hyperbole, but it is entirely commensurate with the alarming cultural farce that is a Trump campaign for president. Nothing makes clearer the kind of social hysteria and lack of reason driving politics on the right these days than widespread support for Donald Trump, a candidate who up until now has provided endless entertainment of the slightly racist uncle who vocalizes outmoded views at the dinner table variety. Such characters usually exasperate us and they may even manage to make us laugh, but no one takes such figures seriously.

However, if the Republican primary were today, Donald Trump would most likely emerge the winner. Polls suggest that people appreciate Trump’s form of “truth telling,” plus the fact that he isn’t a Washington insider. However, let me be less generous and less polite in my own assessment of the man:

Donald Trump makes clear that he primarily cares about capitalism, about wealth, and about power. While I view his particular performance of right-wing politics and white masculinity as buffoonish, he seems to offer comfort to those on the right who are deeply invested in returning the country’s leadership to someone who looks and thinks like them. What’s interesting, then, is that Trump’s billionaire status likely indicates that he has little in common with the everyday citizen. But his brash and unapologetic political incorrectness bespeaks comfort, a seeming return to normalcy for those Americans who believe that progress and change are happening too fast.

While Democratic candidates like Hillary Clinton, Martin O’Malley and Bernie Sanders have become more explicit about saying “Black lives matter,” Trump recently argued that we actually need to “give power back to the police.” Nothing about the rampant culture of overpolicing in this country or the surveillance state in which most urban people of color live would suggest that this is a reasonable position to take. The police have more power than they have ever had, and they continue to use that power to intimidate and abuse ordinary citizens of all backgrounds, including African-Americans, Native Americans and white people.

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http://www.salon.com/2015/08/05/the_hideous_truth_about_donald_trump_why_the_trump_surge_is_here_to_stay_even_if_his_campaign_isnt/