He was certainly not the first to use such a slogan, including Democrat predecessors, but it resonated with many at the time owing to the incumbent President, Barack Obama. Obama, who often described his actions and decisions as “unprecedented,” had a truly unprecedented view of America for a President: he loathed it and loathed those who didn’t share in his loathing of America. These were the unsophisticated blue collar class, people who didn’t attend Ivy League universities and, to quote him from 2008, people who “...cling to guns or religion or antipathy toward people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.”
Obama defined arrogance and elitism. He didn’t engage and respect people, he lectured them. The Constitution was not a sacred document that established a democratic republic that provided checks and balances between the organs of government, and especially protected the minority from the whims of an often fickle majority, but a hindrance to his power. Hence, we heard his truly worrisome words from 2014 "I've got a pen and I've got a phone…,” a declaration that if Congress didn’t give him what he wanted, he would simply decree it. To him America and the Constitution were a cruel accident of history that allowed peons who didn’t attend elite private universities to do things like hold and express contrary opinions and, Heaven forbid, vote.
Obama was a creature and beneficiary of the privileged establishment and after eight years enough of the “clingers” had enough of his pomposity and, as we know, Trump won the 2016 election. It was fascinating to see the great intellects with their exquisite educations somehow not realize that insulting the electorate- the deplorables according to HRC- is not always an effective campaign strategy. Trump, loud-mouthed blowhard that he was (and is) appealed to people who felt the establishment, the entrenched bureaucracy and cultural powers at large, disregarded the interests of the country and the people solely to further their own wealth, power, and status. Trump was an anti-establishment populist who didn’t detest America and, while he brutally attacked specific enemies real or perceived, he didn’t mock and disdain huge swathes of Americans. He invoked an almost Reaganesque view of America, not an embarrassment that required perpetual apologies be given to despots and oligarchs around the world as propagated by Obama, but a country of greatness that accomplished great things.
In the rarefied air of the elite-controlled establishment, there are “certain things we do, and things we don’t do,” all part of a well-choreographed political and diplomatic dance, and woe unto those who don’t go along. The United Nations tap dance is an example. For decades the US was a major contributor to the UN Relief and Works Agency (for Palestinian refugees, the UNRWA). Much of this money was used to fund the government of the Gaza Strip, i.e. Hamas, which is committed to the destruction of Israel. The UN knows it was providing its name as a cover for Hamas, the US knows the UN is providing cover for Hamas, and the UN knows the US is pretending to support UN “relief” when everyone knows it benefits Hamas. Yes, Hamas periodically killed Jews, but that’s the price everyone was willing to pay for polite global diplomacy...that is until President Trump directed the US stop contributing to the UNRWA in 2018. To say this was an affront to the established world order is to trivialize the reaction: Trump was deemed a pariah, a monster. Not surprisingly, Biden restored funding soon after he took office. Moving on, in Oct. 2023 Hamas attacked Israel and slaughtered well over 1,000 Jews, and it was discovered that the UNRWA was complicit in the barbarism of Hamas. So here is a news headline from Jan, 2024: “More countries cut funding to UN agency after staffers accused of participating in Oct. 7 Hamas attack.” To be shocked by this would be analogous to being surprised the German government in the 1930’s to 1945 was one in the same as the Nazi party, but the global aristocracy believes what it wants, regardless of reality (see linked articles below).
A review by the Wall Street Journal revealed 23% of UNRWA male employees have ties to Hamas; of 12,000 UNRWA employees in Gaza, 1,200 have ties to Hamas or the Palestinian Islamic Jihad;
about 40% of UNRWA employees have close relatives who also have official ties to Hamas and other militant groups; and 12 employees (7 school teachers) had direct links to the massacres of the Jews on Oct. 7th.
Trump won the 2016 election, and so began the slow and relentless de facto coup/insurrection that he and the country endured throughout his term. We tend to think of coups and insurrections being led from people on the margins: the disgruntled colonel that has the loyalty of a handful of Army units or a demagogue who can incite enough supporters to make trouble. Generally there is some kind of plan, however ill-conceived, which traditionally involved forcibly taking control of some radio stations and street violence by people who were provided arms by the malefactors. In this case, however, it came from within and originated at the top of the entrenched bureaucracy and their allies, aka The Swamp: the highest levels of the Federal intelligence and law enforcement agencies, the Democrat party elite, the powers of academia, the establishment media, tech mega-corporations, among others.
Certainly there was plenty of denial and street riots and violence protesting Trump’s election, but the real players acted behind the scenes, not to do anything noble like defend integrity and democracy, but to protect the status quo that made them players. Hence we had the patently false “Russia collusion” narrative 24/7, the infamous FBI “insurance policy,” the Democrat political operatives who claimed they had “proof” of Trump’s malfeasance but were never willing to reveal it under oath, the hearings and investigations that yielded at worst incidental charges against peripheral actors, the ludicrous impeachment(s), the falsely obtained FISA warrants, and so on.
This continued throughout Trump’s entire term and perhaps the pinnacle of this coup from the top was the pre-2020 election Hunter Biden laptop lie: it had already been established that the infamous laptop was indeed Biden, Junior’s, full of debauchery, drug crimes and, most importantly, evidence of Daddy Biden’s corruption. It nevertheless was suppressed by "The Swamp” for fear it would help Trump be reelected. In fact, 51 intelligence “experts” signed a letter saying the laptop had all the earmarks of “Russian (dis)information," an outright and knowing act of deception against the American people. This could be argued as being the greatest election fraud conspiracy in American history, but what the heck, the insurrection from above worked, Biden, Senior was elected, and there were lots of corrupt, privileged, and powerful people patting themselves on the back and saying, “Well done, old boy.” They had convinced the electorate to “Trust us, go ahead and sign the contract, no need to bother reading it first.”
Ultimately Trump wasn’t really reviled for his policies or because he could be a pompous jackass (Obama defined that term and was beloved of the establishment). He was reviled because he was an outsider who threatened the entitlements of the elite establishment class, people who cling to the system that offers them perpetual power and wealth. Trump achieved something truly remarkable: in being relentlessly attacked by the opposition of the privileged, he actually became a sympathetic figure.
One of Obama’s refrains was “I got your back.” Even though it was a meaningless soundbite, I thought the last thing I wanted or needed was a spoiled and arrogant man-child to “have my back.” In a way, the upcoming election is between those who put their hopes and faith in faceless bureaucrats and party apparatchiks, and those who have faith and confidence in themselves. Between people whose values and desires in life consist of convenience, streaming TV, the latest Iphone with 5G networks, being told what to think, and frappuccinos, and those who value independence of thought, personal freedom and responsibility, understand the concept of inherent rights, and respect them for all. It’s certainly possible the former will prevail.
A while ago a gentleman from Kenya asked if I wanted Trump to be the Republican candidate for President again, and I answered definitely not, but I wouldn’t hesitate to vote for him if he was.
Links to articles about Hamas/UNRWA ties, and at the bottom an article excoriating Trump for cutting off UNRWA funding in 2018:
Alfred
We have to defund the "Cool Aid"...
Kurt Smith
Too many vote for a personality and smooth talker. Mean tweets “AAHHH”!!! I prefer a growing economy, secure borders, energy independence, a smoother exit from Afghanistan where we didn’t lose 13 members of our military, along with $83 million in military equipment. Which in turn emboldened the communists of the world to flex their muscles, since we, the USA, have lost our cajones. If we don’t regain our country in this next election, I fear we may not be able to get back to the America we used to know.
Kurt Smith
I didn’t mean Joebama is a smooth talker. Him being able to connect enough words together to make a sentence is astonishing in itself. The get Trump out of the way crowd have and will continue to do whatever they can get away with to keep him out of the White House.