Trump rally

My son invited me to attend yesterday’s Trump rally. I agreed, and I’m glad I did. Need to check the competition. As we stood in line to enter the arena, the people in the line didn’t look so different from the people protesting. So it seemed to me the difference had to be in their minds and life experiences. Inside the packed arena, the difference became very clear. It was an overwhelmingly white crowd.

A rally is a rally, no matter the party. But this was one more reminder of how good we have become at manipulating crowds to our purposes. Loud pop music, mostly with an emotional heft, blared away. A lady next to me got excited because she thought she spotted Don, Jr. Another lady in front of me clutched her teddy bear with its American flag cape and blond Trump hair swatch.

As the crowd waited for Trump there were some spontaneous chants and number of waves that went round and round the seats. We could have been at a sports event. The event started with Mike DeWine giving some political hype for Ohio and Mike Pence. All predictable and all used over and over again. Mike Pence walked the runway to the podium, pushed the Ohio-is-great button and went on the praise Donald Trump and Trump’s America.

Finally, out came Mr. Trump. He took his time on the runway, stopping to shake hands and clap for himself. His litany of his accomplishments—list one, wait for applause, list another—gave himself much credit.

What struck me most was how skillfully these simplistic tags could arouse the crowds so effectively and with spontaneous intensity. Pence would say, “drain the swamp” and within less than a second, the crowd would repeat this. The same with “build the wall” and “socialism.”

Yes, it was a rally, and that’s what rallies are for. But there was no message of better means inclusion or civility or hope. It’s fundamentally of message of white privilege and the fear of its loss.