N o v e m b e r
2 o 1 6 .
Donald J. Trumps triumf för 4 händelserika år sedan, erfor jag på nordamerikansk mark, kalifornisk ort. I närliggande San Francisco utbröt en orkan av protester - men hos lilla Fairfax var tonen i desto mer tolerant variant; skällande - visserligen så - men även optimistiskt nyfiken inför en framtid annalkande sedan till synes bruten status quo.
»This paper (Pacific Sun no.46) says: ..the white nationalist administration that comes to power on January 2o.
- is that so?«»
»Trump is a nazi!«
»How is he a nazi; what has he said?«
»Well, I don't know much about it..«
»But you know that he is a nazi?«
Svarta pjäser & vita pjäser; strid på strategibräde dominerad av svart, i vår bar. Schackkoncentration varvat med televisionsögon, den kvällning vilken kom att vara republikansk dimridås gryning; Donald Trumps seger över valurnorna & Hillary Clinton (samt - icke att förglömma - envar elektkandidat i skymundan i brus).
Belägen på nattmörk - syrseorkester - veranda i Woodland, när resultatet delgavs; röd cirkels man - leendet malligt. Stor del av partispektaklet beskådades dock på bar i Fairfax, California Republic. Lokalbefolkningen berättade om deras syn på det amerikanska politiska systemet - & specifikt valcirkusen 2o16.
KORRUPTION,
sade the lion's share. En stoltserade med I VOTED-knapp nålad i spetsdraperingen, hon en kvinna vem när novembersol än sken berättade att hon hade röstat på Jill Stein - ty värderingsmässig genklang - men det sades även att hennes tilltro till hederliga resultat var krakelerad.
Den unga kloka fann det även bekymrande att svåra sociala stigman förhindrade ärlig debatt, & exemplifierade med beskådad 'argumentation' där någon först tycktes öppna upp för transparens med ett uttalande att människor ej ska hymla med vem som får rösten, utan stolt stå för det. När denne replikerades 'I voted for Trump' besvarades ur aggression: 'Why are you even on my Facebook?!'
»It's the end of the world!« sade somliga. »It's interesting times«, sade andra - däribland jag. I mun på varandra sade vi, att oavsett vad en tycker om den vulgära buffeln till karl så fick etablissemanget (till synes, & om ej dockmästare, ändock chockerat folk & fä tillbedjande) sig en jävla känga, & åt detta kunde vi ej annat göra än applådera; mer roade än oroade, ty stag.nation i gungning.
It's a pendulum.
Jenna.
»Han är pedofil!« sade kvinna vid baren, när natt var över & dygn fortskred. Man vid baren viftade bort det; »Nej, det är han inte.« Hennes ögon häpet stora: »Det har skrivits många artiklar om det.« »Herregud«, sade han, vars ton häpet skrockande. Skärm visade en av dessa artiklar, där den unga anklagande benämndes 'Bombshell'; skvallerbyttabingbång-vokabulär.
Den peruanske invid oss sade, ur eftertänksamhetens tyst mullrande stämma, att kandidaterna var av detsamma skrot & korn: VEM, var inte viktigt; vinnaren ändock densamme. Vi samspråkade ämnet myten om neutrala lilla Sverige & rikesöverskridande Panama-fifflet. Han var medveten, & besmyckad av klarröd juvel om hals.
16116. FINANCIAL DISTRICT i San Francisco.
“..Trump’s victory was such a surprise because the elites of this country have grown out of touch with the nation they live in. In Charles Murray’s book Coming Apart, he describes the rise in America over the 5O years of a new upper class that increasingly lives in a bubble. This upper class, less than 5% of the nation as a whole, holds positions that allow them to make the decisions about how the rest of America lives. They are CEOs & top executives, heads of nonprofits, top lawyers & judges, executives & editors who determine how the news will be covered, heads of TV networks & movie studios, top academics & scholars, heads of federal bureaucracies, & politicians.”
“..Since 1975, Western Illinois University has held a mock presidental election that includes thousands of students from many schools. Thus far, the mock election has 1OO% accurately picked the next president. But in 2o15, the university students voted overwhelmingly for Bernie Sanders. Does that mean they like liberals like Clinton or outsiders like Trump?”
“Fast forward to November 2O2O & consider the following scenario: Despite the dire warnings, in some quarters voters have warmed to the white nationalist administration, especially in rural & suburban California, where the president didn’t in the end deport half the state’s workforce. Trump is now campaigning with a new push to make good on his 2o16 pledge to flip a few big-blue states red, & he might just pull it off. The not-normal has been fully normalized with the help of an agog & intimidated mainstream media eager to weaponize the Trumpian celebrity quotient into ratings - & the California Republican Party is on the rebound, with 1994’s disastrous anti-immigrant Prop 187 an ever-distant memory to voters.”
“It was a historic campaign - between a woman who happened to be the most qualified person who ever ran for president & a man who has never held public office before. The pettiness & viciousness of the campaign has left many of us feeling exhausted & more cynikal than ever.”
“In response to Trump’s election, Board of Education Vice President Shamann Walton said at the school board meeting Tuesday night that ‘we are on the brink of history repeating itself’. Walton said he know of undocumented immigrants & Muslims who now live in fear & has spoken to holocaust survivors. ‘In order for us to avoid all of that darkness in all of our too recent history, we cannot sit idly by & pretend that this is not hurtful’, Walton said. The lesson plan includes a clip of political pundit Michael Moore speaking about Trump on Democracy Now! & readings like W.E.B. Dubois on race in the 19th century.”
“Globalization, urbanization, & income polarization have gutted the middle class & pushed those with an education to higher income brackets in the cities. Those without expensive diplomas fish in an ever-shrinking pool of blue-collar jobs. Those trends are reflected in social gerrymandering that has seen Americans segregate themselves politically by moving to communities where people live & think like they do. Bill Bishop’s book The Big Sort: Why the Clustering of Like Minded America is Tearing Us Apart revealed how communities have grown increasingly red or blue across much of America. The result is primaries that produces candidates positioned deeper in the ideological end zones. At the same time, media outlets like MSNBC & Fox News have taken strong partisan positions (on the left & right, respectively) to carve out niche audiences.”