'President Trump?' Get Used To It
Republicans may yet come to their senses and allow a more credible candidate to emerge. But I think there's more going on here than a freak show engineered by a highly skilled and experienced media mogul and manipulator.
Like all good salesmen, Trump senses and has tapped into a deep, visceral fear among many Americans that the nation's best days are behind it.
They see that great land disappearing behind a rising tide of previously marginalized people and cultures that don't look like their traditional image of "American."
Those of us who think America remains great and has its best days yet to come remain indifferent to Trump's "Make America Great Again" campaign slogan. Those who see the nation going down the tubes flock to Trump's rallies and send him their small donations -- as if he needed the money.
To test the nativism in Trump's populist appeal, an Ipsos poll in September found that 45 percent of Democrats "don't identify with what America has become," compared to a thundering 72 percent of Republicans.
We've seen nativist and other hardcore reactionary attitudes rise before, usually in tough economic times. Trump's popularity has grown as he has given voice to a widespread working-class and middle-class frustration that doesn't always get picked up easily by pollsters.
He weathers storms of criticism and fact checkers by ignoring facts in favor of what Stephen Colbert famously labeled "truthiness," a falsehood that "feels" truthful enough to be regarded as truth. If you cling with enough conviction to what people want to believe, as Trump amply demonstrates, they will believe it -- and follow you anywhere.
That's why I think it is time for everybody to start thinking of Trump not as a fluke but as a potential nominee and maybe even president. As new realities sink in, sensible Republicans in particular must ask themselves how well the party can survive in an alliance with people who care less about inclusion than exclusion.
========
(E-mail Clarence Page at cpage@tribune.com.)
(c) 2015 CLARENCE PAGE DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.
