Trump – The GOP Frankenstein

By Dr. Wilmer J. Leon, III
TriceEdneyWire.com Columnist

“Although Victor Frankenstein claimed to be creating his monster for the betterment of humankind, it’s more likely that he did so out of arrogance, or out of a desire to become like God.”
Cliff Notes

As of this writing Real Clear Politics has Donald Trump 13.2 points ahead of Sen. Ted Cruz (33.6 vs. 20.4) in the Republican race for the White House. A number of Conservatives have attacked Trump in the National Review. Glen Beck –“If Donald Trump wins the Republican nomination, there will once again be no opposition to an ever-expanding government. This is a crisis for conservatism.” David Boaz – “From a libertarian point of view — and I think serious conservatives and liberals would share this view — Trump’s greatest offenses against American tradition and our founding principles are his nativism and his promise of one-man rule.” Mona Charen – “Put aside for a moment Trump’s countless past departures from conservative principle on defense, racial quotas, abortion, taxes, single-payer health care, and immigration …The man has demonstrated an emotional immaturity bordering on personality disorder, and it ought to disqualify him from being a mayor, to say nothing of a commander-in-chief.”

Who is supporting Trump? According to Real Clear Politics, “Trump’s supporters are a bit older, less educated and earn less than the average Republican…One half of his voters have a high school education or less…Slightly over a third of his supporters earn less than $50,000 per year, while 11 percent earn over $100,000 per year. Definitely not country club Republicans, but not terribly unusual either. According to The American Values Survey, “a majority (55 percent) of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents who support Trump are white working-class Americans.”

Trump’s racist, xenophobic rhetoric resonates with his “white working-class supporters” because racism has been a tenet of the “so-called” conservative strategy (“so-called” because racism is not a tenet of true conservatives). Many times it has been the covert sub-text to mainstream Republican dialogue, particularly since the election of President Obama in 2008. According to The Hill “…29 percent of Americans and 43 percent of Republicans, believe Obama is a Muslim.” Other still believe that he was not born in America. Republican leadership (except for Sen. McCain) did not tell the “Birthers” they were wrong. Their deafening silence was seen as tacit agreement and became part of the Republican strategy to delegitimize the president. Historically, the office of the president was more important than the man in the office. The election of Barak Obama changed all of that.

Proof of this strategy? Congressman Joe Wilson (R-SC) called President Obama a liar and former House Speaker Gingrich called him a Mau Mau in the White House, “What if (Obama) is so outside our comprehension, that only if you understand Kenyan anticolonial behavior can you begin to piece together (his actions)?” Gingrich went on to call Obama a conman, “This is a person who is fundamentally out of touch with how the world works, who happened to have played a wonderful con, as a result of which he is now president.” As members of the Tea Party spat on Congressman Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO), called Congressman John Lewis (D-GA) an nigger and Congressman Barney Frank (D-Mass) a faggot, members of Republican leadership such as McConnell (R-KY), Graham (R-SC) and Cantor (R-VA) did not tell the Tea Party that there’s no place in the American political dialogue for such bigotry and hatred. Why? Because they did not want to risk alienating those voters. Even more, race baiting is one of the few tools Republicans have left to retain an ever-dwindling base. Again, their deafening silence was seen as tacit agreement.

Now Donald Trump, a twice divorced, three-time married and four-time bankrupted billionaire and newly proclaimed Christian says very overtly to America that Mexicans are drug dealers, rapists and murdering thieves and Muslims should be banned from the country. The Republican leadership is now aghast. They spent all that time crafting covertly racist language and policies in such a way that they could deny racist motives by their accusers. Now they are left to ponder how has Trump captured the party? It’s simple; Trump is the Frankenstein that Republicans’ covert, racist and xenophobic code language has created.

Now Republican leadership is attacking Trump with ads and Op Ed’s like the villagers attacked Frankenstein with pitch forks and torches. There’s a good reason why Trump’s “I want to make America great again” sounds a lot like Tom Tancredo’s Tea Party chant, “we want our country back.”

Trump is appealing to the white working-class, high-school educated American who feels betrayed. He/she was sold “The American Dream” and told that their whiteness; their white privilege would carry the day. More and more of them have come to realize that it’s no longer true and they are angry, very angry. In his book, White Nationalism Black Interests, Dr. Ronald Walters called it the “politics of resentment”. Whites resent that people of color who they’ve been taught are inferior are, “making a claim to equality with the dominant class to which they are not entitled.”

There is a reason that morbidity and mortality rates in midlife among white Americans are on the rise. White Americans are killing themselves at alarming rates according to a recent report.

The report concludes, “This increase for whites was largely accounted for by increasing death rates from drug and alcohol poisonings, suicide, and chronic liver diseases and cirrhosis.” Their whiteness is failing them.

Ironically, billionaire Trump is speaking their language. Trump is speaking directly to a growing number of angry and disaffected White Americans who feel betrayed. The Trumps of the world are watching their assets grow while these disaffected Americans see their wages stagnate and they have been convinced that it’s the fault of African Americans and the “hordes of illegal Mexican immigrants” who are taking their jobs and depressing their wages.

Trump is saying very clearly what many Republicans, ultra-conservatives and neo-cons have been saying with covert language. He has “jumped their shark.” He’s using a gimmick to attract their interest and beating the Republican establishment at their own game. He is the Republican/neo-con Frankenstein.

This article originally published in the February 15, 2016 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.