A new, more subtle defense of Trump is starting. It’s not in full blown mode yet, but the groundwork is being laid and we need to be prepared.
Simply put, it’s going to be an attempt to politely shrug off any opposition to Trump as too early, without merit or simply unhinged. It’s the weaponizing of simply scoffing at those protesting Trump. It already started in the conservative media, by branding any opposition to trump as “Trump Derangement Syndrome” (TDS). In fairness, the “Derangement Syndrome” is always used on the opposition party and their supporters in America. There was Obama Derangement Syndrome and Bush Derangement Syndrome, but with Trump, this line of attack will have extra oomph given how early it is in the administration. Further, there are times when complaints about a president are not based in reality, the people upset at Obama for being a secret Muslim Kenyan for example.
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Eventually, this line of thinking will work its way into moderate and even left wing media. Journalists who are unaffected by Trump will think the size and ferocity of the opposition are disproportionate to what Trump has done and begin referring to it as TDS. As will the liberal journalists who are afraid of being labeled as such and start taking unwarranted swipes at the protesters, claiming they’re merely overacting or giving in to conspiracy theories. Third, there are the pundits who will understand the need to oppose him, but worry about it being “too much” and how we should just roll over and wait until AFTER he does something horrible.
Finally, there will be the cynics, who continue to think opposition to Trump is mere tribalism and that, despite everything, both parties are just as bad. They will make comparisons to how Obama used a lot of executive orders when he was elected and how the right didn’t treat Obama or his cabinet like this when he took office in 2009.
This is false equivalence and we need to be ready with a rebuttal. Most politicians obfuscate their darker motives, telling few if any people. Trump announced to the world his desire for a Muslim ban, stealing Iraqi oil, a crackdown on voting rights and so much more. Point one will be to vigorously contend that we are taking Trump to his word about all of the horrible things he proposed.
Next, we point out how he has proven his desires match his words. Nominating Jeff Sessions, a man too racist in the 1980′s to become a federal judge, as the Attorney General. The travel ban, asking Giuliani how to make a Muslim ban legal, putting Bannon on the national security council (without even reading the order that did it!) that wall and more. To say nothing of the rampant antisemitism among so many of his supporters and advisers. As Jamelle Bouie points out, Trump ran on an open campaign of white nationalism and his actions since taking office have only reinforced his seriousness. The days of “take him seriously, not literally” are over (not that they ever should have existed, but sadly they did).
Third, in regards to how much more opposition his cabinet picks have received compared to Obama’s, point out the unique atrociousness of nearly every cabinet nominee. Betsy Devos, an education secretary who doesn’t seem to know anything about education, Pudzer, a thin-skinned labor secretary who ran a fast food empire which repeatedly broke labor laws. Ben Carson a Housing and Urban Development nominee who doesn’t have any background in Housing affairs and brought so many of his answers back to his skill in brain surgery and of course, Sessions the racist leading the justice department (and in charge of civil rights enforcement), as mentioned above. There is greater opposition to trump’s nominees because so many of them are uniquely terrible compared to previous nominees of any administration.
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Finally, in regards to the number of executive orders, that’s irrelevant, it’s what the orders DO that matters. It doesn’t matter how travel would be restricted, what matters is that it was, it doesn’t matter how he wanted to build the wall, through a law or executive order, it’s the wall that matters. Both parties are NOT the same, Trump should prove it more than anything. It’s time to call out that cynical, edgelord “they’re both equally bad” shit out for the willful ignorance it is.