Humankind Cannot Bear Very Much Reality

 

Humankind cannot bear very much reality.

--T.S. Eliot

One thing you can say for T.S. Eliot: He did make one very true observation about humankind's inability to deal with reality.

Actual Hard Times: Reality

But, of course, Eliot was writing in the wake of a horrific world war, when men with half their faces blown away were wandering the streets, when reality was hunger, outdoor plumbing, rampaging infectious diseases and truly hard times.

The really astonishing accomplishment of Donald Trump and Steve Bannon and Joe Rogan and Rush Limbaugh and all the Rupert Murdoch cabal is they have been able to turn a reasonably prosperous reality into a nightmarish landscape of pet eating Black immigrants, a mostly invisible invasion from the "shithole countries" (i.e. dark skinned countries) of rapists, thieves and murderers.

Despite the best economy since the 1960's, the millions who voted for Trump cannot abide the price of eggs. 

Here in New Hampshire, when you ask people about the big issues in the election you hear, "The Border," followed by "the economy."

What's Wrong With This Picture?

What border and what economy are they talking about you may ask. Most of the people I heard from had not seen an immigrant in Hampton, N.H. And about half of them were living in modest apartments, possibly in strained financial circumstances, but many were, by any measure, wealthy.

Out of 10,365 votes cast in our town, Trump lost by only 659 votes.  And he had no ground game. Not a single door knocker. Nobody driving voters to the polls. You could see Democrat canvassers in the streets every weekend and toward the end every day and nary a Trump door knocker. The only visible presence were Trumpies holding signs at Lafayette and Exeter, the main intersection, and not that often, and of course lawn signs all along the roads with simple one word messages: Trump: Safety/Kamala: Crime. 

The Trump campaign folks must have been laughing at the Harris campaign from the 20th century. By some invisible means, the Trump message got through to all those folks we spoke with who stood behind their screen doors and told us the Border was their main concern. 

And they all hate the government. The government steals their hard earned money (i.e. assesses taxes) and gives it to undeserving pet eaters.  The government is visible. 

When they have to pay $800 a month for some life preserving medication, that is not the government. The only face on that outrage is a sympathetic pharmacist who offers you a coupon for a month's free supply.

The fact is, Trump, Inc. sold over 51% of the nation on the idea that we have turned into a "shithole" country and it's all the government's fault and you can keep your government hands off my Social Security and Medicare.

The idea that democracy is just one long argument and nothing can get done and we are better off handing over everything to smart, rich guys like Elon Musk, Trump and other men who have fought their way to the top against all odds--never mind the fact they were born on third base--and they can do our thinking for us and we can lead our lives. 

It's pretty much the old scene from "Gone With the Wind," where Ashley and Scarlett look out over the fields worked by hundreds of slaves, and the world is in harmony and there are no arguments.

Keep It Simple

The slickest trick of all is Trump and his little band of conspirators regard their supporters with contempt, but they have convinced the contemptables it's Kamala and the Democrats who who hold them in contempt and it's the Republicans who have their backs.