More Crucial Than Ever

Election 2016: The Great Divide, the Great Debate is a collection of essays, comments, and shorts written in real time, reacting to and predicting the emergence of Donald J. Trump as a viable and then winning candidate— interrupted periodically by fictional analysis from myself and fictional characters, like Dr. Sigmund Freud in chapter 6 and again in chapter 24, a therapy session with Horace (possibly the missing link in human evolution), demonstrating the psychological aspects of the campaign regarding the American psyche. The chapter “The Real Mr. Trump and the Solution” is also fictional. Max is a fictional composite of real people I’ve had conversations with, online and face-to-face. In addition, there are fictional futuristic happenings, speculations about what could happen. Also, there are quite a number of footnotes—some cite sources, some are explanatory, and some are updates of relevant subject matter—as the process of writing this book has taken a great deal more time than I imagined.

The Divide, aka the Crisis

The great divide seems only to have widened, now fourteen months plus into the Trump administration. There is no bridge, no coming together, and certainly no evolved consciousness. Instead, we (Americans) seem to be on the brink of another civil war, another war between the states. The electorate now appears to be sorting itself out geographically. The internet, specifically the social media, looks to have, rather than connecting people in friendly ways, augmented and exacerbated their differences to the point

xvii

of not only hostile speech but behavior as well. This election, more so than any other event since that war, begs this question: Who are we? Obviously, that question wasn’t settled then, and remains open today.

Briefly

The time right after the attack on New York city and Washington, DC, on September 11, 2001, may have been the closest the nation has ever been to “the United States of America, one nation under God, with liberty and justice for all.”2 The words “under God” were added to the pledge, by Congress, in 1954, at the suggestion of then president Dwight D. Eisenhower. I, like Donald Trump, grew up starting each school day facing the flag and reciting the pledge, with my hand over my heart. At some point in our nation’s recent history, that requirement was removed from the school’s daily schedule.

That seems to represent “the divide” as well as anything—we no longer pledge (anything) as a nation. Are we “one nation under God,” or are we something else? Are we no longer a nation defined by physical, spiritual, and cultural boundaries (as discussed in the chapter “Boundaries”) but by a vague notion of inclusive compassion encompassing the whole world? Like some sort of postmodern, New Age spiritualism that touts evolved consciousness? Are we no longer a country, a territory, but an abstract idea open to all and anyone regardless of allegiance? That seems to be one side of the debate. Does the oath “Swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me God” have any meaning whatsoever?

If one world replaces one nation in the meaning of “liberty and justice for all,” what word or idea or belief replaces God when one “swears to tell the truth”? Is it karma? Buddha? If you don’t tell the truth, the whole truth . . . are you going to get some bad stuff coming down on you? Is that it? The world will punish you, never mind the courts. Is justice levied by a higher power (“Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord”), not the legal system, not God, but some vague karmic force?

Therein seems to be the divide. But I don’t think that’s the whole story, not by a long shot. I think the divide/debate is about power—who has it and who gets to exercise it. In other words, it’s who decides.

The American Dream

When America, as we’ve come to know it, the second America perhaps, was becoming a nation, the frontier spirit defined America and its people. This was a character (in real life, I think the words character, personality,

2 This is from the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America (1954).

xviii

and soul all have a similar or close-enough meaning) of strength, rugged individualism, self-reliance, and personal responsibility. Former President Barack Obama’s speech on July 13, 2012, while it sounds wonderful and soaring, is really an insult to this notion. He said, “If you’ve got a business— you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen.” These are words that could only have been spoken by a man who never built anything.

Of course, the frontiersman didn’t manufacture his rifle or his traps or the settler forge his own saw and plow, but seriously, everyone knows and understands that those men—and yes, they were mostly men—overcame great odds and hardships to carve out a civilization from a hostile, chaotic natural world. For an American president to disparage the spirit, the character of the self-made man is disgraceful.

Power and Influence

What is power? In essence, it’s the ability to compel another, others, or things to obedience or to make them/it submit to your will. It’s about control. Control over what? Behavior and action and resources (food, water, shelter, education, territory, money, and yes, healthy, fertile females). It’s about protection from harm. And the one who can provide it, that person/ entity has power!

In a nutshell, power is about survival. In this country, this nation, legal power is awarded to those who win elections. They determine the laws and how to enforce them. Who wins is determined by a vote. Who votes is determined by laws, persuasion, will and willingness, and also, some unsavory practices (lying, bribery, coercion, etc.) by those wanting to gain power.

That is what this book is about and why I wrote it.

A Happy Accident?

This book is a personal account, a personal journal, of the presidential election of 2016. I didn’t intend to write it; I was just recording my thoughts on paper as I’ve done most of my life. I have been keeping a record of who I am, if you will, and then somewhere in time, I thought (given my background in anthropology, psychology, and social work), This should be a book, a record of the election. That might have value.

Others had that same thought, professionals namely Mark Halperin,3 John Heilemann, and Mark McKinnon of MSNBC TV, Bloomberg Politics, and Showtime. They began a video documentary, a big-league production called The Circus. (You can watch it on Hulu, and I strongly recommend you do.) It’s a real-time document of the 2016 election, just like this book. With an open

3 Halperin is now in a sort of literary/journalistic limbo, having been accused and admitting to sexual misconduct during the course of his career.

xix

mind, I invite you to compare them. I admit to my bias (for Trump and my subjectivism) and to taking creative license with the insertion of fiction (“Freud on Trumpism,” “Debriefing Horace,” “The Real Mr. Trump and the Solution,” and so forth). You’ll notice that the first few chapters have no mention of Trump or the campaigns. It’s not until September 2015 that I begin to put what’s happening into a national/global context. I became fascinated with the campaigns and the media’s coverage. I began to pay serious attention, and it became more and more interesting with each day.

Being Right

You’ll notice quite a difference though between the professionals’ account and mine: they all got it wrong and I got it right! Without going into detail of how that is possible, some things are obvious. One is that this whole Russian obsession is ridiculous and dishonest! Two is that just how sleazy and smarmy both politicians and journalists are. Take notice of who gets the most face time in The Circus. Answer: the three creators. Their preference for Bernie Sanders and John Kasich is also apparent. Just as I do as a writer, in choosing my words and the events I cover, they choose the shots they shoot, the scenes they cover, what goes into the show, and what lands on the cutting room floor.

The Media

In this story, I’ve titled a chapter “Despicable Democrats and the Media.” There, I lay out an argument stating that what looks like benevolence and compassion is really just another way to take power. Why not lie if lying works? Who holds you to account? God? Karma? Persuasion and influence are all just manipulation and deceit, and much of that involves self-deception.

Values

To be clear, I am an atheist, and also, I don’t believe in karma. If I believe in anything, I lean toward the law of attraction. I lean toward “You earn your fate,” except when other forces more powerful than you intervene. What is so obvious in the Showtime documentary is that Trump earned his win! No one helped him, foreign or domestic. He took no counsel. He was pure Trump, 100 percent, right from the beginning and up until now. His triumph was unprecedented and historic, and he should be given credit. (But that’s not the case, is it?) He embodies that frontier spirit—the can-do attitude and confidence that forged this country.

I hope that this book can make some sense of all that. If you choose to buy it and read it, you might learn something, not just about the election, politics, the media, etc. but also about yourself and the human condition.

Belief

Sometimes, we are just unlucky. But, and this is important, I respect those who believe in a moral code dictated by God. Understand that need

xx

and desire to believe in a higher power, in God—the creator. I understand the need and desire to believe in life after death, an eternal soul, and that there is something more than just a struggle to live another day and breed. Understanding leads to compassion. Compassion is not learned in a classroom or in books; it is acquired through observation and experience and, yes, via narcissism. What if it were me who was suffering? Empathy, I think, is just narcissism in disguise—dressed up in a raincoat, hat, and dark glasses.

Is the ability to imagine unique to the human species? I don’t know.

At the beginning, I really knew nothing of Trump. I’d never seen one episode of The Apprentice. I had been a supporter of Obama in 2008, in fact, a delegate, one of the 2,200-some who gave him the nomination over Hillary Clinton. Obama, I believed in him. Voted for him again in 2012. And then, what happened? Not much, as it turned out. America seemed to be in decline (until Trump won).

I’ve looked out my window, interacted with people, taught a writing class at a community college in Colorado, and thought, We are going in the wrong direction, headed for extinction, maybe. Other people, Americans, my people, are sick—and the rest of the world’s populations are engaged in primitive power struggles. Deceit is king. Something’s got to change. And then I began to pay close attention, very close attention, to the campaigns and the media’s coverage of them.

Reporting

From the onset, the reporting was all wrong. Trump came down the escalator in Trump Tower and said that Mexicans were rapists and murderers, some of them anyway, and that we need protection—a beautiful big wall. And then the campaign was on.

Trump was a racist and xenophobe and, soon to be added, sexist. Not investigated, at that time, was a news story of the missing girls of Juárez. Look it up. The link was not reported because it did not fit the narrative as presented, because the media had predetermined Trump as a joke. The media were dishonest from the get-go and then did everything in their power to justify their actions! And they continue to do so!

To understand Trump is to be Trump—impossible, of course— which is why I injected fiction into this story. I had a conversation with Sigmund Freud and went on a road trip with the Donald Trump. I used my imagination in the hope of gaining an understanding of what the hell is going on.

February 26, 2018
North Westminster, Colorado

xxi

In Conclusion

As I said, I think we are in crisis. Perhaps on the brink of war. War within and war without. I’ve just watched two documentaries on the founding and history of our country. Two things that stand out are:

• Technology leads to revolutions
• Revolutions lead to war

My question is: Can we find another way besides war?

It is now more crucial than ever because we have the technology to literally blow up the world. Who, or what, decides? Is it really “up to you.”?