Two years ago, I was saddened beyond description when America chose Donald Trump as it's new president. Like millions of others, I wondered how such a thing could happen, and in search of answers, I devoured every scrap of information possible. The fact, however, is that there were no simple answers, that the amazing support Trump enjoys from the most fervent and active members of the Republican Party defies all simple logic. It would be easy to say that Trump is a racist, a nativist (whatever that might mean in the USA), that he panders to the lowest common denominator in his party. But he enjoys the support of almost four of five Republicans, and it's actually very simple to see why no one from John McCain to Mitch McConnell to Paul Ryan to John Kasich dare to oppose him. Those who ventured to get off their knees for even an instant, like Bob Corker or Jeff Flake - and their defiance was beyond weak and fleeting - were instantly destroyed and run out of Congress, a stern warning to anyone else who would dare even to dream of standing up for what was good and right anymore.
But if Trump's power comes from his popularity with the rank and file of the party, what does it say about the party itself? How can so many Americans cover their eyes and ears in the face of his ignorance and hate-filled rantings? How can the people around me, people I know and work alongside and who seemingly respect intelligence and accept me as a person, yet smile and shrug (or even cheer loudly) when he tells women from racial minorities to "go back to where they came from"? Plenty of ink has been metaphorically spilled in pointing out the sheer ignorance of telling American citizens to "go home", but that misses the point. Trump never cares about the accuracy of his insults or his jibes, only whether they connect, and it is a time-honored tradition in America to tell immigrants, whether first or second generation to "go back home" when they do not conform to the appearance of the more established immigrants of three or more generations removed. The chant is even louder when the immigrants have temerity to hold ideas that they are entitled to the same rights and freedoms of their fellow citizens. The jibe is never intended to address whether its target is born in the US or a naturalized citizen or a permanent resident. No! it is intended, always, to de-legitimize the targets, to strip away their rights and cast doubts upon their legitimacy.
It's a trick old as time and played out across the world, time and again. Immigrants, minorities are always questioned - are they true citizens? Do they love this country as much as they should? We don't need to look back to the most horrific practitioners of this game, not when we have examples of it all around us. A hundred years ago, the Italian immigrants in New York faced the same taunts, echoing the charges leveled at the Irish before them and the Japanese after them faced the same trial by fire. Now it is the Hispanics and the Somalis and Iraqis whose patriotism and love of America are called into doubt, not because of anything they've actually said or done, but because of the color of their skin and their claim to their fundamental rights.
The tragedy is not that Trump and his circle of advisers have raised this terrifying shibboleth to assert their power over immigrants they dislike. The real tragedy is that all those nice Americans we work beside daily are acquiescing in this deceptive game. They pretend that it's not about race, that it's about the "anti-American" statements (incidentally non-existent statements that were never made by these women, and a particularly ridiculous charge to be made against four elected Representatives of the people), that it's just a "love America" call, that there is nothing chilling to tell immigrants that they should leave the country if they don't like it. The reason it's really a tragedy is because this is the kind of behavior that really sets us along the path of no return, when a demagogue can say anything without consequence, and when any minority can be targeted at will. It's a tragedy because these people should know better, they should know that this hatred targets their own neighbors, friends and co-workers. How can my Midwestern girl friend's mother wish me well, yet agree with Trump? How can the guy who sits across from me, smile and joke with me at work and yet support a "send them back" chant? How can a man whose daughter is married to a Chinese immigrant support an idea that immigrants do no love this country? That people in some mythical flyover counties and small towns may support Trump's racist rhetoric is sad but understandable; that people who know (and in some cases love) the immigrant co-workers and friends and family members will still support Trump in this naked threat against those same people is a tragedy beyond understanding.
When Trump was elected, I deplored the fact that his liberal opponents had ignored so much of the electorate as unworthy of their attention, basically abandoning them to Trump's (and Russia's) propaganda. I did not believe that they were bad people then, and I don't believe they are bad people now. They can be dragged out of Trump's orbit, but it takes a lot of work. It takes us, Trump's victims on the immigration front-line, to give a face to his hatred, to show our co-workers and acquaintances that when Trump targets minorities, it's not some distant faceless group, but every single one of us who is his victim. Perhaps many of them will still support him, but I'm willing to bet that there are more who will turn away from their worst instincts and show themselves more honorable and more reasonable than we credit them. But they must see, that Trump is not just threatening poor, weak immigrants who try to cross the Southern border, it's not just them that he would put in cages, but all of us. We have much more that binds us together than divides us, but we need to reach out and embrace those who share some ideas that we do not like, that we do not agree with; just as we have ideas that they dislike. But dislike need not be hatred, ideological differences should not be a reason to break off contact, for it is that contact that's most important. We need to know how policies, laws affect our neighbors, and they need to see how we are affected - when we see our friends suffer, we do not support the laws that make them suffer. Politicians of Trump's ilk (and make no mistake, he is a politician at heart despite what so many of his supporters think) need us to split and see his targets as the "others", that is the secret of their power and that is the key to their defeat. When influencers oppose Trump, it's easy for his supporters to brush them aside as elitists, as socialists, as communists. But I have faith in America, in the people I see around me - if they see that we are the face of Trump's targets, they will turn away and stand beside us rather than stone us. In the words of Captain America, "I am willing to bet that I am not alone" in this.
But if Trump's power comes from his popularity with the rank and file of the party, what does it say about the party itself? How can so many Americans cover their eyes and ears in the face of his ignorance and hate-filled rantings? How can the people around me, people I know and work alongside and who seemingly respect intelligence and accept me as a person, yet smile and shrug (or even cheer loudly) when he tells women from racial minorities to "go back to where they came from"? Plenty of ink has been metaphorically spilled in pointing out the sheer ignorance of telling American citizens to "go home", but that misses the point. Trump never cares about the accuracy of his insults or his jibes, only whether they connect, and it is a time-honored tradition in America to tell immigrants, whether first or second generation to "go back home" when they do not conform to the appearance of the more established immigrants of three or more generations removed. The chant is even louder when the immigrants have temerity to hold ideas that they are entitled to the same rights and freedoms of their fellow citizens. The jibe is never intended to address whether its target is born in the US or a naturalized citizen or a permanent resident. No! it is intended, always, to de-legitimize the targets, to strip away their rights and cast doubts upon their legitimacy.
It's a trick old as time and played out across the world, time and again. Immigrants, minorities are always questioned - are they true citizens? Do they love this country as much as they should? We don't need to look back to the most horrific practitioners of this game, not when we have examples of it all around us. A hundred years ago, the Italian immigrants in New York faced the same taunts, echoing the charges leveled at the Irish before them and the Japanese after them faced the same trial by fire. Now it is the Hispanics and the Somalis and Iraqis whose patriotism and love of America are called into doubt, not because of anything they've actually said or done, but because of the color of their skin and their claim to their fundamental rights.
The tragedy is not that Trump and his circle of advisers have raised this terrifying shibboleth to assert their power over immigrants they dislike. The real tragedy is that all those nice Americans we work beside daily are acquiescing in this deceptive game. They pretend that it's not about race, that it's about the "anti-American" statements (incidentally non-existent statements that were never made by these women, and a particularly ridiculous charge to be made against four elected Representatives of the people), that it's just a "love America" call, that there is nothing chilling to tell immigrants that they should leave the country if they don't like it. The reason it's really a tragedy is because this is the kind of behavior that really sets us along the path of no return, when a demagogue can say anything without consequence, and when any minority can be targeted at will. It's a tragedy because these people should know better, they should know that this hatred targets their own neighbors, friends and co-workers. How can my Midwestern girl friend's mother wish me well, yet agree with Trump? How can the guy who sits across from me, smile and joke with me at work and yet support a "send them back" chant? How can a man whose daughter is married to a Chinese immigrant support an idea that immigrants do no love this country? That people in some mythical flyover counties and small towns may support Trump's racist rhetoric is sad but understandable; that people who know (and in some cases love) the immigrant co-workers and friends and family members will still support Trump in this naked threat against those same people is a tragedy beyond understanding.
When Trump was elected, I deplored the fact that his liberal opponents had ignored so much of the electorate as unworthy of their attention, basically abandoning them to Trump's (and Russia's) propaganda. I did not believe that they were bad people then, and I don't believe they are bad people now. They can be dragged out of Trump's orbit, but it takes a lot of work. It takes us, Trump's victims on the immigration front-line, to give a face to his hatred, to show our co-workers and acquaintances that when Trump targets minorities, it's not some distant faceless group, but every single one of us who is his victim. Perhaps many of them will still support him, but I'm willing to bet that there are more who will turn away from their worst instincts and show themselves more honorable and more reasonable than we credit them. But they must see, that Trump is not just threatening poor, weak immigrants who try to cross the Southern border, it's not just them that he would put in cages, but all of us. We have much more that binds us together than divides us, but we need to reach out and embrace those who share some ideas that we do not like, that we do not agree with; just as we have ideas that they dislike. But dislike need not be hatred, ideological differences should not be a reason to break off contact, for it is that contact that's most important. We need to know how policies, laws affect our neighbors, and they need to see how we are affected - when we see our friends suffer, we do not support the laws that make them suffer. Politicians of Trump's ilk (and make no mistake, he is a politician at heart despite what so many of his supporters think) need us to split and see his targets as the "others", that is the secret of their power and that is the key to their defeat. When influencers oppose Trump, it's easy for his supporters to brush them aside as elitists, as socialists, as communists. But I have faith in America, in the people I see around me - if they see that we are the face of Trump's targets, they will turn away and stand beside us rather than stone us. In the words of Captain America, "I am willing to bet that I am not alone" in this.
