I have two teenage granddaughters who are crazy about the new hip-hop and R&B musical "Hamilton" that gives a contemporary spin to the life and times of Founding Father Alexander Hamilton. They listen to the CD over and over again, and my daughter believes the lyrics are a good way for kids to learn American history. She also thinks that there may be a modern-day message embedded in them as well.
There is a line that follows Aaron Burr's shooting of Hamilton in their famous duel. Burr regretfully realizes that "I should've known the world was wide enough for both Hamilton and me." My daughter very perceptively transposed this to the upcoming election and observed that Trump voters are frightened that their world isn't wide enough to accommodate them and all the changes of the last two decades.
First, there are the many multi-hued newcomers who don't exactly look like people on a 1960s Saturday Evening Post cover. It also doesn't help that these newbies are willing to work for smaller paychecks, thereby scooping up what few jobs there are. But it goes deeper than dollars. Trump voters are scared that the moral firmament regarding marriage and traditional sexual roles has shifted under their feet, and few in the ruling class have appreciated how momentous these changes are. It doesn't help that when these beleaguered citizens try to express themselves in the public square, they use words that aren't acceptable anymore; that aren't "politically correct." They are then labeled as racist and homophobic. This unintentionally distorts their message and their sincere cry for help and understanding.
We have to appreciate that many Trump voters see themselves as victims. Some bravely fought our wars for us in Vietnam and Iraq; saw fellow soldiers die there; and came back with physical and psychological scars beyond all understanding. And now they're expected to live in a nation that regards these conflicts as grievous foreign policy blunders; a waste of blood and treasure.
These voters once believed the promises of Democratic and Republican legislators and trusted them to represent their best interests. Now they find themselves betrayed by treaties like NAFTA and the new Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement. They've had to watch helplessly as their jobs were shipped to Mexico and China to benefit the bottom line of corporations and not the financial security of American workers who built this country. They've witnessed their cities, once proud centers of manufacturing, hollowed out and forgotten. And more than a few have lost their houses and life savings to the chicanery of Wall Street and its "shadow banking systems" that peddled subprime mortgages, collateralized debt obligations, credit default swaps and other "Hocus Pocus" financial mischief. Millions of these voters suffered, yet the perpetrators appeared to go unpunished.
Trump voters aren't alone in their disenchantment with the American dream. A recent NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll showed that nearly seven in 10 Americans agree with the statement that "I feel angry because our political system seems to only be working for the insiders with money and power, like those on Wall Street or in Washington, rather than it working to help everyday people get ahead."
Voters have a litany of legitimate grievances to nail to the white pillars of Washington, and this is what Trump has tapped into. Even though he's rich and comes from a privileged background, he speaks for the oppressed and he promises to make it right again; to make America great again. Sure, he crosses the line sometimes and resorts to bully-boy tactics. But, he says what they are thinking, and he's become their Moses. They now feel empowered, and there's little the so-called establishment can do to thwart him. That's why ridiculing Trump voters is a zero sum game. Their spirits may be down, but their backs are up and their defenses are high.
It didn't have to come to this. Last year Sen. Elizabeth Warren tried to warn the political class that the average American was fed up with Washington, and Sen. Bernie Sanders has based his quixotic campaign on this alienation. But the GOP leadership doesn't get it. They still dance to the tunes of crony capitalism and corporate welfare. And Hillary Clinton is too bound to Wall Street and the big banks to retool her message for these populist times. That's why the day belongs to Trump.
Frank Batavick writes from Westminster. His column appears Fridays. Email him at fjbatavick@gmail.com.
