by Talmadge Jarratee
Donald Trump’s blighted white men, spawn of the “greatest generation,” who endured our worst economic Depression and World War II, are the prime pawns in his quest for the presidency. Trump’s blighted white men are the most spoiled, petulant and fortunate generation in American history, the inheritors of free education, an awesome safety net, powerful unions, opportunity for employment in both blue- and white-collar industries, and the overall advantage of being white instead of black so that they were guaranteed automatic employment. Trump’s blighted white men are vigorously on board with his insane and cruel attacks on Mexican immigrants. Trump’s blighted white men, who would in most cases deny with vehemence that they are racists, fulminate against a black president named Obama because he wants to allow “a bunch of undocumented Mexicans” in the country and tax the rich “so unemployed lazy niggers can live on welfare,” even if these white men in almost all cases have everything they ever wanted and need nothing more because they lived in an era where everything fell into their hands.
Trump’s blighted white men are the most spoiled, petulant and fortunate generation in American history.
Many of Trump’s blighted white men, and perhaps the most vitriolic, are those fat flabby red-faced golfers in ball caps and white mustaches who congregate at gyms or coffee shops to vent the poison built up in their craws because of Obama and complain that the government is the enemy, as declared by Ronald Reagan, their idol. The government provided this crew with just about everything the New Deal and the Great Society created, only to turn on it after they became flush. The trouble with Trump’s blighted white men is that they have it so good and are so bored in retirement that they need something to bitch about, something to feel persecuted about, something to hate, especially those who grew up in an era where everybody on their side of the tracks was white, and the blacks and browns lived across those tracks in another world they did not know or want to know and feared as they would aliens in the same xenophobic way they now do immigrants.
These days, Trump’s blighted white men claim the country has been taken away from them, which means that from the beginning they felt the country was strictly theirs, belonging only to white people who controlled the government and the money and tossed crumbs to minorities. Suddenly, today, Trump’s blighted white men are surrounded by blacks, Mexicans, Central Americans, Asians of every stripe, Indians, and mixes of all these nationalities, and it is all confusing and depressing to see their once powerful populace shrivel as the dreaded Muslims and immigrant criminals close in on them and scare the shit out of them to the point they might in the future need armed security in their neighborhoods or at their gated communities, not to mention their arsenals of guns.
Truth is, Trump’s blighted white men, who claim THEY are the great American work ethic and symbols of the great American dream and responsible for making this the greatest, godliest country in the world, are recipients of huge pensions and inheritances and a culture that enabled them to reap great rewards while not working half as hard as their parents and ancestors or any of the hated and dreaded immigrants, and especially the Mexicans, who work so hard and are so hungry that the blighted white men, whose children and grandchildren spend most of their time either talking on cell phones or fidgeting with ipads and seem to accept minorities, homosexuals, transsexuals, same sex marriage, abortion and immigrants, have become perplexed and apoplectic.
Truth is, Trump’s blighted white men are either the most uninformed or stupid people in the country, so much so they are prime prey for demagogues who usually prey on the poor and desperate but in this case have the greatest scapegoat in the American history of demagogues—Barack Obama. Trump’s blighted white men are in a frenzy over Obama, even if the country and their finances were in shambles because of the boob they voted for, George Bush, and are now flush again and out of danger and the country is much better off as they express their hatred of government and the man responsible for bailing their asses out.
I am 72 and grew up with this lot. They all seemed so content and happy with their cars and girls and trendy clothing and jobs at the local diner or department store or Disneyland, in my case. Who would have thought such a cheerful, care-free generation of young males would turn into this intolerant, up-tight, stingy, glum, mean-spirited legion of malcontents. One of my best friends, fellow jock who taught high school English and coached baseball in Orange County, has had a falling out with all his fellow coaches and golfing partners and career-long friends, all Republicans. He told me a story of visiting an old football friend in a small town in Wyoming, where he refused to bring up guns and abortion and the government, just so they could get along and talk old times.
“We were driving along, and this guy, he’s the mayor, and he sees a rabbit on the side of the road, he pulls over, jumps out, shoots and kills the rabbit, just leaves it there, jumps back in his truck and says, ‘that’s for fucking Obama, the motherfucker ain’t taking away MY guns.”
Almost all of Trump’s blighted White men, who will end up following him to hell, deserve the hell he just might produce, and are leaving a legacy they ought to be ashamed of. §
Talmadge Jarratee writes about politics and occasional sketches of San Francisco and, because of his views, may soon be homeless. For more on Talmadge, visit dellfranklin.com
