White
liberals really embarrassed ourselves in 2016 by being blindsided by the level
of support for Donald Trump. "We didn't think so many Americans would actually vote
for an ignorant racist!" we said. Voters of color knew better and shook
their heads at our completely willful ignorance.
Then we continued to show our
asses via the white media's collective insistence that support for Trump was a
symptom of "economic anxiety," and not racism. White liberals bought
it, and we filled op eds and airwaves to overflowing with hand-wringing about
appealing to the "white working class.""Why can't they see that
Democratic policies benefit workers more?" we wail, again and again and
again, while never stopping to consider that those voters might just be
motivated by something other than economic policy. Again, voters of color shake
their heads at us and note that giving white people the benefit of the doubt is
a luxury that only white people can afford.
The latest manifestation of white
liberal denial is this insistence that GOP politicians and voters are turning
against Trump. We scan the news for glimmers of defection and hold them aloft as if they were moral victories, when in fact they're merely isolated desertions born of distaste - not for the agenda, but for the man who's taking all the credit for it. "He's gone too far, even for them!" we yell into the
void of reason and ethics, as Gallup publishes a poll that shows GOP
approval for our president at 90%.
Listen. He has not gone too far for them. His supporters
are not turning against him. They are not moved by the bullet-ridden bodies of high-schoolers.
They are not moved by unarmed citizens treated like enemies on a battlefield. They are not
moved by little brown children in cages. The most enduring truth of
2016 is that fully half of our voting public is deplorable, and wants to inflict harm
upon the other half. They are racist, yes, and they are so much more. They are
willing to destroy the constraints of governance in order to empower a dictator
who will persecute the people they hate. And they won't turn back from their
course on their own. We cannot convert or reason with them, we can only use
what is left of our democracy to stop them.
