An expanded, revised version of this article is now available in the new book: The Media Versus the Apprentice: The Devil Mr. Trump.
Never had I seen two candidates demonized so much.
Many good people insulted Donald Trump. They called him liar, moron, pathological narcissist, con-man, phony, clown, carnival barker, tax-evader, fraud, demagogue, fascist, Nazi, sociopath, racist, bigot, xenophobe, friend of the KKK, Muslim hater. They called him Hitler. They also called him a tone-deaf, sexist, homophobic, misogynist, adulterer, and rapist who tried to normalize sexual aggression. He was despised as deranged, reckless, foul-mouthed, angry, rude, friend of mobsters, and tool of Russia. They complained that he mocked disabled people and wants to kill innocent babies of terrorists.
Similarly, many people insulted Hillary Clinton. They called her a sickly, compulsive criminal liar, corrupt, a neo-con, and dangerously secretive socialist. They also called her a rapist-enabler, slanderer of sexually assaulted women, an adulterer, and killer of unborn babies. They said she was an imperialist war hawk, weapons dealer for terrorists, that she also sold uranium to Russia, and caused the death of countless Muslims in the Middle East. They called her “Hitlery.” They said she stole millions in donations for the poorest people of Haiti, and was a friend of the Gambino Mafia family. They complained she was a Wal-Mart board member, puppet of large corporations, Big Oil, member of the evil oligarchy, and a shill of Wall Street and Goldman Sachs.
Many of these awful stories were agitated by the media. Accusations lacking evidence were sold under the principle of interpreting Hillary’s words, and especially Trump’s words, in the worst possible ways. Claims that had not been decided in courts of law were treated as gruesome facts.
When Trump won, I felt bad to see many people, my friends, literally suffering that he won. One of my closest friends kept posting his worries on Facebook: that trains and “boxcars” will deport Hispanics like us to concentration camps.
As a history professor, I wish I could do something to convince people that Trump is not Hitler, just as Hillary isn’t so bad either.
In truth, Republicans and Democrats are more similar than the press usually admits. Example: just some years ago Trump was pro-choice, lavished praise on Hillary Clinton, donated five times to her campaign for Senate, and he insisted that the economy does better under the Democrats.
In 2008, President George W. Bush approved a $700 billion bailout for banks that created the financial crisis. Senators Clinton and Barack Obama supported it.
Campaigning for president, Obama shamed Bush for doubling the national debt: “irresponsible” and “unpatriotic.” But years later, Obama too doubled it.
Obama complained about the wars in the Middle East. Eight years later Obama still presides over wars in the Middle East.
Liberals are horrified that Trump wants to “build a wall along the southern border.” Yet I never saw a single newscaster say the simple truth: Donald Trump wants to improve the fence and walls that were constructed during Obama’s administration, a barrier that already spans almost 700 miles and for which both Hillary and Obama voted. Trump wants to extend it by 300 miles, while leaving the remaining 1,000 miles along the Mexico border with no wall.
For me, the existing structure is incredibly long. The fence/wall is seven times the length of my home country, Puerto Rico.
Most of my students, at UT Austin, don’t know that this incredibly long fence/wall already exists. However, one of my students is foreign, she went to high school in France. She told us that, to graduate from high school in France, as part of a final exam, students are required to draw the wall that already exists between Mexico and the U.S. Even that it goes into the ocean.
Like Bernie Sanders, Trump wanted to repeal the law that enables corporations to donate staggering sums to political campaigns. Both of them rejected super PACs during the primaries. Like Sanders, Trump wants to stop wasting so much money in wars in the Middle East.
Since people believed many horrible accusations against Trump, they suffer by thinking that millions of people voted in favor of racism, xenophobia, sexism, etc. Imagine if Hillary had won.
We need patience and empathy when we hear our political opponents. They’ve got valid concerns. They’re not as bad as they think we are.
An expanded, revised version of this article is now available in the new book: The Media Versus the Apprentice: The Devil Mr. Trump.
Alberto A. Martinez is a professor of History at the University of Texas at Austin.
Next, Chapter 3: How the Media used Trump to insult Mexicans
Versions of this op-ed were published in Arizona Republic (AZ), The Coloradoan (CO), DelawareOnline (DE), Iowa City Press-Citizen (IA), Louisville Courier Journal (KY), Springfield News-Leader (MO), Star Gazette (NY), Cincinnati Enquirer (OH), Knoxville News Sentinel (TN), Corpus Christi Caller Times (TX), Texas Perspectives (TX), Waco Tribune Herald (TX), Burlington Free Press (VT), Green Bay Press Gazette (WI), and the Wausau Daily Herald (WI).
The wall detais have to be dupported. Two years into the administration we have seen that there is no such detail about a wall, not a fence.
The repeal (or efforts todo so) and the acts of the ICE and the separation of children (that had to be halted because public outrage) far demonstrates that the fears of many were not ill funded.
Yet, the author mixes “many people said…” with the actual news reports. I saw no news reports calling Hillary a sex offender.