Bill Straub: Frustrated Trump supporters weren’t simply angry — they wanted revenge

WASHINGTON – The first presidential election I participated in was 1972, shortly after those aged 18 to 21 were granted the franchise.

Republican Richard Nixon, the incumbent, was running for re-election just as the Watergate scandal was beginning to gurgle, still attracting little attention from the public at large. Fifteen Democrats, ranging from former Vice President Hubert Humphrey to Hawaii Congresswoman Patsy Mink, lined up to oppose him, with the nod eventually going to Sen. George McGovern of South Dakota, who was defeated decisively.

Among those Democrats seeking the nomination was Alabama Gov. George Corley Wallace, an inveterate racist and bigot, who famously declared in his 1963 inaugural address, “segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever.’’

Wallace softened his rant somewhat in ’72 and folks today forget his campaign attracted significant support, particularly among working class whites, winning Maryland and Michigan primaries outside of his Deep South base. The effort ultimately came to a sudden and violent halt at the end of a gun – a bullet lodged in Wallace’s spinal column from an assassination attempt rendered him paralyzed from the waist down for the rest of his days.

I cite this history now because of some parallels to this recently completed presidential campaign where another populist, Republican Donald J. Trump, upset Democrat Hillary Clinton.

The 1972 race was conducted during tense times – the Vietnam War continued to rage, the fight for civil rights continued after the terrible shooting death of Martin Luther King in 1968, court-ordered busing to achieve school desegregation – which would hit Louisville in the mid-70s – was beginning to roil and women were beginning to seek their proper place in society.

A lot of folks, mostly working class whites, looked to Wallace, just like rural and rust belt whites looked to Trump on Nov. 8.

No one, including Wallace, probably, seriously thought this little bandy-mouthed bantam rooster had any chance of becoming the next president of the United States (of course a lot of folks accorded that same fate to Trump, but that’s another matter). Displeasure with the nation’s direction was so strong in some quarters that voters were willing to give him a chance to effect change.

The problem, of course, was Wallace’s undisguised racism. Despite desiring change myself as a 19-year-old in 1972 (draft number 210), I can say without equivocation that I could never venture a thought to voting for George Wallace because of his approach to people of color and others who refused to recognize the privilege held by under-educated white Christians.

Hell, I would have voted for Nixon, as crooked as any road that ever weaved its way through the Andes before pulling the lever for Wallace.

And that’s what makes this most recent presidential election despairing and depressing to so many people to a significantly greater degree than previous electoral losses. Trump posed as George Wallace in a Brioni suit. Voters in wonderful places like Wisconsin, Ohio, Pennsylvania and, yes, Kentucky, purposefully chose to discount and ignore the racism, bigotry, xenophobia and misogyny that was the true nerve center of his campaign in favor of some ill-defined change that Trump vowed to bring about with the snap of his fingers.

So much for American exceptionalism.

Trump wasn’t really all that subtle about his disdain for non-whites and women, transforming racist and sexist dog whistles into cat calls. From characterizing Latinos as rapists to depicting some women as pigs – not to mention his cute comments about grabbing women in the genitals – the New York billionaire nonetheless garnered sufficient support to win the White House by following the preces first offered W.C. Fields: “You can’t cheat an honest man. Never give a sucker an even break or smarten up a chump.’’

It was so obvious that former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who led the GOP ticket in 2012, nobly called him out on it during an interview aired by CNN in June.

“I don’t want to see trickle-down racism,” Romney told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer. “I don’t want to see a president of the United States saying things which change the character of the generations of Americans that are following. Presidents have an impact on the nature of our nation, and trickle-down racism, trickle-down bigotry, trickle-down misogyny, all these things are extraordinarily dangerous to the heart and character of America.”

America failed the test this election season, even though the most recent count has Clinton defeating Trump in the popular vote by about 1.2 million votes nationwide. Race, like it or not, is almost always the central theme in what ails America and this go-round the people had an opportunity to say enough of this nonsense, turn its collective back on prejudice and begin the process of moving forward in a country where white Christians already make up less than half of the population.

Instead it handed over the keys of the kingdom to an infamous grifter with no better sense of how to address the ills facing the United States than Peter Griffin. It was accomplished, various analysts and Trump supporters themselves proclaim, out of resentment over their treatment by the ruling class. As a result of that resentment, they were willing – even eager – to dismiss their candidate’s overt racism, which is as sad a commentary as anyone can make about a large portion of the American electorate.

Frank Luntz, the Republican advisor well known for conducting focus groups, told about a session conducted with Trump supporters way back in December 2015 in a piece for the Financial Times. He presciently noted that they were not just angry, “they want revenge.’’

“Mr. Trump has adroitly filled the vacuum of vitriol, establishing himself as the bold, brash, take-no-prisoners megaphone for the frustrated masses,’’ Luntz said. “They see him as the antidote to all that Mr. (President) Obama has made wrong with America. So to understand why millions love Mr. Trump so much, you have to take a step back and listen to why they hate Mr. Obama so much.’’

Obama, as you likely know, is America’s first African-American president.

“Some still believe the president is not Christian,’’ Luntz said. “Many believe he does not love America. And just about all of them think he does not reflect the values the country was built upon. Indeed, within this growing faction, Mr. Trump has license to say just about anything. As we have seen repeatedly, the more outrageous the accusation, the more receptive the ear.’’

Most, if not all, Trump voters insist they are not racists or misogynists. As noted in the Los Angeles Times, based on a series of interviews, his supporters viewed him as “an outsider unbeholden to a corrupt and rotten political system and brave enough to stake bold positions. They consider him fearless enough to defy the confines of political correctness. They view him as a vastly successful businessman, but possessing a common touch: a workingman’s billionaire.’’

Still, it must be asked: What bold positions did he stake out? A wall to prohibit the entry of unwanted brown people? Requiring Muslims to register with the government? And what if that willingness to “defy the confines of political correctness’’ results in the utterance of racist filth? Apparently, in the minds of some, it amounts to very little.

Even if all that is true – and most of it, it must be said, is malarkey – and we accept their word that they are not racists, these folks suborned racism and misogyny with their franchise. They knowingly accepted his bigotry in favor of these other qualities. And countenancing these attributes are not, and cannot be, in the American interest.

Sadly, along with the election results, last week marked the passing of the great Leonard Cohen at age 82. He wrote this, from “Everybody Knows,’’ in 1988:

Everybody knows that the war is over

Everybody knows the good guys lost

Everybody knows the fight was fixed

The poor stay poor, the rich get rich

That’s how it goes

Everybody knows

And that’s how it will remain under President Donald J. Trump.

Washington correspondent Bill Straub served 11 years as the Frankfort Bureau chief for The Kentucky Post. He also is the former White House/political correspondent for Scripps Howard News Service. A member of the Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame, he currently resides in Silver Spring, Maryland, and writes frequently about the federal government and politics. Email him at williamgstraub@gmail.com.