One of the troublesome aftermaths of a nationalist electoral victory continues to be that the victors, especially those who used to occupy the fringes of society, now feel emancipated and entitled to act on their nativist impulses and begin to attack minorities, immigrants, and basically anyone they don't like. Back in June, when many voters in the U.K., upset over what they believed was an unrestricted inflow of migrants, voted to leave the E.U., racist abuse increased almost 100% overnight. Much of this abuse was directed at Polish immigrants, many of whom had been British citizens for generations. Pamphleteers spread the word that now that the U.K. was leaving the E.U., its citizens no longer needed to tolerate "Polish varmint." Kids in school were told that they would be deported. Casual racism spread unchallenged.
Fast forward to our own post-election period. Two days after the election results were in, USA Today headlined: "Rise in racists acts follow elections." Educators were quoted suggesting that feelings that had festered for years in private were now coming into the open. A swastika was scrawled on a softball field dug-out in Wellsville, N.Y., accompanied by the slogan: "Make America White Again." In Maple Gove, Minn, messages on a high school bathroom wall included: "#gobacktoafrica," and #whitesonly." White students in De Witt, Mich. formed a physical wall of students to block Latino kids from entering school. A Muslin woman had a knife pulled on her in a bus by a Trump supporter. Several California Mosques received threatening letters stating: "Trump will do what Adolph Hitler did to the Jews." And a personal friend, who immigrated many years ago, who built a successful business, and who employs many in our community, has been confronted by people coming into her business telling her in no uncertain terms: "Go home!"
The Southern Poverty Law Center tracked more than 80 reported hate crime and racist incidents in California between Nov. 9 and 16, the most of any state. The pattern is not just disturbing, it is scary.
Whether President-Elect Donald Trump can stem this tide is questionable. After all, candidate Trump provided ample ammunition for these hate groups. In November last year, on the MSNBC "Morning Joe" program, Trump vowed to build a "deportation force" and deport 11 million undocumented immigrants from the country. That same month Trump confirmed that he would "absolutely require Muslims to register in a data-base." One of his surrogates, Carl Higbie, representing the biggest Super-Pac supporting candidate Trump, reiterated this intent, and suggested that the Japanese internment camps could serve as legal precedent for establishing a Muslim registry. During a subsequent interview on "Meet the Press," incoming White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus appeared to confirm this when he stated that he "would not rule anything out."
The selection of Stephen Bannon as President Trump's Chief Strategist and Senior Counselor has dampened the hopes of many that Mr. Trump's transition to President-Elect and President would somehow prompt a softening of the populist and nativist positions he ran on when he was still a mere candidate for the office. Only two years ago, in an email to supporters, Bannon wrote: "Let the grassroots turn on the hate, because that's the only thing that will make them do their duty." In his role as (former) Executive Chairman of the Breitbart New, Bannon is known for statements like: 'Birth control makes women unattractive and crazy," calling Bill Kristol - editor of the Weekly Standard - a Republican spoiler and a renegade Jew," claiming that Huma Abedin, aide to Hillary Clinton, is connected to a terrorist conspiracy, and calling progressive women "a bunch of dykes."
People like Richard Spencer, leader of the so-called "alt-right" movement, a distinctly white supremacist organization, for which, according to Mr. Bannon, the Breitbart News provides a platform, rejoiced at the appointment. During a Nov. 19 meeting in Washington D.C., Mr. Spencer suggested that the "alt-right" could serve as "an intellectual vanguard" that would complete Trump. He hoped that they could be "the ones who are out front, and who are thinking about things that he (Trump) hasn't grasped yet." He ended his speech, appropriately, with the Nazi salute: "Hail Trump!"
Six days after the election, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich declared that the administration should push Congress to organize a new House Committee on Un-American Activities. According to the former Speaker, who has not been shy about his desire to become part of the new administration: "We passed several laws in 1938 and 1939 to go after Nazis ..... We're going to presently have to take similar steps here in regards to Muslims."
The anxiety, and the fear induced by xenophobia permeating through much of, non white, post-election society is palpable. This was aptly articulated when a member of the cast of "Hamilton," actor Brandon Dixon, asked Vice-President Elect Mike Pence, after he attended a performance, to listen to this message: "We sir, we are the diverse America who are alarmed and anxious that your administration will not protect us, our planet, our children, our parents, or defend us and uphold our inalienable rights. But we truly hope this show has inspired you to uphold our American values, and to work on behalf of all of us - all of us!
Enough said.
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