Today was the traditional Labor Day parade in a R+11 suburb that is somewhat wealthy and almost all white, which means it is the heart of Trumpland. It has been a hellish two years of seeing the big flags displayed and animosity towards “those people” and hearing about the building the wall.
The Labor Day Parade is usually a bit of a freak-show to me (I go to to watch my child in the high school band). But today — every direction I looked — Not a single MAGA hat or other Trump T-shirt/bumper sticker/display of any kind!! What is going on here? There are usually hats, flags, and a**holes yelling trump stuff, bumper stickers and decorated pickup trucks. Also, a competition to be the most extreme “thank you for your service” person for the parading veterans and firemen (you have to see this to believe it really happens!)
Even the politicians (all conservative, of course) were upbeat and actually seemed pleasant. What happened to the scowling, “lock ‘em up”, “build a wall”, “what part of illegal don’t you understand?” that used to be a feature of public discourse around here?
Does this mean the hatred of “others” is over? Heck no! But it does imply that nobody wants to publicly identify with a certain person. Maybe this explains Joe Biden polling 16 points ahead (and everyone else in a double digit lead).