Wasn't going to write anything, but I was deeply troubled by the CNN interview with tRumpians in a Milwaukee bar, mostly men, older, employees of Harley Davidson, with their Hulk Hogan Fu Manchu mustaches and sleeveless t-shirts.
Interestingly enough, they're union, yet supporting a man, and living in a state, determined to do away with unions and collective bargaining.
I have no idea what they like about tRump ...
But I think it has something to do with his "tough talk," a take-charge, kick-ass attitude, don't tread on me ... which leads me to think that these guys and gals are just pretty much pissed off at things they can't define, at nameless people they think are screwing them, and given to complaining ... which is easy to do in a small barroom in Milwaukee.
I didn't see any other ethnicities at the bar other than whites, which leads me to think that racial resentment plays a role - folks who are lazy, and "we're paying the bills for them" sort of thing. And, of course, the "illegals" who come here with their drugs and crime, wanting to live on our easy street, while "we have to work our butts off every day."
I don't know what they're thinking, and a part of me wants to say they're not thinking very much or very well about most anything.
The reality is this: they're gone down the sink hole of tRumpianism ... they're not likely to start thinking, nor are they likely to turn off their hate-radio and FAUX news which feeds into the spirit of complaint and ill will, blinding them to what really counts and who it is who stands with them, and those who simply use for the rubes they are.
About them, tRump was right - he could shoot someone on 5th Avenue and they'd still love him, because shooting someone is what they have a hankering to do.
I have no doubt that the men and women in that bar are also part of Amerika's gun culture, and somehow or other, guns are righteous. There's power in a gun; challenge their right to own and use guns, and somehow or other their power is diminished, and being people, I suppose, who perceive themselves as mostly powerless anyway, the gun is one of their few sources of power and pride.
Oh well, I think they're pretty much a lost cause and are not likely to change their minds.
In a state like Wisconsin, then, once a proud state of progressive views, where's the hope?
It'll have to be with the people who voted for Hillary, even for Stein and Johnson ... or wrote in Sander's name.
It has to be with people who honor progressive values and yearn for a Statue-of-Liberty kind of America, and more than ever before, these people have to stand strong and united.
The future of Democracy belongs to the young ... to those now on the streets ... and to housewives running for the local school board ... and people of good cheer.
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