Trump is turning social decay into a festering sore

The day after the 2016 election, the country woke to huzzas for Trump and long lines to fill prescriptions for anxiety and depression. November 12, 2016 wasn’t just another post-Presidential election Wednesday. It was the day after a statistical outlier, Trump, gathered the necessary Electoral College votes to win the presidency; the fifth time in our history that the winner of the popular vote lost the election due to Electoral College results.  

The 2016 election results roused euphoria or profound feelings of disappointment, fear, and anxiety. The angst-spectrum varied from extreme fear and hopelessness to nagging worry for the future of the country. Some Trump supporters said--in interviews on NPR--that they were skeptical that he could fulfill his promises to bring back jobs in steel and coal. An Uber driver, taking me from a Pittsburg Hotel to south Pittsburg in mid-October said: “Anyone who thinks they can resurrect the rust belt should have his urine analyzed twice daily and anyone who believes him is a complete sucker.” The man worked in the steel industry for close to thirty years. "It's gone," he said. "Time to move on."

Trump, during an October 22 visit to Gettysburg National Park (speaking at the conference center), offered his vision of the future, riding the coat tails of Abraham Lincoln. President Lincoln, in his November 19, 1863 Gettysburg Address (at the cemetery), expressed the need to heal the wounds of the nation. Trump said: “President Lincoln served in a time of division like we’ve never seen before. It is my hope that we can look at his example to heal the divisions we are living through right now. We are a very divided nation.” He hoped “to heal the divisions” in our country.

President Lincoln used simple, non-threatening, conciliatory words. Trump consistently spouted misogynistic, racist, sexual innuendos (or words that implied sexual assault), and divisive hate speech prior to and after Gettysburg. The country was already experiencing festering division before he came along. He exacerbated it. Racism was poking into our national agenda. The Legislative branch was divided on ideological lines. The seemingly blatant acts of violence, against minorities (mostly African Americans) by law enforcement, were front page headlines for years before the campaign. There was a widening chasm between the few with most of the wealth and the rest of the population.

Trump said nothing to dampen his words during the campaign. As part of his Gettysburg speech, Trump threatened to sue the women who had gone public about his sexual aggression and actions. After he won the election he implicitly backed away from some of his rhetoric and promises. But the fallout from his pre-election attitude and words has swept  the country. He kicked off an avalanche of decaying social and economic sores.

Some people have taken Trump’s hate speech and record of misogyny as permission to act out buried feelings. There are reports, in mainstream media, recording random acts of aggression and violence across the country, mostly against women, LGBTQ persons, and minorities especially Middle Eastern and Latin American people. On-line fake news sites, intensify aggression and growing fear in communities. The misinformation or blatant mistruths in these sites fuel fear, paranoia, inflame racial issues.   

Trump’s machismo-driven misogynistic, militaristic, and racially driven campaign speeches sent a message to misanthropes that shouldn't have been delivered. Post election, the message enabled these jerks to say and act out publicly, regardless of Trumps pomposity about unifying the country.

His looming presidency could change the momentum of our economy, court decisions about reproductive rights, gay marriage, intercultural relationships, gender choice, civil rights, and civil liberties for all cultures and ethnicities. The world community is anxious about Trump's pre and post-election rhetoric and about potential nominations for key positions in his administration. At least two of these men have histories of racial myopia and narrowly focused and militant world views.

It is hard to predict which campaign promises--that any candidate makes--can actually be implemented after election. The fall-out from broken promises is likewise difficult to predict. It could turn out that in a couple of years, when Trump hasn’t been able to bring big steel and coal back to the rust belt or increase employment in blue collar workers, that his followers may feel cheated and betrayed. Likewise, if he forces a reversal of our support for worldwide climate change mitigation, other nations will likely wake frustrated and swindled in a couple of years. If Trump does away with Obama Care millions of Americans in the system—populated by the economically disadvantaged and minorities—will wake some morning without health care.

The President-elect drew wide support from younger veterans by promising to overhaul the Veterans Administration, presumably to facilitate better access to the health care and support they need and were promised. Great, if he can get it done. As a veteran I would have reason to give a small huzza if he pulls this off. But, Presidents have promised to reform the inefficiency of the V.A. since 1930. Their efforts--to disrupt the inertia of the V.A.--disappeared into the quicksand of a firmly entrenched bureaucracy. If Trump succeeds in doing more than replacing key staff, I’ll be surprised.

For years I’ve not taken Trump seriously nor did I pay attention to his bombastic bullying and braggadocio personality. What a mistake on my part and on the part of our country. There is some evidence that he has been planning this coup for at least two decades, holding focus groups, canvasing attitudes in certain populations, visiting with other like-minded people.

I woke on the Wednesday after the election feeling conflicted and disappointed. I thought my pragmatic view of the future, my wait and see attitude, would dampen my angst. The rest of the week proved me wrong. While I didn’t feel fight-or-flight fear I felt uneasy, queasy. I couldn't focus. I was worried for the future of my children and grandchildren. I struggled not to portray gloom and doom or share my forecast about the residue Trump will leave behind, after four years, in the country and abroad. The Sunday, after the election, I realized that I had been shut down since Wednesday November 12th. My ADHD brain sizzled with what-ifs, dread of the unknown, and anxiety.

Our family reacted in various ways to the Trump victory. It went from Chicken Little prophecies to wary wait-and-see. None were very happy. Trump has used the internet to spread his crap with success. Speculation about the fallout from his presidency have fueled frenzied internet opinions, rumors, and emotional reactions to fake news reports. Friends have been unfriended or attacked on social media. I cautiously bring up the election with family and friends, wary of starting a firestorm in my circle. I've thought that Trump deliberately opened the divisive sores in our country to win the election. I don't think the sky is falling but I'm fairly sure it will be overcast for four years. And I can only hope that he doesn't foolishly infect the festering divisions in our country.