Why No Unity Against This Crisis?

Why No Unity Against This Crisis?

Why do most of the democrats and their mainstream media backers continue with their “hate Trump” campaign, even in light of this corona virus pandemic which has devastated the U.S. and the rest of the world?  Clearly, these leftists have not absorbed the message that we are all in this together, and that hating Trump and petty liberal issues like identity politics should be set aside while we all sacrifice to work our way out of this horrible scourge.

We did this as a united country after the 911 attacks on the twin towers in 2001.  Democrats were not big fans of G.W. Bush at the time, particularly after the Florida “hanging chad” fiasco.  But they acted as Americans, rather than leftist partisans, after that terrorist attack.  Remember the bi-partisan support of our country, the patriotism and the proliferation of American flags, by all Americans, including democrats, when we were threatened by terrorists?

Well now we are threatened by something more insidious than terrorists – a silent and invisible threat that has killed more Americans that the terrorists did.  Instead of cohesion and support and patriotism, we have continued sniping against President Trump by the political left and the mainstream media.  This is not just an opposing opinion.  All one has to do is sample the New York Times, the Washington Post, CNN, MSNBC on any given day to see their leftist stance that Trump can do no right, and everything he does is either wrong or has nefarious intent.

Why does this hatred of Trump continue, even during a national disaster like this corona virus pandemic?  Surely, like after 911, if there is any time to rally behind our president, no matter how disliked he is during normal times, that time to rally behind him is now.  Yet the leftist hatred continues with almost a religious fervor.  And that’s the rub.  The leftist hatred has become faith-based, like a religion, and cannot be mitigated by either reason, or a national emergency.

So what’s the basis for this hatred of Trump?  Yes, he sometimes seems brutish and venal.  He sometimes comes across as a showman, rather than president.  He tweets too much.  He elaborates and exaggerates too much.  He is loose with his facts.  But these are not characteristics that would generate an almost religious hatred.  One can think of similar foibles in other presidents.  LBJ’s earthiness, for example.  FDR’s obverse patricianism. JFK’s womanizing.  And on and on.  Most republicans were not exactly enamored with Bill Clinton or Barrack Obama, but they did not develop anywhere near this kind of hatred of them.

No, the almost religious hatred of Trump stems from two sources.  Firstly, he won the presidential election in 2016 against massive odds.  It was Hillary’s presidency. He had no right to win.  Second, he is the anthesis of the democrats’ philosopher king, Saint Barrack Obama, and everything Obama stood for, apologia in international relations, identity politics, massive government regulation of business, the nanny state, open borders, late term abortion on demand, and all the trappings of the liberal socialist state that Obama was establishing, (mostly by dubious executive orders), and that Hillary was to continue.  Instead, here comes Trump, and undoes it all, and lo and behold, the economy takes off, and we have unprecedented prosperity. (At least until the corona virus pandemic).

And of course, Trump does all of this as a pragmatic businessman, but with the flourish of a Hollywood showman.  Since he is not a politician, he manages to offend nearly everyone with his tweets and his posturing, but he is literally the anti-Christ to the leftist democrats, and particularly to the mainstream media, who continue to fuel and exacerbate the country’s divisions.

So that’s my theory on why the hatred of Trump by the leftists and their mainstream media accomplices, is unbreakable, even during a national crisis like this one.  There are exceptions that seem to mitigate this hatred.  Several leftist governors and mayors who have shown enmity to Trump in the past, have worked successfully and praised his administration on handling the medical and social situations in their cities and states.  So, there is some hope.  But with the NYT, WaPo, CNN, MSNBC and other anti-Trump media beating the drums of hatred and division, a positive, united, patriotic approach to this crisis is impossible.

Ray Gruszecki

April 10, 2020