The Last Gasp

One thing that the unexpected victory of Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election has undoubtedly done is to remove the collective beer goggles from the American public. What was a blurry-edged image of where we are as a nation is now in perfect focus. But what does it show us?

We are looking at the irresistible force of our country’s changing population meeting the immovable object of our historical white privileged class.

The demographic march continues to erode the old norms. As the huge baby-boomer cohort of our population proceeds past the retirement home and approaches the graveyard, our country is becoming younger, browner, blacker and yellower. The historic majority of white America is on the verge of becoming a minority. To say that the older, white, conservative folks are unhappy about this would be the understatement of a lifetime.

The clear product of this situation is the commitment of the American right to do anything – anything – to perpetuate the status quo for one more election cycle. From flat-out illegal voting eligibility laws to direct appeals to foreign governments, we have seen an unprecedented effort to subvert the will of the majority of Americans. In winning the popular vote by almost three million votes, the young and our citizens of color voted overwhelmingly for Ms. Clinton, or at least definitively against Mr. Trump. The total number of voters who decided the key rust belt states’ outcomes would fit in a football stadium. The most astonishing statistic coming out of the results of the election is that 53% of white women voted for Mr. Trump. I think this is less an indication that a majority of white women want to be grabbed by the pussy as a deep-seated and mostly unearned hatred of Ms. Clinton. Who would have thought that we could overcome our nation’s legacy of racism and elect (twice) a black man as president but be helplessly unable to overcome our sexism and elect a woman, no matter how experienced and qualified?

I will not recite the litany of reasons why Mr. Trump is unqualified for the office of dogcatcher, much less president, nor will I list the absolutely unprecedented number of blatant lies and petty attacks he has spewed. That’s been done by a thousand outraged writers already, and likely in finer fashion than I could. So why Trump, and why now?

The aging white power brokers in this country are not stupid. They see the demographic tidal wave that is preparing to break on our shores over the next decade. They view this period as their last chance to change the rules of the game.  Make no mistake, the forces of demagoguery and, yes, fascism, are taking over our government in just a few short weeks. The only way they stay in power after this insane  - and likely unfair – election is to suspend the constitutional rights of citizens, crush opposition under the banner of “law and order,” limit the freedom of the press, and expand the already ubiquitous surveillance state. This is terrifying.

So we are about to hear a “last gasp.” The only question is, will it be the sound of the old guard submitting to the new realities of the new majority and all that entails: expanded individual civil rights, continued progress toward universal health care, movement towards renewable energy, and a less belligerent stance on law enforcement and foreign affairs? Or will the last gasp be the final death throe of our beloved democratic constitutional republic? We’ll find out soon enough, and I believe it will be one or the other.

In this sad case, there is literally no middle.

Portland, OR 

December 15, 2016