Okay, I’ll take the bait – it seems like it is a big deal
anyway . . . the presidential election.
And Trump has risen to the top both in his party and on the scales of controversy. The emotions simply swirl around this man –
is it possible to be a fence sitter when it comes to Trump? Those emotions would be: “meh”, “so what”,
“don’t care”, etc. It’s not interesting
though this position is kind of my default.
Then, on the extremes (the only seeming options besides the uninterested
middle): pride, fear, “I identify strongly with him”, “I hate him”, love,
disgust, “he’s evil”, “he’s what America needs”.
So, let’s get right to it: how much does Trump matter? People talk
of the imperial
presidency, that the power of the president has changed, grown over the
years. What will he do and what is he
capable of? Will he enact some crazy
policies – will Mexico start building the
wall? Can’t see the future, don’t
know – yet, terrible vs. great, the future-gazing lines up on the two extremes.
We can’t know what he’ll do or what he’ll be allowed to do. But, I’ll cede that it is important to talk
about it. At the moment what Trump says
is either menacing or empowering, again, dependent on which extreme you’re
on. This is rhetoric, something any
speaker must be aware of and capable of.
So do we have to buy it? Isn’t a
grain of salt required – no – isn’t a huge grain of salt basically implied?
So those opposed to Trump – kind of reminds me of the reactions
when Obama got elected. There was a lot
of talk from Republicans about moving
to Canada. (And now 28% of Americans
say they’ll head north if Trump is elected.
That’s only 89 million people.) Think
of the emotions involved. Same on the pro-Trump
side. Let’s consider another way of
looking at Trump’s candidacy.
This is the idea that his candidacy is a
referendum. I like this idea as it
gets into semiotics – what is the meaning of the Trump candidacy, what does it
represent? Now we can really get into
it. It goes something like: Trump is a
reflection of issues in people’s hearts.
In a postmodern sense, Trump exists as a collection of personified
emotions/opinions. For many people,
supporting Trump has become the only way to express themselves. And, conversely, on the contra-Trump side,
hating Trump has become a very satisfying way of expressing oneself.
And what are the issues?
They are legion. Trump suddenly
becomes the only way to make America great again. He becomes the person who is ushering in unspeakable
repressions. But I like taking that
step back, becoming a spectator. I admit
that Trump does matter, but it is in the sense of the symbolic. Trump’s presidency may make it okay – in someone’s
mind – to go ahead and commit that hate crime.
Or he may make you move to Canada.
The facts are out the window. This
is the realm of the emotional.
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