Were We Not Paying Attention, Or Did We Just Not Care?

Here are two comments about Trump's "The Apprentice," picked at random from the Internet Movie Database. I've made no edits or corrections.

"I used to like the show, but its become Donald Trumps own ego fest. Granted its his company you'll be working for, but come on! some of the things says "You're FIRED" is just insulting.

"after watching the show, I would not want to work for him. not because he is arrogant, pompous or such. Its just that the show is unrealistic and the way he handles things makes me just squirm. Good Entertainment? YES, but tiring as the back stabbing gets so tiring.. its not team work, its not personal, its just business. watch your back jack."  2/20/07

"I was at my friends house watching this, and it was the worst show I have seen in a long time. Uneventful, and lacking of any drama, I could easily slept through this. After I watched a couple of episodes I demanded my money back, which is crazy since I didn't spend any money to watch it. I wouldn't wish this on my enemy. I give this a 2, just for the fact that it gave Conan some material to make fun of Trump with. If your idea of a good time is to watch people act like they are the center of the universe, then this is for you. Otherwise this is a complete waste of time, not to mention money. Personally I would rather have a colon exam then watch this show again."  8/26/04

More than ten years before the ludicrous specter of a Trump presidency reared its obscene head, people were talking about the same atrocious behavior that troubles us today. Some of us may have echoed these volunteer reviewers at the time, or chuckled about them when jokes were made of them elsewhere on TV.

Why should we have paid attention to the antics of a boorish Manhattan real estate developer making a fool of himself trying to be a TV star? It was just Trump being Trump.

Then there it was: Against all odds, a Trump candidacy. Along with too many other Americans, I thought it was a joke.

I was a strong supporter of Bernie Sanders. I was sure he would be nominated, because he was the only potential Democratic candidate who could match Trump punch for punch. Either the DNC didn't take Trump seriously or their heads were so far up their collective backsides they couldn't see beyond Hillary. They put their bets on her and lost the race.

And we didn't know it until the end. The media continually told us, and probably told Hillary and the DNC, that a Trump win was impossible, even unthinkable. He was a political nobody. She was a former U.S. Senator and sitting Secretary of State with an immense following and inside knowledge of Washington. We convinced ourselves it would be an easy victory. We lied to ourselves.

In the final analysis, Hillary Clinton could not have won the 2016 election. Because she is a woman.

That is not a sexist statement but a matter of realpolitik. No one, including the DNC and the Clinton team, was prepared for the kind of blitzkrieg Trump launched, nor for the violence it fomented. Bernie had the chutzpah to match it, but Hillary was always playing catch-up.

Yes, she won the popular vote, but too few of us had been watching closely enough to see that she needed more to get past the Electoral College. 

Trump managed to tap a deep vein of machismo that infects a sizeable percentage of white American men and to release the anger, racism, xenophobia and sense of disenfranchisement that flows through it, riding it to victory.

We can not, must not, shall not, let that happen again. Never Again!

--- Diogenes, 5/8/20