Trump, Sanders are products of voter anger and frustration

Some thoughts on this year’s presidential campaigns, so far.

A friend of mine told me he was listening to a local, conservative talk radio show the other day and the host asked the question, essentially, how it was that Donald Trump has emerged as the front runner for the Republican Party’s nominee for president.

That’s a good question. I’ll give you one of many answers, and it’s short.

Look in the mirror.

Harsh? Maybe, but really, Trump and the whole Republican process so far has been a case of reaping that which has been sowed.

Not to diminish the reasons people have for supporting the egotistical, flimflam man that is the billionaire real estate developer. After watching hours of Trump’ speeches, author Thomas Frank wrote in a March 7 piece for The Guardian that while the billionaire’s inflammatory and derogatory proclamations grab the headlines and prime-time news slots, the rest of his message is about the damage free trade has done to millions of hard-working people in this country.

Jobs lost to countries with cheaper labor, reduced pay and benefits all have created uncertainty about the future for many of us. People have been angry about this for years, but add in the caustic fuel that is right-wing anti-Obama, anti-liberal demonizing, and you have the volatile mixture that has dominated the Republican nominating process, and not just with Trump but also with his challengers.

Since Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell went on TV in early December 2008 and proclaimed his sole mission for the next four years was to make then President-elect Barack Obama a one-term president, everything about the Republican approach to governing has been focused on denial, impeding and opposing virtually everything produced by the left side of the aisle. By the way, you can easily Google and find McConnell’s statement.

Right-wing talking heads on radio, TV, Internet and print have constantly bombarded their audiences with inflammatory, demonizing, accusatory rhetoric about Obama and any other liberal that comes into their gunsights. It’s created an Us vs. Them atmosphere worthy of pre-World War II Nazi Germany.

It’s led to the rise of the tea party, and made it increasingly difficult for the more thoughtful, less emotionally-fueled form of conservativism advocated by individuals such as William F. Buckley and George Will to be heard above the din. Most of us have some degree of conservativism and liberalism within us; but in today’s inflamed world, the ability to let that out and influence our dialogue gets knocked down like a game of political and cultural whack-a-mole.

Democrats aren’t immune either. The candidacy of Sen. Bernie Sanders is based somewhat upon similar feelings about trade from his supports as those of Trump’s.

Sanders takes it further with his campaign against establishment, money-influenced politics, corporate greed and the destruction of what really fueled the great economic expansions of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s — the middle class. It’s a message that also addresses despair and uncertainty about the future.

Unlike the right side of the aisle, however, the Democratic campaign between Sanders and Hillary Clinton hasn’t descended into the same accusatory rhetoric and emotional upheaval the Republicans are experiencing.

You reap what you sow. Perhaps in thinking about how to vote, it might be best to recite and contemplate something from Proverbs, “Whoever is slow to anger has great understanding, but one who has a hasty temper exalts folly.”

Finally, this election has also brought back into the limelight (lame-light?) the queen of all nut-jobs, Sarah Palin. The former vice presidential candidate, half-term Alaska governor has endorsed Trump and often speaks on his behalf.

I use the term “speaking” for reference purposes only as listening to Palin’s speeches, one realizes that’s not what happens. In fact, talk show host Joe Scarborough has coined a phrase to describe her addresses — word salad. Beautiful.

And there’s hope. The more Palin speaks, the more evidence piles up that may someday lead to her arrest and conviction on murder charges — she’s killing the English language!

John McCallum can be reached at [email protected].