Wait. Which Party Is Imploding?
I think a big factor for a lot of people is the belief that Trump is sticking up for people who feel they have been treated with contempt. Going all the back to 2008 with Obama’s infamous “they cling to guns or religion” line (at a fund-raiser in San Francisco, no less), there has been a tangible sense that this president cares more about virtually anyone else than he does about working-class people, who have been absolutely hammered by the recession.
A psychologist once told me that most human conflict stems from poorly concealed contempt. Research shows that contempt is the best predictor of divorce. And I think it is part of what has sparked the Trump movement.
.. That sense of contempt had been brewing for a long time, but it didn’t have much of a formal platform because the leading Democrat was still Bill Clinton, who isn’t a contemptuous sort of person and has working-class roots. But a cultural cold war was in the works and that turned it hot.
.. Sad as it makes me, I have to acknowledge your chortling rights. Mrs. Clinton has a long list of accomplishments and talents that make her an excellent candidate. But she knew when she left the State Department that she’d be running for president and the fact that she took millions and millions of dollars in speaking fees from hedge funds and investment banks is incomprehensible.