Recently, a columnist in the NY Times recounted the debt
owed, not by Nixon to Roger Ailes but by Ailes to Nixon. It was the President
who taught Ailes the value – the commercial, publicity value – of cultural resentment. This phrase has
stuck in my mind, as I believe it represents almost the entirety of Donald
Trump’s continuing support. None of the voters in the hinterland believe, at
this stage, that TrumpCare will improve their health; none, I imagine, believe
that their economic prospects will genuinely improve with The Donald in charge.
So why do they go on supporting him?
The answer, I believe, is very simple. BECAUSE HE HATES
LIBERALS. And he allows us to hate liberals. And to feel, not guilty but good
about hating liberals. The answer, my friends, is Cultural Resentment. And it
is very close to being the ONLY answer. The whole of the Trump base is about
being not for anything, but against
something. Against Hillary: the glee of shouting “LOCK HER UP!” Against the
effete Europeans and Asians and All Those Other Guys who believe, against all
good common-sense-over-a-beer-in-the-pub, that the planet is heating up bigly.
Against all those PC assholes in Massachusetts and California. Against all
those smartasses who are so proud of their useless Education and who wave their
f*cking Degrees at us, and take away our jobs. Against, against, against,
against. Mad as Hell and Not Going to Take it Anymore! Rage, rage, aganst the
rising of the light.
Can anything be done against this? I’m not sure. It may just
have to sputter and squib itself out, gracelessly, mendaciously, offensively
and miserably. To me, it is genuinely sinful, because it exchanges Christ for
Trump, love for hatred, discernment for stupidity. The pleasure of hate is a
real pleasure, but none the less sinful for that. It corrodes, it rots, it ends
in a whirlwind of emptiness. And there, Hell awaits. Lord, have mercy. These
are your children. They know not what they do.
Rembrandt van Rijn, The Risen Christ
