By Patricia Lee Sharpe
Joe Biden was inaugurated less than a month ago. Donald J. Trump is a private citizen with lots of law suits pending. The historic odds of a one term president’s returning to the White House or controlling his political party after a big defeat are very very unfavorable.
Why then are we constantly bombarded with speculations about his influence on midterm elections in 2022 and by polls gauging his chances for the presidency in 2024? Why must citizen Trump, soundly defeated candidate still licking his wounds, be headlined day after day—and I’m not talking about the impeachment trial?
The supporters of Trump the loser are, not surprisingly, still clinging to their man. Mourning takes time—and the first stage, as everyone should know, is denial. Trump stoked their egos—and inflamed their ids. He raised their hopes to such extremes that they run the risk of looking stupid should they publicly repudiate him. If we want to dilute their Trumpism, we must not pile on the humiliation.
We got into the Trump mess partly because of the snobbery of those who called a good share of the U.S. mere “flyover country,” territory not worth a visit or a thought. It didn’t help that Democrats supported a presidential candidate who labeled a good number of her fellow Americans as “deplorables.” Donald Trump stoked the resulting, wholly justified anger and resentment to his advantage.
American is supposedly the land of opportunity, but two groups of people have largely missed the elevator: Black people everywhere and rural white people. Both elements have erupted in anger over the past year, and both eruptions have been accompanied by criminally opportunistic violence at the margins. I’m talking here of white nationalists of all stripes and also of the anarchistic elements who too frequently disfigure protest on the left.
This is not a time for those with a superiority complex to wallow in an electoral victory whose tender underside is the fear that Trump’s followers can’t be weaned from their hero. It’s time to take a page from the Biden playbook. Concentrate on policies that will help working class America . Jobs. Jobs. Jobs. And respect. Real jobs in the real world for fellow Americans—and policies that actually produce them. Good solid work well publicized.
And quelling the covid monster.
Above all, this is no time for keeping Trumpism alive by speculating endlessly on how Republicans who didn’t buy his lies will be punished by his followers. It’s much too early to say anything durable.