What in the world happened?

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           What in the World Happened?

 

                 by Kenneth Bagnell    

 

 

    It is now 227 years since the first American Presidential election took place. It was 1789: George Washington became President. But now, since we weren’t around when the first President took office, we can at least tell our grandchildren we lived through a Presidential campaign that was the most bizarre, probably the tensest in recent presidential election in American history. For years to come, fathers, uncles, aunts, cousins will tell children that the man chosen, whose name was Donald Trump, had proposed in July 2016 his most eccentric plan: to build a very high wall between the United States and Mexico. (It would only cost $12 billion, would be forty feet high and the length roughly 2,000 miles.) Maybe in the way we mention his wall to future generations we should use words reflecting the great humility the man chosen to be President used: “I would build a great wall and nobody build walls better than me.” (That should illustrate to future children the modesty that goes with being an aspiring President.)

      It is necessary on this November 9, the day after Election Day, the day after his election, that we know what to expect in his oratory if indeed he uses his own language. Four already expressed issues and scenes will suffice to give an honest window on the new President. We must not hide it or polish it: can you imagine Barrack Obama, George Bush, Jimmy Carter, or Dwight Eisenhower using this language? I include it exactly for that Presidential poise and mannerism. Here are but five, proven, public utterances of Donald Trump:

    (A): “You know, it really doesn’t matter what the media writes as long as you’ve got a young and beautiful piece of  A…”

     (B) “The beauty of me is that I’m very rich…”

      (C) : “My IQ is one of the highest – and you all know it! Please don’t feel so stupid or insecure;  It’s not your fault…”

      (D) My fingers are long and beautiful, as, it has been well documented, are various other parts of my body…”

       Reading these and other quotations of Trump calls to my mind the books of Richard Rohr, a scholar and Franciscan Catholic, whose books are widely known. Speaking of quotations, he added a true aspect of them: “The quotations a person uses are echoes of the cultural bias of themselves……” You be the judge.

       Inevitably and especially in the United States the political arena is also a religious arena: how much influence did Christians, particularly the activist evangelicals, have on the election of Donald Trump? In my view, many Canadian Christians would expect that given the rough edges of Donald Trump -– see above paragraph — would not be a favorite with the “white evangelicals.” In that case, you’re in for a surprise. The very reliable and objective Religious News Service I subscribe to says this: “Exit polls show white evangelical voters voted in high numbers for Donald Trump, 81% to Clinton 16%.    White evangelicals are the religious group that most identifies with the Republican Party, and 76 percent of them say they are or lean to Republican… Their support for Clinton at 16 percent was less than evangelical support of 20 percent for Obama in 2012.” (I have a soft sense that aspects of the male Clinton activity while he was in office deters evangelicals from the Democrats, never mind the innocence and capability of Hillary.)

        The question that will lurk for years is why so many flocked to the rough and uncouth Donald Trump whose political experience is nil and whose manner, to a great many, is obnoxious. I turned, for insight to an old friend, David Crombie, who was Toronto’s most admired mayor, serving most of the 1970s. (In the 1980s, he was a Member of Parliament and held two cabinet minister posts in Progressive Conservative governments.) As to the US election he said this: “For the first time in a very longtime the decisive issue in the election was the despair over economic circumstances and the re-emergence of economic class, a political feeling and not the usual potpourri of social issues arising from culture wars that have dominated U.S politics in the past few decades.” He then addressed the question as to why many of us wonder why anyone would support Trump. “Trump is,” he told me, “neither a traditional Democrat nor a Republican. This gives him great opportunities to fashion his own path on policies both domestic and foreign but will also, by the same token, enhance public accountability on his stewardship.” Fine insight.

     In the day or two that followed, the Clinton supporters almost bombarded me with their self-sympathy, which, given the context, is highly understandable. I keep wondering why I get so many letters from the Democrats. But I share their regret.

      “I hate having to send this email” wrote a spokesman with a letterhead that said “Mourning in America.” His tone was of deep frustration, as he wrote “Today is a day for mourning because this is a national tragedy. But we get through tragedies…   We can’t – and we shouldn’t, sugarcoat it: this is a catastrophe for America, and possibly for fundamental rights… But we will survive it. We will learn from the loss. Donald Trump as a candidate broke every rule. He completely changed the game and the progressive movement will have to recalibrate in some areas to adapt.” My sympathy goes to him and his organization, People for the American Way. He has friends in many Canadians. He admits to some fear but he also reveals wisdom. Speaking of Donald Trump, David Crombie told me: “Foreign policies are closer to Trump’s heart and his instinct to ‘bestride the world’ will complicate the usual diplomatic order of things. Therefore these will be less predictable and more unsettling – even scary.” Indeed. 

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Past blogs are archived on my website: your comments are welcome there: www.kennethbagnell.com.