The anger that Donald Trump is tapping into. Why we shouldn't dismiss him as a candidate.

Donald Trump speaking at CPAC. Gage Skidmore.

To many, the rise of Trump in this years election cycle has been baffling. After all, he is more of a celebrity then a politician. He has no government experience and has spent most of his time as a businessman. He's brash, offensive and has ideas that are far from what is expected of a presidential candidate. Many people consider him a joke. I don't. Not anymore.

Why? He's tapping into something real. There is a huge portion of the electorate that is furious with the way things are going and in Trump they have a candidate that echos what they believe. Before I say anything else, I have to say this post is more about why Trump is popular, not my on opinions of him or an agreement with his supporters. To be sure, I think he does have some decent points, but I am not a Trump supporter, and he is not someone I want to vote for. He's moved up slightly in my ratings, but he is still very far from being my first, second, or even third choice. If anyone wants to misconstrue my words as an endorsement of him, then you are wrong. You can explain an argument without supporting it fully. Read this as a "steelman" argument, where I try to give the strongest interpretation of Trumps popularity. 

Censorship in America: Political Correctness Gone Mad.

We live in interesting times. Witch hunts are the norm now, not the exception. So many people have been banished from polite society, made unemployable or had their lives destroyed just because they said or did something politically dangerous. And these days, the political left are the arbiters of what is acceptable and what isn't. They have the media, mobs of people on social media and the support of celebrities and other "important" people. There is no defense and no matter what you have done, if the left doesn't like it you are at risk of being labeled politically incorrect and thus having your life ruined in a paroxysm of political hysteria. 

George Zimmerman and Darren Wilson committed the unforgivable crime of trying to survive a violent encounter with a member of a different race. Tim Hunt said something obviously anti-sexist but was willfully misinterpreted to be sexist and lost almost everything. Brendan Eich, the worst sinner of all, supported the traditional definition of marriage and put his money where his mouth was and lost his job, got death threats and had a huge boycott movement against him.

All of these people were cast out from society for challenging the left in someway. Their cases were made to fit a narrative. Anyone who isn't a far left radical is a sexist, racist, homophobic bigot, who deserves nothing but scorn. Forget live and let live, now is the time where anyone who doesn't go along with the left should be cast out humanity forever, with no chance of forgiveness. To the current incarnation  of the left, there is nothing wrong with censoring arguments and utterly destroying the people that disagree with you. To even argue that doing so is wrong, or counterproductive, is to invite the same treatment.

That's the world we live in now. A world where one small comment can damn you forever. A world where fighting to save your life during a violent encounter is an act of racism. A world where any deviation from the left will be met with censorship. Not government censorship mind you, but private censorship. Anyone who speaks their mind these days aren't going to be sent to the gulag, but they will have twitter campaigns aimed at them, their jobs threatened and their lives ruined. At this point it's clear that the left is no longer interested in winning hearts and minds. Instead they want to punish anyone who is different then them. 

Obviously this is not a desirable state of affairs for anyone that has a disagreement with the radical left. Conservative, libertarian, or even not sufficiently liberal, all can agree that the status quo is unacceptable. You should be able criticize President Obama without being accused of hating all black people. You should also be able disagree with some concepts and arguments of feminism without being accused of hating all women. And someone who follows the John Kasich interpretation of gay marriage, against it but willing to follow the supreme court and even go to a gay wedding, should not be denounced as a homophobe. Many would even say that racist, sexist and homophobic speech should always be protected, even if it means that peoples feelings get hurt. I've gone on record saying that places like reddit should not ban speech they find offensive, and I think there is a large undercurrent of people across the political spectrum that agree that non-government censorship and social media harassment campaigns are not a good thing. 

Enter Trump. Donald Trump has always spoken his mind. He is known for making controversial statements and there is no doubt that he has been accused of being a terrible person on more then one occasion by the usual suspects. But he still stands. Anyone else, having been accused of racism, sexism or any of the other "-isms" would have been kicked out of politics, lost their income and be forced to live on the outskirts of society. Not Trump.

For whatever reason, Trump seems to be immune to leftist shamming tactics. Perhaps it is his wealth. After all, you can't go after someone's job when they are self employed and have more money then they know what to do with. It's also possible that shamming tactics don't work on people that don't have shame. Where Bernie Sanders and Martin O'Malley backed down and apologized for having the temerity of not supporting the "black lives matter" movement wholeheartedly, Trump has never backed down. They tried to tar him as a racist, and it didn't work. Calling him a sexist? Also a failure. Even accusing him of the ultimate sin, not supporting the veterans, did nothing. He's immune. 

That's the kind of power many of us want in a president. Not a quivering wimp that will back down whenever someone utters the "r" or "s" word. Instead we want someone who will laugh it off, call the people accusing him idiots and moving on to actual issues without missing a beat. At this point I don't think it even matters if Trump is sexist or racist, people are just sick of political correctness at an existential level. I don't know if Trump will survive all the attacks, but even if he isn't elected he is showing people the correct way to respond to leftist shaming tactics. Double down, ignore and never compromising what you believe. And most importantly of all, electing Trump could finally sap the power of the leftist outrage brigade and cause their power to fade into bad memories of a worse time.

Immigration, the Defining Issue of the 21st Century:

I've said on this blog before that the mass movement of people taking place right now will be what history remembers of the 21st century for. All across the world millions of people are desperately trying to get into wealthier countries to avoid having to stay in their poorer or unstable ones. It's a huge issue and one that deserves a debate. Right now there is no debate.

Don't like people breaking the law to enter your country being given special treatment and perks over the people that came here legally? Racist. Really, really racist. Think there is something wrong with importing another country's underclass when your own country's underclass is not being taken care of? R-A-C-I-S-T, that's spells racist and that's what you are. Think that it's not a good idea to throw the gates open to people that have cultural and political beliefs that are in conflict with your countries? You couldn't BE more racist! 

Obviously, we live in a world where being opposed to unrestricted immigration is politically dangerous. It's also, to this point, been politically impossible to argue against it in America unless you are on the fringe. Both parties are very supportive of immigration. All of them love the fact that the rich get richer and wages get lower when you import thousands of people, because both parties depend on the businesses that benefit from immigration. Big business thrives when the cost of labor is low and any idiot realizes that the stereotype of a racist redneck screaming "dey turk our jerbs!" has a point. It's better for a business to pay an illegal migrant under the table then it is to pay a legal citizen a fair wage with decent benefits. Both parties also want to court the large and important Latino vote, and both parties are deluded enough to think that immigration is the way to get more votes in the future. 

But there is a massive difference between what the party heads and big businesses want and what the actual people want. I'd go as far to say that the difference between what the parties want and what the people wants is larger here then it is on any other issue. The rich don't have to deal with the consequences of immigration, the poor do. The rich don't compete with immigrants, legal or otherwise, but the lower, middle and underclass aren't so lucky. It's common sense that bringing in migrants to undercut the costs of the American worker will result in lower wages for everyone. Sure, prices will be lower due to lower labor costs, but wages will be much lower as well. The big companies benefit, while the little guys suffer. 

I'm probably not the first person to make this analogy and I don't agree with it fully, but picture yourself on the Titanic. You are one of the lucky ones, you made it to the lifeboat. Your lifeboat is full and only has enough supplies for the people on board. Let anyone else on board and you may end up starving before you get rescued, or they could even overload to the boat causing everyone to die. A few people on board think there is enough room to let a couple of people on. You do some math in your head and agree, two more people can get on. You come across a group of five people, enough to cross the drowning threshold if you brought them all on, but if you take two you should be fine. You try to tell them that you can't take them all, but they are a family and want to stick together. You point out that you can't save them all, and that it isn't your fault that you were lucky enough to make it to the lifeboat and that you don't actually have an obligation to let in anyone if it is a threat to your life. You get outvoted, everyone gets on board and of course the boat sinks and everyone dies. That's the state of immigration today. 

There are also cultural problems as well. People tend to want to live next to people that are like them. Sure, some of that is racism, but I think even the most racist person would admit that they would have less of a problem with a member of a different race if they had similar values and spoke the same language. Immigrants today are not encouraged to assimilate to the greater culture like they once were. Today, very few people in America are racist against the Irish, Italians or even most Asians because at this point they have all assimilated to the greater culture so much that you don't think of them as anything other then Americans. So far, many Hispanic migrants have not, even after several generations. Again, this part is not my argument, I don't have a problem with Hispanic culture or Hispanic people, but many people do and it's impossible to understand the situation if you can't admit that yes people will have a problem with people that don't speak their language or share their culture. 

There is a huge sense of frustration for people that want to restrict immigration. Nobody listens to them even though they make up the base of the Republican party, a decent percent of independents and a sizable faction of the Democratic party. In their world, they know no one that wants illegals to be treated better then legal immigrants, no one that thinks that massive legal immigration doesn't hurt them and no one that wants their livelyhood threatened by a worker from another country that will accept a lower wage then they currently have. Anytime they bring it up, they get denounced by the people that they voted for as racists who just don't love people enough. Even if it means that you end up worse off, you still have to accept the status quo. After all, you don't have anyone else you can vote for.

Once again, enter Trump. He is saying exactly the opposite. He knows what the huge propitiation of people know intuitively, no matter what the media says. Illegal immigration hurts America. Even legal immigration hurts. And the way both parties are treating the issue is completely cynical. It just goes to show how deeply in the big business pocket both parties are. Trump knows that it hurts Americans and he isn't afraid to say what everyone is thinking. And it's about time someone stood up.

Even if you think that Trump's plans are impossible or stupid you have to admit that he's the only one really talking about the issue in a way that makes it clear that further immigration isn't a good idea. He's the only one saying that we should be deporting illegals. And even if he can't fulfill his promises, if he is elected there is a much better chance of some action being taken on the issue. He's shifting the Overton Window, and it's possible if he is elected that something will finally be done about immigration.

My Thoughts:

I think the people that support Trump are probably right about some of this. Clearly more then it is politically safe to admit. As for me, my personal beliefs are much closer to the first section then the second. I'm on record as saying that the left has gone insane with these politically motivated witch hunts and if Trump can help reign that it, then it's at least worth considering him. Even if I have to compromise my other beliefs. The stakes are high enough. The status quo can't continue. I certainly understand the desire to support him if it means giving the middle finger to anyone who uses accusations of racism and sexism as blunt instruments to batter anyone who disagrees with the left. Political correctness has to end and Trump may be the man to stop it. 

I'm a lot less supportive of the immigration argument. I get and agree with the economic arguments. I can't comprehend how undercutting the wages of the lower, middle and underclass by importing a bunch of people is a good thing. The fact that we are even having this conversation means that Trump should be commended for pushing this issue to the forefront. Both parties should be ashamed for ignoring the issue for so long and ignoring the huge portions of their constituency that care about the issue.

But I have always been uncomfortable with the anti-Hispanic parts of the anti-immigrant argument. It's very possible to be against immigration while not being prejudiced against Hispanics. But so many people just... aren't. That really turns me off of the movement because I actually like Hispanics. I've worked with, been friends with and generally let them into my life. I don't actually think that their culture is all that different then ours and once you get past the language barrier, they aren't all that different then us. Yes, I hate that they vote for the Democrats, but that alone shouldn't be enough to be prejudiced against them. Sure some of them are criminals, but it's not like the situation in Europe where they are letting in waves of people that have nothing in common with the people living there already.  As long as I get the feeling that Trump cares more about not letting "those people" in then not letting anyone in, regardless of where they are from, I'm going to be uncomfortable. 

Still, it's important for everyone to understand why Trump is popular. He's tapping into something real and to ignore him would be doing a major disservice to to the people of this country and the integrity of our elections. Even if you disagree with him on every point you have to admit that he is on the same wavelength as many people in this country. Ignore him at your own peril, because no matter what, he is framing the debate and giving voice to a lot of people that were previously being ignored.