Black Community News News and Commentary for Christians
The day after one of the greatest political upsets in world history, I dug out my July 2016 exchange with “David,” an Ohio left-wing retired law professor whom I once considered my best friend. He wrote:
“Larry,
“Donald Trump — the screaming, the red face, the slashing hand gestures, the repeated appeals to familial blood spilled by outsiders, the vow to deport 3 percent of the American population.
“The demonization of our present leaders as stupid, as weak, as corrupt, as criminals, as traitors, as not citizens, as not Christians.
“The mischaracterization of our country as broken, as suffering, as crushed underfoot by foreign forces.
“The assertion that only he can save us …
“This is unique to American politics, Larry. But the world has seen this before.
“If you can’t see it after last night’s speech I am afraid you will never see it.
“You have spent your entire career denying that racism still exists. You were wrong. Racism is a powerful force, a dark and tempting lure that can be used by a fanatical leader to frighten and manipulate multitudes. Now you have a raving lunatic racist as the Republican nominee. What will you do? Will you continue to support him? Will you stay silent? You are a man of great influence, and I have faith in you to do the right thing and help to save our country.
“David”
My response:
“David,
“Name one time I ‘denied that racism still exists’! One. I’ve never written such a thing, said such a thing, or believed such a thing. It is beyond insulting.
“Not only does racism still exist in America, but bigotry does. And you are an example of it. You’re bigoted against conservatives, against people who believe the government is too big, against people, like my father, who grew up in the Jim Crow South during the Great Depression, who believed that racism, sexism and whatever ‘isms’ you want to put forth are no longer major forces in America.
“By making such an asinine statement you reduce yourself to the subterranean level of credibility you claim Trump possesses.
“After that I need not — and won’t — respond to anything else you said in your email.
“But I will say this. Get used to it. You just heard the next president of the United States. He’s going to get elected. And it will be, in no small measure, because of the hysterical, unfair, demonic characterization of him by you and others who, by doing this, malign many soon-to-be Trump-voting Americans, who feel they’re working harder and longer and making less money as a result of the policies of the last eight years.
“When he gets elected, go to the nearest mirror — you played a large role in it.
“I’ve been doing this a long time. I have a much better handle on how much of America feels and thinks than you do. You think you do, but you don’t.
“I’ve seen the Trump phenomenon divide friends and families. I never really thought it would happen between you and me.
“But this is the first time I truly feel insulted, demeaned and caricatured by you — simply because I see things differently. I have many, many left-wing friends. I live in California. Honestly, how many conservative friends do you have? I bet the answer is — after this letter — none.
“Larry”
David’s response:
“These kinds of divisions are inevitable when people are presented with choices that are this momentous. Americans faced a similar choice in the 1850s, Germany in the 1930s. I told you before that Trump is a categorically different candidate. He is not a (John) McCain, or a (Mitt) Romney, or a George or Jeb Bush, men with whom I disagree but who are honorable, decent people, and none of whom support Trump. Trump is a demagogue and a racist. He openly admires dictators like Kim Jong Un and Vladimir Putin, and if the report regarding his keeping the book of Hitler’s speeches at his bedside is accurate, then him as well. He openly appeals to violence and has expressly vowed to imprison his principal political opponent if he wins and has implicitly called for her to be assassinated if he loses. He rejects the Western alliance of democratic nations in favor of doing business with the Russian kleptocracy.
“I am not deceived as to Trump’s popularity. You are right that many people adore Trump. I had hoped you were not one of them. His level of support does not change his essential character; it is what makes him dangerous. I deeply mourn our friendship. But this is just the beginning of this conflict, and the choices we make will define all of us.”
This is, indeed, “just the beginning of this conflict” — the conflict between those who denounced Trump as a racist and a bigot and the American voters who see him and his vision in a very different way. Deal with it.
COPYRIGHT 2016 LAURENCE A. ELDER
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Photo credit: Gage Skidmore (Creative Commons) – Some rights reserved
Larry Elder is a best-selling author and radio talk-show host. To find out more about Larry Elder, or become an “Elderado,” visit www.LarryElder.com. Follow Larry on Twitter @larryelder.
The views expressed in opinion articles are solely those of the author and are not necessarily either shared or endorsed by Black Community News.
i feel very bad for that exchange and for you Mr. Elder. this news blog or whatever it is called is the Very Best resource out there…Thank all of you!
“believe none of what you hear, and only part of what you see”…any ‘information’ from MSM is edited propaganda with an agenda, they are liars…so sad ‘common sense’ is the greatest oxymoron in the english language(because there’s a total absence of rational thought in our PC society) “it’s easier to fool people, than convince them they are being fooled”…we may never recover from the suppression of truth these last decades, and now we have to deal with the fruit of an education system that’s complicit in this anti American process of misinformation & dumbing down of the masses, but there is hope, we voted for real change in the first candidate since the founders, who isn’t a career politician and may actually put Americans & America first if allowed…thank you for your insights Mr.Elder
Wow that must be very embarrassing for that fool! Sadly he, like most other leftists, will fail to see the fault in his ways and will continue to beleive that Trump and his followers are racist bigots and all that garbage, while as you pointed out to him, comitting actual bigotry. If this man and other fellow leftists continue this insane way of thinking, then Obama was not only the first black president, but also the last Democrat president.
Is there something in the water? The reaction of the anti-Trumpers to his election as President of the United States is surreal. Mr. Trump and the citizens of America have proven that our government derives its power from the PEOPLE. The incoming administration is truly a picture of being of the people, by the people and for the people and represents such by its makeup. The power has been returned to the people. Thank you Americans for supporting a candidate who looks like us (I am Black so I am not talking about skin color). The only race I believe in is the human race, of which I am a proud member. We must pray for the safety of him and his family due to the irrational behavior of sore losers.
Yesser, sumpin in the water! Just check out how many of those Blue states are connected to water, especially CA and all along our coast. Definitely contaminated with some kind of brain killing amoeba!
Too scary is the state of this country. There is a book out, not too long ago, The Death of Common Sense. That is particularly true of common sense, or what’s left of it, in America.
Our education system is broken and bereft of actual teaching and learning. Proof of that are the millions of people believing that an avowed socialist/communist, Sanders, as acceptable to be president of the U.S.! Or, a “convicted out of her own mouth” criminal, Clinton as desirable to be the Leader of the (not so) Free World.
As the former Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev once said: “I once said, “We will bury you,” and I got into trouble with it. Of course we will not bury you with a shovel. Your own working class will bury you.”