Make America Grate Again: The Horror of the Trump Candidacy

() HareGrate as defined by the dictionary I just took off my shelf (Webster’s Dictionary, Pictorial Edition, Unabridged, printed in Springfield in May 1859) is defined as: “To offend; to fret; to vex; to irritate; to mortify; as, harsh words grate the heart; they are grating to the feelings; harsh sounds grate the ears.”

That’s what I suggest is happening to America as I think that until November of this year we have a candidate that will irritate most Americans and mortify them in front of the world.

Can you imagine a candidate who traveled to Europe during the time he was running for the nomination not to meet with foreign leaders but to open a golf course?  A candidate who supported the British leaving the European Union, an action that greatly concerned most intelligent persons.

The tragedy of Trump’s candidacy and the false slogan he throws out about making America great (rather than grate) again means there is some time in the past when he believed America was great. He never tells us when that was. Why has no one asked him “when was  America great” as compared to today?

Was it before we had an African-American president? Before President Obama we had George W. Bush who gave us the Great Recession and the Iraq War so it had to be before that.

Obviously we were not great during Hillary’s husband’s term. If that were the case, then he would welcome Hillary’s candidacy. Nor would it have been during the Bush I term. By the way Bush I is well on his way to becoming the oldest living former U.S. president.

Perhaps he is thinking of the time of Ronald Reagan during the years 1981 to 1989 over 25 years ago. Those were the waning days of the Cold War. Reagan stood up to the Soviets; Trump is talking about getting along with Putin without any idea what that would involve other than making business deals. There are too many differences between Trump and Reagan to even compare the men.

Reagan enlisted in the Army before WWII and served on active duty during that war. He was involved in the Screen Actor’s Guild rising up to be its president. He became one of the first to reject Communist influences in the motion picture industry He was deeply involved in supporting political candidates and eventually became governor of California. Trump has nothing like this on his record.

Please do not think he will be anything like a Reagan. One stark difference is Reagan was against unions while Trump says he has worked with them and is in favor of them. If Trump could be believed that would mean he wants to go back before Reagan to a time when unions were strong in America which would be after WWII up to the 1970s. This was a time when America was great in both union strength and manufacturing jobs.

But that was also a time when the country was a different country. The African-Americans were still fighting to get Jim Crow off their backs and the Latinos were a miniscule part of our population. We cannot go back to that time, or even before,  because too much water has gone under the bridge.

A wise appeals court judge told me when I was pointing out at an informal session with the judges who were to hear the appeal of the busing order of Judge Garrity that even were Garrity’s decisions filled with legal error the court would not reverse him. It would produce too much havoc in Boston.  In other words no matter how bad some decisions might be on the law they will not be changed because society has been changed by them and there is no going back.

Trump voters somehow believe he can bring about change in civil rights such as gay marriage, gay rights, abortion, and other things they find offensive. That he can bring about a great change in the status of immigrants. That he can send all of those here illegally back to their native countries. They are fooling themselves if they do not recognize too much time has passed to change those rights or positions.

America can never become a WASP country again – too many other colors have arrived into the melting pot, too many other nationalities, and the old-time mainline Protestant religion is slowly slipping away falling over an eight year period between 2007 and 2014 from 18% to 14%; Americans who describe themselves as Christian fell from 78% to 70% over the same period.

That is what grates about Trump’s campaign – he is telling a percentage of Americans that we can turn the clock back to some type of Camelot era when white Christians ruled and the others were seen but not heard. He is vexing, irritating, offending and mortifying those who are not white as well as most whites who know you can’t go home again.

15 Comments

  1. Today, Trump was exposed as an enemy to Ukraine. Elmer, what do you think of Glorious Leader, now? Putin loves him.

  2. And so Trump spoke of the “illegal immigrants with criminal records” who are “tonight roaming free to threaten peaceful citizens.” He warned of the gangs, violence, and drugs “pouring into our communities.” He invoked “the mothers and fathers who have lost their children to violence spilling across our border.”

  3. Matt: Think of the Judiciary: Want more Ginsburgs, Kagans, Sotomayors? Vote Hillary! Trump has already submitted an impressive list of 11 conservative jurists he’d appoint to the Supreme Court. None from the Ivy League. Vote Trump if you want more Scalias.
    2. It’s true that 90% of Academics in Britain were against Brexit. Academics, there and in America, favor the New World Order, Big Government, More Taxes, more funding for higher education. “Intelligence” exists outside liberal democratic bastions of academia and journalism. You can’t seriously assert only the ignorant support Brexit.
    3. Your anti-WASP sentiments are showing. Who’s talking about becoming a WASP country again? Trump’s half-Scottish. Pence is half-Irish. Were Reagan and Ike Wasps?
    Moreover, English Americans (@10% of the population) have contributed immensely to America and we would not be free without them. Praise the Christian Anglo-Americans who’ve done so much good for this country.
    3. When was America great? Throughout its history. Especially during the Revolution, Civil War, Industrial Revolution, when it won World War II, when it enacted Civil Rights Law, when it raised the health (vaccines) and standard of living of all, when it won the cold war. Want particulars: Consider the Reagan Years “Tear Down that Wall” and read this: http://www.nationalcenter.org/WCT010804.html
    4. Matt, you do think for yourself, but your ideas echo the worst rhetoric of the leftists, and much of it is fear-mongering and pure speculation. Trump has made two wise decisions so far: Pence as V.P. and his decision to release in writing a list of jurists he’d choose for the Supreme Court.
    5. That fact that Trump is a total outsider is an Asset, not a liability.
    6. To be pro-life and in favor of enforcement of our immigration laws and for traditional marriage are honorable, noble positions. To try to protect the unborn is noble. To protect those who disagree with the Supreme Court’s decisions on life and marriage is noble. Remember, Planned Parenthood v. Casey did not overturn Roe v. Wade, but at least it outlawed partial birth abortion and late term abortions. As a free society, we can hold opposing viewpoints, and strive to advance our values.
    7. Just because the Supreme Court has decided an issue, does not mean the end of discussion of that issues. Supreme Court decisions get modified and reversed in time.
    8. All change is not progress.
    9. With Trump, there is hope for some progress. With Hillary, more lies, deceit, big-government liberalism.

    • Bill:
      1. Scalia was Ivy League. Couldn’t Trump have found some good judges from the Ivy League or is he happy with less than the best.
      2. Brexit was supported by the old folk who will not have to suffer the consequences; the youth were in favor of staying with the EU. I would suggest the academics understood the consequences of leaving the EU better than the average person.
      3. The word WASP is not confined to Anglo-Saxon Protestants. It does include such groups as the those from Scotland and Northern Ireland. Both Trump and Pence are Protestants who ascribe to the WASP culture which ran America for 200 years. I am not anti-WASP but recognize their day has passed. They did much good but also much that was not so good. Wikipedia give the English portion of the population as 7.6% including those from Northern Ireland.

      Part 3 a: You name several periods of time when America was great. Which one is Trump talking about taking us back to?

      4. My ideas reflect my own thoughts based on my readings and conversations with others none of whom are leftists. Truth is far from fear mongering. Trump is a 70-year-old rich man who has given nothing back to the country but wants to lead it.

      5. An outsider who preaches divisiveness is not an asset.

      6. You can be pro-life and in favor of traditional marriage which is good but you want to tell other people that they must follow your positions. Has same-sex marriage in any way hurt anyone? Has it made people who committed themselves to others happier? Why would you want to take that away from them if it has no effect on you? You can be against abortion but understand that others might not want to bring a child into the world and they will always be able to find a way not to do that. How would you stop women from having abortions? Would you punish them? Would they be stopped from going to Canada or Mexico?

      7. Of course the Supreme Court can come down with a new opinion overruling a prior opinion but it will not do so in cases that would cause havoc. That is why you have he chief justice upholding Obamacare for to do otherwise would cause too much turmoil.

      8. Change is a constant.

      9. Trump offers no reason to hope. He hides his tax returns. He is vulgar referring to his hand as an example of himself in a public. He is a man who ran for office on a position that separates Americans one from another. That is a change that is not progress.

  4. In the classic sci-fi novel “Canticle of Liebowitz ,” such a civil war occurs. The educated are purged by rolling mobs who sing a communal fight song that begins with the words, “We are the idiots…”

  5. In a civil struggle between the educated and the uneducated, who do you believe would prevail? Are there really enough boneheads to reach critical mass? Glorious Leader depends on ignorance. Don’t let Trump down. Make sure and be be heard, even, if, you can’t be understood. The sound of growling and barking is music to Glorious Leader’s ears

    • Khalid:

      Yes, that is true.The Glorious Leader is going to trample down those educated people who read and think. They have always been a drawback to our society.

  6. Matt, I recall the Camelot of JFK. It was a slick production, and people enjoyed it. But JFK backed it up with deeds. He stood up to the sovoks, also. He had served in our armed forces. His various trysts were ignored, of course.

    Slick Willie and his handlers tried to slide into that same Camelot, and made an aborted attempt. The glove didn’t fit, despite all the screwing around. I still give Slick Willie his due – grudgingly, of course.

    Presidents don’t give us a recession or a boom – that is a political myth which both parties have used, and they have lived and died by that political sword – but it’s false. And laughable.

    As far as jobs are concerned, presidents don’t create jobs, unless there is some government program that funds some kind of make-work which leads to nowhere, and as is typical in government programs, tons of waste and abuse.

    Killery has promised to kill the coal industry. She’s already acted on it, together with her cohorts, and thousands of jobs have been killed.

    In the meantime – she has made millions from Wall Street and the Klinton Krime Family Foundation. She has feathered her nest, and that of Chelsea and her political allies, quite nicely. Rampant corruption.

    A while back, Michael Crichton, author of the Andromeda Strain and other really good books, wrote that the worst thing to be in America is a white Protestant male under 50, because everyone else is “protected,” seemingly, but such a person is not.

    Now, with the leftist PC culture, it’s even worse – Ben Carson talked about it last night.

    When was America great? Before Barry Sotero.

    • The name “Camelot” is such an accepted sobriquet for the Kennedy Administration that many don’t recognize it as a creation of Jackie Kennedy’s during a Life magazine interview following JFK’s assassination. It certainly evokes an image of a romantic fairy-tale … but, when considered in light of its origin, it’s nowhere near as flattering a nickname as it was intended to be.

      What prompted Jackie’s analogy was the 1960 Lerner and Loewe musical “Camelot”, which presents the kingdom ruled by King Arthur as a place built on lofty principles, more idyllic than Eden. The plot, however, focuses on the forces out to destroy Camelot – the adulterous romance between Lancelot and Arthur’s queen, Guenevere, and the machinations of Arthur’s bitter illegitimate son, Mordred. Arthur, though witty and idealistic, is not very adept at thinking for himself or dealing with the thornier aspects of government.

      But the conflation of Camelot and the Kennedys persists, and not only does it not really suit, it also does a disservice to the real understanding and assessment of the Kennedy Administration. It’s natural to adulate and lionize a vibrant leader violently cut down, but it’s the thin end of the wedge. Once a mythology has taken hold, it becomes difficult to isolate the true history – even if it’s actually more compelling and fascinating than the lore.

      Mythology is common to nations’ stories of self, but America, perhaps by virtue of the recentness of its founding, is particularly prone to it, continually intertwining myth with the current body politic. It’s still difficult for history students to sift out the truth of the founding fathers because the mythology is so pernicious, creating an inaccurate view of both history and modern government. For years, “Camelot” as a memento mori was a lens that made viewing the life and times of Kennedy and the nation more difficult and less satisfying, except for those who love fairy tales.

      Whatever the intention or interpretation, a wistful lyric from a mediocre musical about failed idealism doesn’t do justice to Kennedy and his time. “Camelot” keeps us from the whole story. He, and we, deserve better.

      https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/nov/21/jfk-jackie-kennedy-camelot-myth

  7. Trump was asked when was America great. He said during Reagan’s time and back at the turn of the century when we were the world’s top manufacturer. America was in better shape in the eighties than today. We were at peace. We won the cold war. Poverty declined. The economy grew at better than 3% wheeras today it’s half that and poverty is on the rise. Ten million more people on food stamps. At the beginning of the eighties three deckers in Dorchester sold for forty grand or less. by the end of Reagan’s term they were selling for north of 150 grand. A huge explosion in wealth for the average family. Our military had a six hundred ship navy and 75 air wings. Today we have half that. What about the wars Hillary gave us. Iraq. Syria and Libya. The people who voted for Brexit were smart. They wanted to control their borders and limit immigration. They want to prevent what happened in Nice and Germany from happening in their country. Reagan said if you don’t have borders you don’t have a country. 2. Some polls I saw had Trump with a 20 point lead among independents. Claiming he won’t get independent votes is silly. The country may be fed up with race baiters and cop bashers. It may want change. Common sense ax control laws won’t stop the terrorists. Fake claims of police wrongdoing in the Brown and Gray cases incite violence. The public may be tired of the left’s propaganda. Remember who were the enemies of the Bolsheviks. The Reds labeled the clergy, bankers, wealthy farmers and the Czar’s cops as non persons subject to liquidation. The left in America has the same enemies. A vote for Hillary is a vote for the secret police, FBI, which fixed her e-mail case, Ortiz and Wyshak. No thanks. 3. Don’t bet the farm on the Repubs losing the house.

    • NC:
      1. The turn of the century, I assume you are talking about going into the 20th Century not the 21st since our manufacturing is dismal. That of course was a time when labor unions were being suppressed by government troops, when African-Americans were subject to the Jim Crow laws, when women could not vote, and we were about to enter in WWI and ban alcohol. It was not a pleasant time in America although as you suggest manufacturing was doing well. At least it did well up to the Great War and into the twenties but the thirties it all crashed. The explosion in real estate prices did little to help those who were not home owners. The military draw down was a bipartisan policy. If we kept up the number of ships and planes we would be in much greater debt than even now. The last I looked it was Bush who gave us Iraq. I don’t recall Hillary being president. Time will tell how smart the Brits were with leaving the EU.

      2. Wall Street Journal in May said: “Mr. Trump’s standing among independents is even worse than that of his would-be general-election rival. Just 19% of independents viewed Mr. Trump favorably in the latest poll, while 67% had a negative opinion.” I thought the main enemies of the Bolsheviks were the intellectuals who some associate with the left.

      3. I lost the farm the last time I put it up in a wager.

  8. Matt, you obviously support the political corruption of Obama, the Clintons’ and the democratic establishment. You were brought up in it and spent your life as a tried and loyal democrat. I understand that you’re a former Marine from Dorchester with a Boston College Law education. Father Drinan must have captured you into his hand picked “study club” where you left your Dorchester and Marine roots behind and accepted socialism or communism, which ever you wish to call it. You obviously find all non-democrats appalling, stupid, crass and lesser beings than yourself. I do not want to be so personal but your outrage rage towards Trump and his supporters is very typical. There are millions of folks who have voted for Donald Trump through the primaries. There are millions more that are just fed up with the political system that you earned your living off of. Those people don’t care that Trump went to open a golf course during the campaign, they hate the fact that your hero, Obama, spent more time as our President on the golf course than most pro golfers do. Bill Clinton was impeached, disbarred as an Attorney and lied to the public and under oath. Hillary Clinton left some of our courageous Americans to be slaughtered in Benghazi, then lied countless times about it. You, as a former Marine, should be outraged by those facts alone. It’s obvious that Fr Drinan had much more of a lasting impact on you than Dorchester or the USMC did. We still have time to right the USA sinking ship before we die, change your mind and think how much better our Country “might” become with new direction in our White House. The time for name calling between the people has to stop if the people are ever going to regain control of our over reaching government. God bless and be safe!

    • Bob:

      You could not be more wrong in what you wrote. You ended with saying the time for name calling must stop after writing “Father Drinan must have captured you into his hand picked “study club” where you left your Dorchester and Marine roots behind and accepted socialism or communism . . . .:

      • Matt, I think you miss the fact that the people who are voting against the democrats are fighting to stop the political corruption of America. People are angry and fed up with the pay to play system of Washington DC that filters down to State and local politics. It’s not “Donald Trump” who has won the republican nomination, it is anger at the crap that goes on. Everyone knows that the republicans are just as evil and that both parties are in bed together feathering each others’ pockets. If we don’t change what’s going on you may see an American revolution. Voting republican is a statement against what our elected officials have done to us. These are desperate times and I and many others believe that your either with us as Americans or against us as a supporter of the corruption. There is no in between anymore, we the outsiders have had it. It’s not about Trump, it’s all about hope for change and a solution to restore American values and make us strong.