Donald Trump is a lot of things — Un-American isn’t one of them

Share:

By: Jesse Mechanic, Writer, Editor-in-chief of TheOvergrown.com

We crafted Donald Trump, and we paved his golden path to victory. He’s a by-product of capitalism and our fame-first culture. He’s ours whether we like it or not.

Many of the insults lobbed at President Trump by the opposition are quite accurate: he’s unpolished, he’s brash, he’s thin-skinned and petulant; he’s a shamelessly narcissistic separatist. And he’s either being controlled by or is a white nationalist. There’s one claim often lobbed in his direction, however, that doesn’t really hold water. Some say Trump is un-American, that he’s an inaccurate representation of our country. And while he may be an unflattering reflection of America, there’s no disputing the fact that he’s ours. To have and to hold. We crafted Donald Trump, and we paved his golden path to victory. He’s a direct by-product of egocentric capitalism and a fame-first culture.

The first few weeks of the Trump administration have been calamitous by any measure. There was the Spicer intro/press berating, the subsequent alternative facts debacle, a series of contentious executive orders including the Muslim ban which was recently halted by a federal judge, phone arguments with allies, the stupefying Bowling Green Massacre lie, 50 lawsuits, and large-scale demonstrations around the world. Plus, he’s still tweeting.

Many denizens of our apple-pie patriarchy think Trump’s ego and his particular brand of isolationist fear-mongering are un-American—they’re not. And therein lies the bigger problem.

Trump’s persona was formed through tabloid culture and solidified by capitalism, greed, and fame. We’ve always had an obsession with the rich and famous in this country, but a shift occurred recently. At some point in the last decade, fame became an entity unto itself. Notoriety was suddenly untethered from the entities that precipitate it. Being known for being known became a distinct, self-sustaining goal.

Fame is no longer an extension of success, it is the success.

We watch shows devoid of art, we put people on pedestals for aesthetics, for being anti-intellectual disasters, we revel in the vapid insanity of the rich, we ignore data and turn our backs on science, we value notoriety over substance.

These are things Americans do and love.

Now many of you reading this are thinking to yourself, “I’m not one of those Americans. I don’t do any of those things.” Perhaps you don’t. But whether you’re an active participant or not doesn’t change the fact that these are central tenants of American culture in 2017.

It’s also important that we remain keenly aware that America was not some sunshine-soaked, free-love utopia before Trump took office. We are a nation founded on slavery and the slaughter of natives. There are many dark periods of American history we’d love to scrub from the record. And yes, we’ve come a long way in certain regards, but we still have a government that tends to abuse its power at home and abroad, and we still have pervasive and systemic issues regarding race and class. America has far more years under its belt functioning as a white nationalist nation than anything else.

We can’t afford to simply paint Donald Trump as un-American. Pushing this narrative sidesteps the overarching issues that extend far beyond the hateful rhetoric of a buffoonish despot-in-training. As a culture, we are not innocent in all this; we don’t deserve to be let off the hook.

Oxford Dictionaries word of the year in 2016 was post-truth. This is the world Donald Trump thrives within. He’s been in the public eye for decades functioning as a generic and cartoonish rich guy (the pompous demeanor, skyscrapers with his name garishly plastered on the side, all gold everything—that hair) and he never had much time for facts when they weren’t directly complimentary. He created a character and used that character to fuel a successful reality series. We watched it, we gave him attention and thus, money. We tuned in to watch him fire people—escapism via shameless capitalism. We have a reality TV star for a president in part because we’re obsessed with reality TV.

Yes, Hillary Clinton was a very flawed candidate and the democratic party thoroughly mismanaged her campaign and ignored large swaths of the country. But Trump’s rise has a lot more to it than that. If Trump tried to run in 2012, he would’ve never won the primary. The stage wasn’t set for him yet.

Our news organizations gave him a platform when he began to spew his racist, entirely unfounded birtherism claims, which was, coincidentally, the birth of his political career. And part of the reason networks gave him the airtime was because they thought we would watch. And we did. As a collective, we were interested in what he had to say. We shouldn’t have been, but we were, that’s the problem. Many of us thought of Donald Trump as a ridiculous creature far before he ran for president, but we still gave him attention. The media bowed to his fame and consumers of media tuned in—we all bought tickets to the circus.

This public’s obsession with Kanye West is no different. We used to pay attention to him because his music was incredible, now we pay attention to him because he’s a catastrophe of fame.

By ignoring our role in creating a vacuum wherein-which Trump could be sucked up from the bowels of reality TV to assume the most powerful office in existence, we are doing ourselves a disservice. This white nationalist administration is attempting to roll back the clock; they are a regressive regime, and America knows all about regressive regimes. Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan isn’t new. Reagan used it in 1980.

We’ve been here before. The achievements of JFK and LBJ significantly altered this country. With significant change comes significant push-back. A side-effect of progression is regression—so, Richard Nixon was elected. He ran a campaign against social programs and centered around law and order and toughness. Sound familiar? His presidency was one of the most disastrous in U.S. history—sans some particularly impressive environmental policies.

And yes, Trump’s immigration executive order (accurately referred to as a Muslim ban by many in the media and the man himself) violates the first amendment and thus, could be considered un-American. But a recent poll found that 48% of American’s support the ban, while only 41% oppose it.

That’s America folks.

As much as we may loathe to admit it, Donald Trump is a distinctly American brand. He’s an egomaniacal capitalist, and America loves egomaniacal capitalists.

You can say that Trump is a lunatic, that he’s childish and unprofessional, that’s he’s a tyrant or a narcissist. That’s fine. It’s certainly not inaccurate.

But Trump is only un-American if you hold a view of our country that is blindly idealistic.

We live in a country that thought/ thinks a Donald Trump presidency was/is a good idea. We are shamelessly nationalistic, self-centered and obsessed with fame. We need to pull away from this. We need to get back to substance. We need to make America read and think again.

The problem of Donald Trump is much bigger than Donald Trump.

Trump is un-American compared to the America many of us want to live in.

But we’ve never actually been that America.

HUFFINGTON POST

Share:

Comments

59 responses to “Donald Trump is a lot of things — Un-American isn’t one of them”

  1. “We crafted Donald Trump, and we paved his golden path to victory. He’s a by-product of capitalism and our fame-first culture. He’s ours whether we like it or not.”
    Too bad !! I guess America will regret his election for ever .

    1. The refugee crises created Trump. Who created the refugee crisis. Zionist Movement “Oded Yinon Plan”. The reast is blablabla…
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yinon_Plan

      1. “AIPAC Website Scrubs Two-state Solution From Talking Points”

        Though ‘two-state solution’ remains on other parts of the pro-Israel lobby’s site, educational section on peace process dropped reference, Buzzfeed reports.
        http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/1.753203

        1. How many orabian failed “states” you want, not enough?

        1. ‘blablabla look at the mirror’? History of Greater Syria..Abbasid Caliphate (750–1258, 1261–1517)[edit].You have something wrong maybe dementia. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e53c2a371bcceff4851b925b07a20794d6b48dc917b8f03ff7692166cd216b81.jpg

          1. +maybe dementia+ You are not my doctor, i’m not yours

      2. The sad thing is that Oded Yinon, an affable full-time granddad, has no idea that he has such a devoted fan in Montreal. 🙂

    2. “He’s a by-product of capitalism and our fame-first culture.”, the capitalistic billionaire is a product of capitalism….????

      1. Trump is an over reaction to an under reaction. The decision on which is worse is yet to be seen.

        1. You Know it, you anti-Christ created IT.

        2. Trump does not know himself what he wants, he changes his mind constantly to avoid losing his own ‘shine’ as the ‘power’ hero for his militant supporters….
          https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/bb346d6325934e2d22e71ce7236e017266bdf9798a10927f1688050514cb3866.jpg
          This ONE is a disaster for the entire world.

          1. The world is a disaster before Trump. I didn’t vote for the guy and quite frankly I’m scared of Trump. Then again, the US and the World is awake and listening and scrambling to understand what he’s going to do. In the business world, it’s a common tactic to shake an unsuccessful business.

          2. You are not the only one that is scared of Trump.

            It was the American “white trush” that placed the vote for the guy.

            I am hoping that this ‘Twitter president’ will be impiched in the coming weeks.

            I hate the meetings with the American tourists bragging about the president that will make ‘America grate again’….

          3. After Trump was elected he became the fifth elected President that did not win the popular vote. He could become the fifth President impeached. Then again it’s been less than a month into his Presidency.

    3. Trump was crafted by the Zionist transfer of population to Europe and US.

  2. The US government has decided to provide humanitarian aid to North Korea in connection with the September 2016 floods, which killed more than 130 people http://lenta.ru/news/2017/02/11/aid/

  3. Iran feared that Trump will publish the secret parts of nuclear treaty
    Iran says IAEA responsible for keeping documents confidential http://newsru.co.il/mideast/14feb2017/iran_206.html

    1. As a diplomatic gesture, the US should contract Dominos Pizza and deliver enough pizza for the whole crew.

        1. Very funny .. distracts from the thread..

          “Aipak book talking points on two states solution From Talking Points”
          http://www.aipac.org/learn/issues/issue-display?issueid={8DB2B03A-3F5F-4A92-BED7-3CFDE9C87609}

          “AIPAC Website Scrubs Two-state Solution From Talking Points”
          Though ‘two-state solution’ remains on other parts of the pro-Israel lobby’s site, educational section on peace process dropped reference, Buzzfeed reports.
          http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/1.753203

          1. Your comment distracts from the conversation. Then again that’s all you know how to do.

          2. When the ZeroRudy stand up comic has no answer he goes Zzzzzzzzzzzz…

          3. When I use the zzzzz, it simply means you or others are boring trying to spew the same bovine waste that has been rebuked, debunked or totally rendered to unimportant trash.

          4. Zzzzzzz, the sound of a mosquito who avoids answering truth, except entertainment using worn out stupid jokes to divert attention from serious debate. You just admitted to be here to rebuke, but have never ‘rebuked’ anything on YaLiban, only fanatic Hasbara talking points. History for you starts in 1948, revisionist History Bible myths.. and blatant Lies!

            ” HISTORICAL IGNORANCE ALLOWS HASBARA TO THRIVE ”
            “He who controls the past controls the present; he who controls the present controls the future.” G. Orwell famously wrote in his story 1984. It is of course true. And ignorance of the past, fostered for this very reason, allows “Israel’s” propaganda, it calls ‘hasbara‘ to thrive and take root in the minds of the ignorant. One of the arguments that its hasbarists make in order to assert their mythical ‘claim’ on Palestine, is that “Palestinians are neither Canaanites nor Phoenicians. These don’t exist anymore and ‘Palestinians’ (in scare/insult quotes) are merely ‘Arabs’ and therefore migrants from Arabia who came to the area for economic reasons only after European Jews arrived and made the desert bloom.” Of course maps and old photographs and history itself show that this is patently false and base propaganda designed to deny peoplehood to Palestinians and take advantage of myths the Jews wrote for THEMSELVES.”

          5. It’s the common symbol of sleep or boredom. Turning into an issue of now the Canaanites is your worthless attempt of turning anything, I mean anything, into a racist rant.

          6. Look who’s racist

          7. Are YOU going to deny the Canaanites now? Racist rant works both ways moustique zzzz

          8. Can You write Phoenician, fool?

            ????‏????‏????‏????‏????‏ ????‏????‏????‏????‏????‏????‏

          9. Falestinians invented in KGB in 1964

          10. That will be enough Zionist vs.. holy land fake Khazarian
            “He who controls the past controls the present; he who controls the present controls the future.” G. Orwell
            Thousands of Religious Jews Protested RFR’s Aby Rosen’s Plan to Build a Luxury Hotel Destroying Ancient Jewish Gravesite
            http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/thousands-of-religious-jews-protested-rfrs-aby-rosens-plan-to-build-a-luxury-hotel-destroying-ancient-jewish-gravesite-106394

          11. you are mental masturbating (on jews in particular)

          12. vs HebAlba • 5 hours ago
            you are mental masturbating (on jews in particular)(key word mental)
            http://www.prnewswire.com/news… Sorry, we couldn’t find that page
            • Reply•Share ›
            http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/thousands-of-religious-jews-protested-rfrs-aby-rosens-plan-to-build-a-luxury-hotel-destroying-ancient-jewish-gravesite-106394153.html

          13. And who invented KGB fake vs Bolshevik devil
            KGB origins date back to 1917 when Felix Dzerzhisky created the Cheka (Chrezvychainaya Komissiya po Borbe s Kontrrevolutsiey i Sabotazhem –
            Extraordinary Commission for Combating Counter-Revolutions and Sabotage).
            It was based upon the Tsarist Security forces and was destined to protect the national security of the young soviet State. Over the years it has changed names several times (from NKGB to MGB and then, in 1954.

          14. Falsetinian people Falsetinian state Soviet people soviet State CPSU KGB Hamas PLO

          15. Ain’t it ironic? The Jooz invent the Cheka/KGB, then the KGB invents the Palestinian people. I bet the Balastinians can be rightfully proud of having such parents. 🙂

          16. One of the arguments that its hasbarists make in order to assert their mythical ‘claim’ on Palestine, is that “Palestinians are neither Canaanites nor Phoenicians. These don’t exist anymore and ‘Palestinians’ (in scare/insult quotes) are merely ‘Arabs’ and therefore migrants from Arabia who came to the area for economic reasons only after European Jews arrived and made the desert bloom.”

            Funny you mention this. I was having a ‘discussion’ with someone on another site and he said exactly that – literally word by word. I didn’t understand at first and thought he was misinformed. When I brought up the U.N. source data for Palestinian land ownership in 1945 (that it was mostly owned by non-Jewish Palestinians); he called me all sorts of names, diverted the topic, turned the ‘discussion’ to a circus and left. Now I get it; thanks for sharing this.

          17. The HebAlbarsky will never understand it – this boring plague of never-ending copy and paste propaganda nonsense is unimportant trash.
            Then again that’s all that HebAlbarsky know how to do, completely disordered by the Zionist……

      1. You mean US should contact Pizzagate? Police Nab VIP Pedophile Connected to Clintons
        (Zionists always implicated in scandals)
        http://russia-insider.com/en/pizzagate-arrests-coming-police-nab-vip-pedophile-connected-clinton/ri18932

  4. A spokesman for the White House: Donald Trump expects from Russia that it will return Crimea to Ukraine http://newsru.co.il/world/14feb2017/crimea_0011.html

  5. ‘The Timeline of Michael Flynn’s Phone Call With Russia: Who Knew What, and When.
    Feb.14,2017

    https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/02/14/us/politics/flynn-call-russia-timeline.html

  6. Wednesday, February 15, bomb van, driven by a suicide bomber exploded in a busy street in a populated Shia area of Sadr City, north-east of the Iraqi capital

  7. U.S., Middle East Allies Explore Arab Military Coalition
    Potential alliance would share intelligence with Israel, with the goal of countering Iran’s influence
    https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-middle-east-allies-explore-arab-military-coalition-1487154600

  8. Trump has 3,643 websites that range from TrumpEmpire.com to TrumpFraud.org http://money.cnn.com/2017/02/20/technology/trump-websites/index.html

  9. S. Korean Assembly defense chief asks U.S. Senate to push for designation of N.K. as terror sponsor http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/national/2017/02/24/0301000000AEN20170224003300315.html

  10. Trump called CNN and the New York Times an anecdote https://lenta.ru/news/2017/02/25/trumpcnn/

  11. … [Trackback]

    […] Read More here on that Topic: yalibnan.com/2017/02/09/donald-trump-is-a-lot-of-things-un-american-isnt-one-of-them/ […]

  12. … [Trackback]

    […] Read More Information here to that Topic: yalibnan.com/2017/02/09/donald-trump-is-a-lot-of-things-un-american-isnt-one-of-them/ […]

  13. … [Trackback]

    […] Read More Information here to that Topic: yalibnan.com/2017/02/09/donald-trump-is-a-lot-of-things-un-american-isnt-one-of-them/ […]

Leave a Reply