Trump and the 38 Percent of Islamophobes

The easiest thing to write is “Donald Trump is a fascist.” Maybe he is, although he may prefer to call himself an “American Patriot.” We could say, “Trump is xenophobic” and let the readers decide the details. He wants to close the U.S. border to Muslims, and we still don’t know if he would intern those who are still in the U.S within concentration camps like Japanese civilians during World War II. Not only is he Islamophobic – he doesn’t like Hispanics either. Two racial phobias combined should turn their author into an unpresentable xenophobe.

The problem is that this unpresentable xenophobe is running in elections that affect us all, despite not having voting rights. His name is Mr. Trump, and he’s aiming to be the next president of the United States. To make this happen, he is seeking the GOP nomination through a long process called the presidential primaries that begins in January, which has more show than business, alongside the Democratic Party hopefuls. This lengthy process will produce the official candidates to replace Obama in January 2017. If we had to bet, we would say that the Democrat Hillary Clinton will face Republican Marco Rubio, the promising young conservative. It would be Rubio’s trump card to compete against Clinton following Jeb Bush’s momentary fiasco.

The polls are worrisome, especially at a time when they shouldn’t be of so much concern: 57 percent of those surveyed rejected Trump’s proposal compared to the 25 percent who agreed with him, according to a survey carried out by the broadcaster NBC and the Wall Street Journal. If we consider the Republican vote, it only gets worse: 42 percent support him, and 39 percent of declared Republican primary voters oppose him while 38 percent support him. The latter figure is the same as the number of Islamophobes in the United States.

In another survey carried out by The New York Times, two-thirds of Americans expressed concern over the millionaire’s political drift. Fox News, a network aligned with the far right, has denounced the idea of closing the borders to Muslims as nonsense and believes it would be detrimental to the fight against terrorism. The other candidates also feel the same way, some without really believing it. It was only a few months ago that the Republicans stopped saying what they really thought, in favor of saying what they thought would win votes. They are completely baffled by Trump.

Foul-Mouthed Millionaire

The foul-mouthed millionaire is still in the lead for the Republican vote in Iowa and New Hampshire, which are the first steps in the primaries, or ballot box voting, and the caucuses, which hold the assemblies. Support for Ted Cruz, the candidate in second, has doubled. These early votes are not pivotal, despite the efforts of journalists to mystify New Hampshire as a maker of presidents. Rather, they set the trend instead of deciding, so they start to rule out candidates. Trump will survive this cut because his fanatical discourse grabs the public’s attention and he has money. Hillary Clinton is having trouble with Bernie Sanders who is four points ahead in New Hampshire. Sanders is the furthest to the left that you can be in the U.S. without getting labeled as anti-establishment.

I would recommend this Twitter account: @TheTweetofGod. This Twitter user, masquerading as god, is excellent, and this week wrote: “Donald Trump is a huge asshole who is ahead in the polls because millions and millions of Americans are also huge assholes.” It’s an explanation, undoubtedly.

Any reader who complains about what I just wrote is right. It’s true that this tweet could be applied to Spain, and to many other places, but we were talking about Trump. The problem is not the candidates or the disreputable journalists who extol them, but is rather found in the fact that this baloney has an audience, as demonstrated by Marine Le Pen and the National Front party in France. Unfortunately, the discourse about the fear of others works. Education and the media are failing, which play an essential part in the process of collective education that we call information. Fear is born out of ignorance.

Trump will not win the Republican nomination and it’s entirely possible that he will stand as an independent, but the damage has already been done. He’s delivered his xenophobic and hate-filled speeches and it is now in the info-entertainment arena. Ultimately, your everyday citizen – who is reduced to a mere spectator of their own life – now believes that everything is one big joke from the crankiness of the egomaniac and the severed freedoms, to the bombings of nothing that kill people like us which are not shown on TV. Trump is only a symptom of a mediocre and dangerous era.