Leadership “We” Deserve
European colonists discovered this land and the millions of people who called it home. They took it by force. They stole and punished and enslaved people to build the paradise they wanted. Asian in the West. African in the East. And every time any of those people have tried to say they want some part of that same paradise, the colonists and their progeny revolt.
That’s the story of the American project. It always has been. Find a people to use, abuse, and blame. Define your own grotesque version of humanity in opposition to the people you’ve tried to turn into monsters.
But, you’re the monsters. You always have been. You subjugate for pleasure. You value money above all else. You’d trade a single dollar for a single life. Your sense of community stops at the reflection in the mirror. That’s why appeals to kindness and goodness and what we can become together fall on deaf ears. You don’t want or believe in a multi-cultural democracy with full agency for women. You want a society where you lead and others serve.
I’m not a political consultant. I can’t always explain why political movements happen. But I know this. The Republicans did not put out a policy paper. They didn’t propose any ideas.
(Project 2025 is their policy paper and list of objectives, but they publicly distanced themselves from that even while also publicly saying he was on board but disavowed for political gain.)
With no public policy, the Republican campaign was based on vibes.
· Crime is soaring because of Immigrants. I’ll deport them. This will also fix housing because of all the empty homes that used to have immigrant families in them.
· Prices are high and its Kamala’s fault. I’ll fix it by making China pay tariffs.
· Kamala supports trans people. She’s for they/them, not you.
That was the pitch that won the colonists’ hearts! That was the magic nuance that Trump brought together into one coalition of assholes.
There are big factual errors here, like crime is declining like it has been since the 1990s except when the world went crazy in 2020 and 2021 becuase of COVID and immigrants commit less crime anyway. But leave that aside for the moment.
The pitch was, “I’ll get ride of black and brown people. I’ll make some other country pay so you pay less. Some of the people Kamala likes are gross. She’s gross too.”
He’s given all groups someone to blame for their frustrations.
- Black folks angry about limited job growth? It’s not rich people hoarding wealth and opportunity! It’s immigrants coming in to take your jobs.
- Poor white folks angry about why eggs cost $2.08 when they used to cost $1.50? It’s not because the manufacturers profit margin went from 9% to 21% over the past two years! It’s China not paying their fair share.
- Middle-class folks angry about not being able to find a house? It’s not because banks bought more than 50% of all single-family homes last year! It’s because all these immigrants are in houses that belong to Americans.
- Conservative Christian folks confused about gender dysmorphia and why gender and sex are different? You don’t have to educate yourself so that you can be compassionate to your fellow man! It’s because those people are crazy and the people who care about them are crazy too.
- You’re a white, conservative Christian man angry about everything? Black people in commercials. Gay people in sitcoms. Trans people at the Olympics. Immigrants that didn’t eat pets this time, but that doesn’t mean they won’t next time. Latinos speaking Spanish or English with an accent, proving they’re not American. Minorities who speak up about injustice when we should just quit talking about this stuff. The fact that things aren’t the way they used to be. It’s not your fault. America forgot about you. They left you behind. I care for you.
We’re reversing LGBTQ rights, punishing black people, kicking out brown and black people, and fixing it so those people’s votes won’t matter as much in the future. If you hate them, just name it and we’ll make their lives hell. Librarians, teachers, election workers, students. Now you see why so many of them are praying for President Trump and calling him God’s appointed one.
The story of the American project is to find a people to use, abuse, and blame. Colonists define their own grotesque version of humanity in opposition to Brown people they call rapists and bad hombres. In opposition to black people from shithole countries who need stop and frisk to behave. In opposition to anyone who’s gender or sexual identify is different from what’s culturally dominant. In opposition to anyone who would dare question that order.
Trump winning in 2016 felt like a shock. 2024 feels like a coronation. For America, this is exactly what leader it deserves.
