Feeling Betrayed

(A Letter to a Conservative Friend)

By JAMES EGGERT

First a confession: I’m looking forward to the day when I wake up in the morning and, thankfully, do not see Donald Trump on the TV, or feel duty-bound to read his recent tweets. On the day that he retires, I sincerely wish him a less stressful life, whether playing golf on one of his seventeen golf courses or, better yet, spending quality time with his nine grandchildren.

I am, however, bewildered as to why my conservative friends continue to choose to support his presidency after two plus years. They explain their feelings by saying something like the following:

“I really don’t like Trump’s tweets and I know he doesn’t always tell the truth … but I trust him.”

So, I ask: “Why are you still choosing vulgarity over decency?” I thought conservatives valued that special human quality called “character.” Along the same line, I asked them: “would you like your son, for example, to take on Trump-like characteristics or make Trump his role-model? Or would you like your daughter to marry “a Trump?” Few of my conservative friends would answer these questions with an enthusiastic “yes!” Again, doesn’t character matter?

Secondly, why do you support a president who is erratic, who revels in chaos (the “wrecking ball president”), and who is governed primarily by emotion? Personally, I prefer stability over chaos.

Third, “why are you supporting incompetence over competence?” Should the US Environmental Protection Agency, for example, be headed by a coal industry lobbyist, or the Department of Housing and Urban Development by a brain surgeon? And what about all the indictments, convictions and even jail time for Trump’s associates? Why do conservatives tolerate corruption?” I don’t get it.

Finally, consider all the Republicans cheering over Trump’s $2 trillion tax cut. It is already adding to the public debt. It will also — over time — increase the gap between America’s haves and have-nots. The Tax Policy Center calculated that by 2027, 83% of the benefits will be going to the top 1%! I doubt if this is what you wanted when you voted Republican.

And yet I am beginning to hear some faint rumblings in the hinterland. One of my relatives, a life-time Democrat, confessed she voted for Donald Trump. “Why?” I asked.

It was because she had read so many terrible things about Hillary Clinton. Now she feels she was “hoodwinked.” Deeply regretting her vote, she’s haunted by the thought that she contributed to or was, as it were, co-responsible for today’s chaotic politics.

Next, consider the feelings of one of the many bankrupt dairy farmers in Wisconsin: “I feel betrayed” was the message. “Betrayed.” A powerful word!

So too for some of those blue-collar workers whose shut-down factory didn’t magically reopen. Likewise, a feeling of disappointment by suburban moms worried about their children’s future and some old folks (who voted for Trump) now beginning to be concerned about climate change and their grandchildren. And even some unhappiness from conservative Christians who were hoping for more honesty, decency, and genuine spiritual underpinnings in their president.

As time goes on, these rumblings may get louder and louder, and possibly balloon someday into a collective cry of: “yes, we feel betrayed!”

(See Paul Krugman’s New York Times June 17 op-ed, “Why Isn’t Trump a Real Populist? He seems determined to betray his base.”)

James Eggert is a retired economics professor at University of Wisconsin-Stout and is the author of “Meadowlark Economics: Exploring Values for a Sustainable Future.” (Revised 2015).

From The Progressive Populist, October 1, 2019

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