Our political leaders, particularly Republicans, are playing a dangerous game with the emotions of citizens. They are following Trump’s lead. He knows that strong emotions, particularly fear and resentment among the uneducated and uninformed will literally smother rationality. Over the past several months, I’ve watched people descend into levels of fear and resentment that turns them into mean-spirited people. The rhetoric employing buzz words like “invasion” and “unfair prosecution” and “pedophiles” and “CRT” or “DEI” have enraged average people who lack education, accurate news, and economic opportunities. In fact, a recent NPR poll found that 28% of Republicans either strongly agreed or agreed that they may have to resort to violence to get the country back on track. Only 12% of democrats responded this way. Those who lack reason and the ability to persuade others often resort to “might makes right” or violence to force their will. We’ve seen this happen repeatedly in our history, and as recently as January 6, 2021.
Through a lifetime of observation, I’ve concluded that human beings, particularly men, resort to violence when rational thinking and reasonable words fail them. Two of the most potent emotions that override rational thinking are fear and resentment. Fear is a defense mechanism designed to protect us from imminent danger while resentment is a feeling of indignation from being wronged. The fact that Trump and Republicans have weaponized these emotions is not just disturbing, but a threat to our Constitution, our unity as a nation, and to the civil liberties of women and all minorities.
What must be acknowledged is that there is a grain of truth in many of the assertions that are worrisome. For example, the border does have serious issues that our current laws and policies are not fully addressing. Too few know that Trump crushed a bi-partisan bill that would address the border crisis because he wants to run on the chaos at the border. Not surprisingly, undocumented immigrants are not committing the level of violent crimes Trump would like Americans to believe. He literally told a crowd this past week that migrants were hiding in their bushes and crawling through their windows waiting to harm them. He had a sign on his podium that read, “Stop Biden’s Border Bloodbath”. This is fear-mongering at its worse. It’s amazing how he is able to point to two incidents in a nation of over 300 million people and call it an epidemic of migrant violence against Americans.
There is also truth to the fact that food and energy prices have risen. But that is true across the entire world because we are recovering from a pandemic and Russia invaded Ukraine, disrupting grain shipments. The reality is that the U.S. is doing much better than every other country in the entire world when it comes to inflation and economic recovery from the pandemic. The unemployment rate is historically low, wages are rising, and the stock market is booming. But some people feel stretched, particularly those who aren’t willing or able to take advantage of economic opportunities available to them. There are people who refuse education or job skill training or a move that will lead them out of poverty. They are looking for easy money that requires no real effort on their part. Some folks resent a social system that demands education and effort and then turns around and discriminates against them at every turn. And it is even easier to build resentment among hardworking folks against thieves, drug dealers, “illegal immigrants” and freeloaders. Trump advocates shooting these people on the spot and asking questions later. What’s concerning is that resentment among his supporters is so high that his violent suggestion garners applause.
Republicans are alarmed that women are making strides in society. According to Pew Research, women are completing degrees at higher rates than men, allowing them to compete for higher paying jobs. For years, twice as many black women have been earning degrees as black men and it is not surprising that their marriage prospects have shifted as a result. More black women are either single or marrying outside their race. The level of resentment among black men toward black women is evident on social media. Many white men have joined them in their resentment of independent women. What amazes me is that some of these frustrated black men are turning to Trump and the Republicans because they offer control over women.
Trump and the Republicans are also fueling resentment against women and people of color because of their historic and meteoric rise to prominence in our country. They are telling the under-educated who lack opportunities that women and people of color are taking what is rightfully theirs through diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. The irrational resentment that permeates the airways and social media against women and people of color is unpresented. Several Republicans have commented that they wouldn’t trust a black airline pilot or heart surgeon, citing DEI hires. That’s ridiculous. Even more ridiculous is the lawmaker who tried to blame the bridge collapse on probable DEI initiatives at the shipping company without any evidence. They are working hard to fuel fear and resentment.
The solutions Trump and the Republicans are offering make sense to those who want to return to the days when women and people of color were oppressed, and LGBTQ folks were in the closet. Instead of improving our public schools, they want to abolish them in favor of private religious schools and home schooling, thereby ensuring that women and the poor are under-educated and more easily controlled so they pose little to no competition, particularly to white heterosexual males. They want to return women to the limited role of wife and mother again and they expect women to be satisfied with that. Some are publicly admitting that they want to remove a woman’s right to vote while others are saying that birth control is poison to the female brain.
They have a role for black and brown males too: entertainment, manual labor, or prison. More difficult to deal with are Asians and Jewish men. The rise in anti-Asian sentiment and Jewish hatred is neither new nor unexpected. To white males, the cultural emphasis on education, hard work, and personal ambition among Jews and Asians is viewed as a threat that they are ill-prepared to deal with fairly. As always, they will resort to violence, intimidation, or deportation to control and limit the progress of both Asians and Jews.
Reasonable people will go along with almost any despicable behavior if their fears and sense of resentment is activated. This is precisely what the Trump-led Republican Party is trying to do. It is important that we counteract Trump’s narrative with reality at every opportunity. We must sound the alarm since about 38% of Americans have purposefully tuned out the news because it is so depressing. And it is even more important that we actively support rational candidates who support the rule of law and our constitution. We must provide them with our finances, our voices, and our votes before it is too late.