February 21, 2017 by David K. Sutton
Trump’s Shrinking Malignancy
It might not feel like it right now, but President Donald Trump is a symptom of a shrinking malignancy in America. This is what we must remember as we move forward. In hindsight we should have expected a backlash in response to Barack Obama’s historic presidency, especially in a nation with much work to do on race relations. That malignancy wasn’t going to fade away without a fight.
It’s a malignancy of mind not body. A virulence of faulty logic, abominable ideas, and wicked intolerance. And Donald Trump is nothing more than a manifestation, an expression, of this malevolence. But America is truly better than this even if it seems a bit overwhelming at the moment.
It is unfortunate the social, political, and economic regression we will likely face the next four years, but we must not believe this is the new normal. Because this is still the same country that elected and re-elected Barack Obama. This past election was a punch to the gut, but nothing fundamentally changed about America. Donald Trump’s election did nothing to change the social and demographic currents, except possibly to make them stronger.
As political pundits talk about how Democrats failed to appeal to the rural white working-class, let’s not forget three million more Americans voted for the Democratic presidential candidate in 2016. Let’s also not forget down-ballot Democratic candidates received more combined votes than down-ballot Republican candidates, again by millions. The election was lost because of the Electoral College, in just three states, to the tune of less than one-hundred-thousand votes. In a nation of over two-hundred million voting-age citizens, it’s nearly a rounding error.
This is all to say, don’t be discouraged. If you are against Donald Trump, you are on the right side of history, even if that history still must be written. That means you need to be part of the dialog now and in the future. In the first month of Trump’s presidency I’ve lost count of all the protests. That’s great! Let’s keep it up! But let’s also remember to show up where it really counts, the voting booth. When the 2018 midterm election rolls around, don’t forget about that punch to the gut only two years earlier.
Photo by Thomas Hawk via Flickr
