I don't blame Trump. He's a smart, manipulative guy. He gets people. In some ways, I admire the depth of his apparent understanding of emotion and control. No, blaming Trump for what's going on is much the same as him blaming all Muslims, or immigrants in general, and so on. It's a way of avoiding responsibility. Our problems, according to Trump, are not actually our fault. They're everyone else's fault. It's this thinking above all else that I find so distasteful. It's blind, feel-good bandwagoning, and it caters to the oldest parts of our evolutionary history, where the only good and trustworthy things were the members of our own tribes, sitting together with us around the campfire.
The bad things were the other, the tribes on the next hill, who were all murderers and rapists and thieves. And of course, those other tribes thought the same things of us. And, perhaps most disturbingly and inconveniently for our current electoral dilemma, sometimes these things were true.
However, it should be blindingly obvious that just because some terrorists identify as Muslim, it does not logically follow that an entire faith should be shunned and feared. Despite this basic fallacy, perfectly reasonable, intelligent human beings believe this anyway (I've talked to them), so it should be pretty unsurprising that Trump can find so many folks who go along with this narrative. After all, evolution taught us that it's better to commit genocide unjustly and survive than to be too trusting and be killed yourself. No one sees it this way, at least, not consciously. All they're aware of is that they perceive a threat to life, home, and family, so any response is justified. All they know is that overwhelming feeling, that emotion, of righteous anger and the need to band together and defend.
Look. We like being on different teams. We're addicted to it. Conflict and banding together drives everything in the social sphere. From story to game to play to work, life is conflict, and we often overcome it by banding together. It should not be surprising, then, that Trump is as successful as he is largely based on delusions of grandeur, grandstanding, and demonizing the other. No, what bothers me more than anything else is the enormous level of support he's found for this view. His rise has uncovered a vast population of individuals who are perfectly willing to believe anything they're told about other races, cultures, and faiths.
It's almost comical, because one side of the debate keeps saying "let's come together and solve our problems, acknowledge our differences, and cooperate to find solutions." But this clarion call falls on deaf ears, because the folks who most need to adopt that approach are the very people who are convinced that people who aren't like them need to die.
It's the realization that there are so many hate-filled tolerance-opposed human beings in this country that makes me weep. They would probably accuse me of being un-American for saying what I've said. And they would find legions to agree. Trump already has. What's sad is that they *do* make me feel un-American. I'm not like them, and I find it so difficult to understand their point of view. Democrats are quick to blame the Republican establishment for Trump's rise, but I'm not convinced it's their fault, really. Sure, the dysfunction in Congress has led to vast populations of the disenfranchised on both sides, but there's a big difference between those who are dissatisfied and fed-up with partisan politics (most folks), and essentially fascist Trump supporters.
You can't blame Republicans for the extremists. You can't blame Trump for the extremists. You can only look in the mirror and wonder from what depths our the human psyche such destructive world-views arise.
