There are in this great nation perhaps tens of thousands of so-called political commentators and analysts. Over the last few years virtually every one of them has offered his or her opinion regarding Donald Trump, his candidacy and his presidency. Based on all available evidence the overwhelming majority of these individuals should probably be looking for alternative forms of employment.
Amongst commentators on the left all analysis effectively ends with the conclusion that Donald Trump is in every imaginable way "bad." This of course greatly simplifies the task of writing commentary. Simply open your standard leftist dictionary of bad names to call people who don't agree with you and string together as many adjectives as possible.
Utilizing this method commentators conclude that Donald Trump, a commercial real estate magnate from New York City who was until relatively recently not even a member of the Republican Party or politically active, is a racist, homophobic, chauvinistic, predatory, fascist, white supremacist. That there does not appear to be any evidence to support any of these accusations despite the fact that the man has been in the public eye for decades does not appear to matter one wit.
Analysis and commentary from conservative commentators is at least as bad. Most of these individuals derided Donald Trump's chances of being elected, and, if they did not work openly against him, at least predicted that he had no chance whatsoever of being elected president. Now that Donald Trump is in the White House the commentary from these quarters continues to be just as misguided and erroneous.
Some of this commentary concludes simply that President Trump is a catastrophic failure and effectively politically irrelevant. Some of it posits that in office Trump will be magically transformed into a typical Republican President pursuing the same policies with which the Republican Party has been identified for decades. What both of these strands of analysis share is the conclusion that in some sense Donald Trump's election is an aberration, that its significance revolves around him as an individual not the issues and that it will in the long term mean nothing of consequence for the alignment of political forces in this country.
The truth is dramatically different. The truth is that Donald Trump was elected, because he tapped into a populist movement the roots of which lie more in Ross Perot's failed campaigns in 1992 and 1996 than they do in the Republican Party’s official platform. The truth is that, in fact, much of what this populist movement wants is completely contrary to what has been accepted Republican dogma.
There may in fact be white nationalists, racists, and other fringe elements who view Donald Trump's election as an opportunity to pursue their own repulsive agendas. That is not why most people supported Donald Trump. They supported Donald Trump because of decades of failed trade policy that have hollowed out the economy of this country. They supported Donald Trump because real wages in this country have been stagnant since 1973. They supported Donald Trump because under the Affordable Care Act it is increasingly the middle class in this country that can no longer afford healthcare. They supported Donald Trump because it is their sons and daughters who are fighting the endless wars in which we have mired ourselves abroad and their sons and daughters who are coming home to Dover Air Force Base to be buried. They supported Donald Trump, because it is their tax dollars that are being drained away to pay the cost of uncontrolled illegal immigration.
They voted for Donald Trump not because of caustic comments about Carly Fiorina or tweets about Miss Universe at 3 o’clock in the morning but despite these things. They voted for him because he gave voice to concerns that had been growing for decades in this country.
The people who comprise this populist movement are legion and they are swelling in numbers. The election of Judge Moore in Alabama, despite the opposition of Donald Trump himself, is yet another signal that the strength of this movement is growing. It is a movement of individuals who demand more from their government and who are disgusted with the failures of the political establishment in both major parties.
We have not seen the end of this movement. We have not seen its peak. This wave is still gathering strength.
Charles "Sam" Faddis is a Veteran, retired CIA operations officer, Assistant Attorney general (Wash.) and published author. With degrees from The Johns Hopkins University and the University of Maryland Law School, he is a Senior Contributing Editor for Homeland Security Today, contributor to sofrep.com, Newsmax, and The Hill among others. He regularly appears on many networks as a national security and counter-terrorism expert. Sam is the author of "Beyond Repair: The Decline And Fall Of The CIA" and "Willful Neglect: The Dangerous Illusion Of Homeland Security. "To read more of his reports, Click Here Now.
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