| Local View: Wasting political control would be just as ‘deplorable |  |
From the column: "Anybody who has studied civics knows that rule by the majority party is partisanship and that it can be reversed by winning an election — not by storming the Capitol and killing people."
Published 2/24/2021
By John Freivalds
Duluth News Tribune
On Sept. 9, 2016, presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said this at a fundraising event about half of candidate Donald Trump’s supporters: “They are racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic.“ The next day she expressed regret for saying “half” while insisting that Trump had deplorably amplified hateful views and voices.
Her statement helped the alt right gain traction within the Republican Party and played a role in her defeat. “This is what you get with some elite politicians,” her critics called out.
Clinton had tried to put Trump supporters into two baskets. One was everyday Republicans and the other “deplorables,” the racists and the haters, those drawn to Trump’s promise of restoring an America that no longer, if ever, existed. They were eager for a nation where minorities, job-stealing immigrants, Blacks, and Latinos knew “their place” and spoke only “American.”
I am, or used to be, a blond, blue-eyed immigrant. I remember when a white deplorable bus driver tried to have me arrested in Washington, D.C., not Emporia, Kansas, for speaking Latvian on a bus.
Lo and behold, Clinton’s statement about deplorables turned out to be pretty accurate. The Trump supporters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, causing five deaths, including a policeman, were deplorable — and then unapologetic. The Capitol building was their house and not Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s, they believed. I am sure had Pelosi been there, she would have been killed or taken hostage. Worse, many of the rioters hadn’t even voted while believing President Trump’s words that the election was rigged by the Chinese, Big High Tech, or others. Thus, they seemed to reason, the ends justified the means.
Trump refers to these deplorables as part of his base and as real American patriots. They nonetheless waved Confederate flags and wore T-shirts depicting nooses around depictions of prominent Trump opponents. They are people who seem to feel the government let them down, the economy let them down, nobody cares about them, and desperation for change. To them, Trump held out hope that their lives would be different. Even West Virginia coal miners appeared to believe that Trump could reverse the trends of natural gas, wind, and solar power and cheaper coal from Wyoming and prevent them from losing their jobs.
Many of those who rioted can never be reached and taught what democracy is. They seemed to see majority rule by Democrats as tyranny, since they were not the ones calling the shots.
Anybody who has studied civics knows that rule by the majority party is partisanship and that it can be reversed by winning an election — not by storming the Capitol and killing people.
Given their apparent belief that the election was rigged, that voting machines were tampered with, that dead people voted, and that certain Democrats should be imprisoned to protest these outrages, they stormed the Capitol so America would not be lost. They were egged on by Trump, who used both Twitter and Facebook until he was banned for lying — excuse me, “spreading misinformation.” Even Trump stalwart Fox News canceled Lou Dobbs’ show, apparently for making false statements about Trump’s loss. Helping Fox’s decision was that it was being sued big time by the voting-machine companies accused of tilting their machines to favor President Joe Biden.
Many more Fox personalities may follow, and the network will try to seek a settlement rather than reveal more details of its coverage.
Trump is a showman and knows how to manipulate his base. Although Trump’s idol president was Andrew Jackson, Old Hickory, Trump kept a very safe distance from the base he incited. Although he promised to march with them to the Capitol, he was not there, and he never invited them to cavort on the White House lawn as Jackson did. I doubt the deplorables who stormed the Capitol would be allowed to join Trump’s clubs.
The political pendulum has swung, but we cannot take this time in the sunshine for granted. That, too, would be deplorable.
John Freivalds of Wayzata, Minnesota, is the author of six books and is the honorary consul of Latvia in Minnesota. His website is jfapress.com. He wrote this for the News Tribune.