Why the Hate? The American Left vs. Donald Trump
A recent article posted by the conservative magazine, Chronicles, addresses the long-festering issue of how and why the American left “hates” former Donald Trump so much, noting that “(t)he hatred goes beyond the man’s style, his mean words, and his policies. CNN’s Anderson Cooper provided a clue, when, on the evening of Jan. 6, he sarcastically suggested that the rally-goers would return that night to their Marriott hotels and their Olive Garden restaurants — the implication being that only low-class deplorables would dine at the Olive Garden.”
Wherever your politics dwell, it would be interesting, even edifying, to hear why you believe the left “hates” Trump as much as they seem to.
In terms of the presidency, I got the sense that many viewed Trump’s election win as a step backward in terms of historical progress, if you will, where electing a white male as seemingly regressive as Trump connoted an “epic u-turn” in terms of American identity. Especially when viewed from the context of the country having just previously voted in a young black man, which had been understood by at least the left as a “step in the right/progressive direction.” (Never mind the drone war escalation.)
As awful of a candidate as Hillary Clinton might have indeed been, her win would have at least kept the U.S. on the path of historical/political progress. With Trump, it’s believed, the country took leaps backward — which of course made the prospect of voting for Biden much more palatable, as the election of this old white dotard could be regarded as a step forward in the right/progressive direction. And just as Trump was regarded by the religious right as an “imperfect vessel” for the pro-life movement, Biden is the secular left’s “imperfect vessel” to implement socio-politico and economic change.
We’ll see about that….
