Donald Trump and the Prisoner of Social Democracy Part 1

I remember sharing a picture at some point during the 2012 general election cycle. It was a profile headshot of Hillary Clinton with “2016” in an alternating red, white, and blue in a large font towards the bottom of the image. I remember thinking this is going to be the next president of the United States.

2015 came around and as expected Secretary Clinton announced her candidacy. I was an early adopter though not without controversy. I thought to myself there isn’t going to be any other candidate that will seriously challenge her. Though we had some significant differences regarding policy, it seemed that she would make the most sense as there was no other candidate with any reasonable expectation to best her during the primary season.

Enter Bernie Sanders.

I mean. Come on. This guy was everything a lot of us on the young left have wanted for a long long time but never thought we would see. I don’t think I’ve seen a campaign stay more on message in my relatively few years of paying attention to politics. He’s probably the closest thing to all the ideas we naively projected onto Barack Obama eight years ago. Bernie Sanders has been an outstanding representative of the people – placing a megaphone to voices often drowned out by money, influence, and conventional wisdom. His ads are inspiring. Like. Really inspiring. I believe he has been the only candidate in this race that has maintained an unwavering voice of support for working class people. I think he has been an incredibly important figure in our nation’s political history and a major influence on the Democratic Party for years to come. Unfortunately, though Bernie Sanders is a lot of things, the Democratic Party’s Nominee for President of the United States isn’t going to be one of them.

Bernie Sanders is that summer fling that ends up lasting longer than it should have and when it finally ends both parties end up walking away with hurt feelings. Bernie Sanders is that Chinese food that was absolutely amazing the night you ordered it but every time you go back to it you know you’re engaging in some risky business. Bernie Sanders is that awesome new spot that plays really fun oldies and all kinds of different music from different eras and has a great happy hour but then in just a few short months is overrun with too many people that are just way more hip than you and exclusively plays trap music (lookin at you Brick House). While the intarwebs is an amazing hub of all the world’s knowledge, social media and Senator Sanders’ supporters have become a volatile combination – one that my anecdotal experience, though likely unrepresentative, has left a really bad taste in my mouth. Particularly as a black dude who at least likes to think of himself as some sort of feminist.

I never paid much attention to the Bernie Bro narrative. Largely because it was just that: a narrative. But time and time again the sheer vitriol levied against Secretary Clinton left me awe-struck. To the point where now I just make up horrible things no “real American” would ever do and blame Hillary for funzies. My favorite so far has been, “Well Hillary Clinton did punch George Washington in the balls that one time”. What’s worse – the racial dynamic that has played out during this election cycle has inspired a range of emotions from empowered to heart broken. It’s annoying enough to have your political identity hijacked and defined by what demographic you belong to, but it is another thing entirely to go from attempting to defend Senator Sanders from leftist Black activists and Clinton supporters alike to finally understanding what this was all about after experiencing it myself.

After the democratic primary in New York I swiftly (and perhaps shortsightedly) took to social media to declare Sanders’ leftist anti-establishment insurgency officially over. And just as I did a little over a year ago I have once again shifted to make clear my allegiance to Secretary Clinton. Several acquaintances appropriately pointed out there was still much to achieve for the Sanders campaign and dropping out just then might be premature. This is probably correct. Yet the refusal to acknowledge just how unlikely it is that Sanders will be the nominee feels eerily reminiscent of the sort of lock step mentality that grips the most zealous far right tea partier. This sort of dogmatic hive mind mentality that has overtaken his most fervent fans is just as pervasive on the left as it is on the right if not worse. Aren’t we supposed to be the reasonable ones? Perhaps the most bothersome element of Sanders and his supporters is the cult of personality generated around his candidacy. The messianic nature that has been attributed to him by the die-hards is at best eye-roll worthy and at worst vomit inducing. Speaking ill of Senator Sanders on social media is nearly as dangerous as speaking ill of Beyonce. Don’t try either at home kids.

But, time heals all wounds. Or so they say. And though this race has had its ugly moments in actuality it has been a relatively mild one and more substantive than I’ve cared to give it credit for. At least as these things tend to go. I expect Secretary Clinton will continue steadfastly to the convention and be named the nominee despite threats from the Sanders camp. I’ve told myself she’s going to be OK. I want to believe she’s going to be OK.

Enter Donald Trump.