The Last Eight Days

You are not imagining this, I have actually returned.  Why, you ask?  We'll save that for a future post.  Like just about about every other American of voting age, nothing else seems to matter except the current election.  I no longer yell at the TV watching the NFL, but last week's presidential debate resulted in closing the windows on a warm October night else the neighbors get alarmed.  There's much at stake this year, and while I am not a man prone to hyperbole, I do believe America is steering into the abyss.  Depending on the outcome, we very well face generational impacts to the American Ideal.  

I have spent many hours trying to understand what makes someone support Trump.  Is it financial?  Is it populism?  Is it the rhetoric?  Is it nativism?  Is it anti-globalism?  Is it the bravado?  Is it the Apprentice?  I believe it is a mix of all of the above driven by two emotions:  Fear and Greed.  

1) Biden will raise our taxes.  Hate to rain on your parade, but under three Trump budgets we have run trillion dollar deficits in 2018 and 2019 and THREE Trillion Dollar deficit  in 2020.  That's right, we were running trillion $ deficits during what Trump called the greatest economy of all time, and I warned it was dangerous to run such deficits during economic expansion as government needs to keep its powder dry for when it really needs to increase spending.  This is unsustainable and eventually taxes will have to go up as we haven't seen this level of debt accumulation since WWII.  

2) Fear mongering wrapped in populism.  In 2016 Trump adroitly tapped into the fear and loathing in many Americans that the global economy had left them behind and opportunities were falling into the hands of foreigners and immigrants.  America has a long history of blaming the outsider and the foreigner during difficult economic times.  Throughout American history immigrants from the four corners of the earth, Jews, Catholics, Muslims, etc. have been subjected to racism with peaks coinciding with economic uncertainty.  According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, there was a 55% increase in identified white nationalist groups from 2017 to 2019.  This fear-based populism represents Trump's base: white non-college educated men.

3) He does the yelling for you.  Ripping a page from the Fox News playbook, Trump is masterful at igniting the culture war.  Attacking athletes who take a knee during the anthem and peaceful demonstrators while not condemning systemic racism (yes, it is real).  Unsubstantiated claims your Second Amendment rights will be violated by the Democrats, for 8 years during the Obama administration these outrageous claims were broadcast through the NRA bullhorn, and yet Trumpists fall for it again and again.  It is no coincidence that Fox News is the primary news source for Trump followers.

4) Never show vulnerability aka bullshit and bravado goes a long way.  The leader who never accepts responsibility, blames others for his failures, takes credit for others' successes, claims victimhood, and everything is a zero sum game will attract like-minded followers.  Vulnerability is weakness in the eyes of this cohort and we already know from the Tea Party, (remember them?), compromise is a four letter word.  When word leaked that Trump was going to make a deal with Pelosi and Schumer in 2019 to keep the government open he walked it back when his followers were not pleased.  He can't even condemn white supremacy.

This is not an exhaustive list, and for my first post in > 5 years, hey give me a break.  I do not expect anything I write to make a difference in the November 3rd outcome.  It just feels good to get this off my chest.  By the way, if you're really interested in learning about leadership during a crisis, pick up Erik Larson's The Splendid and the Vile.  The profile of Churchill during his first year as Prime Minister is brilliant.  Spoiler alert, he doesn't visit a church with a bible for a photo-op.