A voter’s fear: A dark turn of American politics

To the Editor:

I have voted in every presidential election since 1968. During that span, I have chosen only two winning candidates. While, in most cases I had been disappointed in the results, I never questioned the stability of this country and its institutions. This time is different.

This time America has given in to, surrendered to, some of its worst instincts by electing an infantile street thug to its highest office. Trump’s long history of belligerence and violent rhetoric do not inspire confidence that he will moderate his behavior. Indeed, if he somehow manages to impose just half of his agenda on the American people, we should be terrified.

Donald Trump is no “conservative” by any reasonable definition (at least prior to 2016.) Instead, he champions a brand of rancid populism and paranoia which have long roots in American history, from the Know-Nothings and nativists of the 19th century through Jim Crow to George Wallace, That paranoid strain (see Richard Hofstadter) is now firmly in the grasp of Donald Trump. For Trump, there is no shining city on a hill, no amber waver of grain. We are not the better angels of our nature. In Trump’s world, there is only carnage, crime, and the determination to seek revenge upon his perceived enemies.

Somehow the man has managed to fool the American electorate into believing his lies: lies about the economy, lies about his role on “border security,” lies about crime and immigrants, lies about his political opponents. As Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels said: “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.” Well, believe it they did. So good luck with that.

Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe Donald Trump will turn out to be the latter day champion of Jeffersonian democracy. Nah! That ain’t happening. 

Jeff Laadt

Eagle River