In the past 48 hours, as the initial collective shock of his election has begun wearing off, a momentous opposition to Donald Trump has begun to coalesce. There may be plenty of articles about the Democratic Party in disarray, but I am seeing far more signs of an immense progressive movement symbolically strapping on its boxing gloves and getting back in the ring after a knockout was prematurely called. A lot of this initial energy seems driven by the way Trump, based on his campaign behavior and rhetoric, symbolizes and portends an anti-woman, anti-immigrant, anti-LGBQT wave. Already we are seeing signs that these fears are being realized, as incidents reflective of these sentiments are being reported around the country, which in turn is going to further feed the anti-Trump momentum -- as well it should.
But here is some cautionary advice I'd like to offer at this early point. First, the fact that there is some subset of the population whose latent anti-Americanism (for this is what you call behavior that is antithetical to American norms of civility and mutual respect) has been emboldened by Trump's election means that we are entering a troubling new phase of American politics and society. It is not too much to say that a more widespread movement to demonize minority groups in the U.S., particularly Latinos, African-Americans, and immigrants, in the name of rescuing the American economy from moochers, job-stealers, etc., is becoming more and more a real possibility, in large part because Trump has legitimized these attitudes by endorsing them as a major party candidate. I can think of few more dangerous possibilities in American politics than this development: it would (further) split us along racial lines, commit the unpardonable sin of scapegoating fellow victims of our dire economic situation as its causes, divide those who ultimately have economic common cause (e.g., working-class whites and working-class African-Americans), and distract everyone from the underlying issue - an economic system that has evolved to serve the needs of only its uppermost reaches. Whether it's an active part of Trump's strategy at this point, or more in the way of a toxic byproduct of his campaign, it needs to be confronted unambiguously and head-on.
The danger is this: to attack Trump over catalyzing these reactionary developments, but in a way that fails to also acknowledge the predominant reasons he won this election - that he validated the real economic hardship affecting great swathes of our country and promised (if only vaguely) to do something about it - runs the risk of playing into Trump's hands. By appearing to validate an anti-American mentality by seeming to dismiss rock-solid voter concerns, or by seeming to subordinate these economic concerns to the rights of easily-denigrated Others, a response that solely emphasizes a defense of the vulnerable could end up seeming to prove these noxious people's point. Short version: If most Trump voters supported Trump because he promised to improve the economy, and the opposition to Trump does not acknowledge those underlying economic fears, and simply reduces those voters to racist caricatures, then it runs the risk not just of failing, but of feeding into the cycle of resentment and scapegoating. A few additional points to throw in here: a lot of people who voted for Obama voted for Trump this time; not every Trump voter is a racist; and there is a huge difference for the health of our society between someone having latent racist or misogynist attitudes, and someone who feels emboldened to openly denigrate or attack minority groups or women.
A specific point of danger - there is a deep and unsettling primal cunning in the right's targeting of undocumented immigrants, in that they are not citizens and are indeed in this country illegally. While defending these people from harassment and family-shattering deportation is in accordance with humane, liberal values, we have to acknowledge the political risk involved. There is some degree of truth to the Trumpian notion that illegal immigrants have taken American jobs, and for an anti-Trump movement to seem to care more about non-citizens' rights than the rights of American citizens to be gainfully employed is dangerous territory. Rightly or wrongly, we are on firmer ground defending the rights of American citizens than defending those who are not.
So my recommendation at this point is to engage in a sort of political ju-jitsu, along the following lines: to the degree that Donald Trump proceeds in a way that promotes economic equality (whether through increased infrastructure spending or renegotiated, fairer trade deals), Democrats should push for more, and point to any shortcomings as evidence that the Republican Party is still beholden to the 1%, even if Donald Trump is making a feeble show of pretending otherwise. And to the degree that Donald Trump spends his energy on anything other than promoting a fairer economic system, Democrats must hammer him mercilessly as abandoning the wishes of all those who voted for him. If Donald Trump continues to demonize minority or other vulnerable groups, he needs to be called out for distracting the American people from the real economic challenges we have. To circle back to my point in the paragraph above - criticism of un-American values needs to be constantly linked with how these un-American values are just a way to distract us from the grotesque economic injustice tearing apart and tearing down our country. Just as Trump seeks to divide and conquer, the pro-democracy response needs at all times to be holistic and focused like a laser on the ultimate cause of our woes - our unfair economic system.
Though we're entering a period of great danger for American values, make no mistake that Trump, the Republican Party, and the forces of the right have put themselves in even greater danger - of being consigned to political oblivion as the great majority of Americans stand up for justice and equality. Trump is a deeply flawed and fragile vessel for these ugly waves of white supremacism and anti-Americanism, and a dubious champion of policies that would create real wealth for all. We need to be playing the long game here, and use Trump's manifold vulnerabilities to delegitimize the Republicans as a political party, even as we work to democratize the Democrats and wrench them free of corporate dollars and corporate agendas.
