I respond to Don Robinson’s column of March 22 (“Trump presides over nation in profound crisis”).
One need not look beyond the Democrat’s nominee, Hillary Clinton, to understand why such an unlikely figure as Donald Trump ever became president. The Democratic National Committee willfully undermined the insurgent candidacy of Bernie Sanders and the disillusionment that young people felt in this country merely confirmed to them that the system was “rigged,” as Clinton proved the inevitable candidate.
And while political candidates should be forgiven the occasional slip of the tongue, Clinton’s “basket of deplorables” remark confirmed suspicions that she and her party saw the political demographic heretofore known as the “little guy” with undisguised contempt. When the Democrats ceased to be the party of the “little guy,” they ceased to be relevant.
The Democrats became the party of George Clooney and Lady Gaga and hoodwinked the American public (along with mainstream Republicans) into a globalist agenda that many see as undermining their values and way of life. This is, in the end, a knock-down, drag-out fight over “nationalism” and “globalism” and the virtues of this “new world order” have never been adequately explained to the American public. Trump saw this resentment and confusion and capitalized on it, however disingenuously.
The Democrats, in the end, were handcuffed to a political millstone that simply would not go away. “She persisted” as they say, through the decades and various political offices, all the while remaining in the public eye.
Now we are left with, as Robinson puts it, a Twittering “would-be autocrat” in the White House. Robinson’s admonition to “be careful what you pray for” should have been heeded during the seemingly endless Democratic primary season that now seems eons ago.
Stephen Hartwell
Easthampton