Making America White Again
The world media are currently flush with stories speculating about Mr Trump’s intentions. Some are even suggesting that he has no agenda at all, no real policy except becoming America’s greatest president in human memory. Be it as it may, the men with whom he is surrounding himself seem to have a common agenda: To Make America White Again. His chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon revealed the intrinsic objective of the Trump presidency, saying on CNN: “If (the Trump White House delivers), we'll get 60 percent of the white vote, and 40 percent of the black and Hispanic vote and we'll govern for 50 years”.
The Whitelash vote which carried Mr Trump to the White House was as unique as it was unexpected. It opened a four year window to the Trump crowd during which the fragile Whitelash majority can be strengthened or lost. Given Mr Trump’s temper it will be difficult for the White House to “deliver” what is needed to gain the desired 50-year rule or at least another four year term for Mr Trump. The cabinet is therefore faced with two principal challenges: vigorous pursuit of the 50-year objective while controlling the future President’s temper.
When Mr Bannon spoke of the “black and Hispanic vote” he obviously referred to those Hispanics who are firmly rooted in the U.S. and resent the influx of new wetback migrants; the kind of Hispanics who, to Mrs Clinton’s surprise, voted for Trump. The same can be said of Blacks: many regret losing their rank as the oldest and strongest minority to the multiplying Hispanics. Trump is their champion because he promised to deport a few million illegals and to reduce immigration.
Even with the support of some Blacks and Hispanics, the Trump majority remains razor thin. The 1.5 million more votes that Mrs Clinton garnered are every day reminding the Trump crowd how much successful action is needed to create a majority strong enough to carry Trumpism to another four year term and beyond. He objective of bolstering the Trump majority requires a set of activities which are self-evident:
- Reduce immigration of Hispanics and Asians, legal and illegal.
- Deport criminal aliens.
- Reduce naturalizations of Hispanics, Asians and Africans by raising requirements in order to limit the number of new citizens with (potentially hostile) voting power.
- Facilitate immigration of Whites.
- Prevent further outsourcing of labor intensive industries and encourage repatriation of industries to please blue-collar Whites.
- Encourage infrastructure and industrial repatriation investment, thus creating employment, financial opportunities and a base for future domestic growth.
- Strengthen the role of the military in research and development, providing spin-offs for industry as well as jobs and training for poor citizens.
Wall Street does not seem to mind the deleterious effects of industrial repatriation and the canceling of multilateral trade agreements like TPP and TTIP. Is it the prospect of debt-financed infrastructure investments which buoys Wall Street? More likely, big finance is simply responding to the promise of relaxed banking regulations and removal of environmental restrictions on industry.
When trying to explore the mindset of the budding Trump cabinet it is useful to take a look at its sombre side. The Alt-Right movement is known for its penchant for certain conspiracy theories. Two media of the extreme right are championing this field and both have repeatedly been referred to during Trump’s campaign: Alex Jones’ Infowars and World Net Daily (WND).
The theory of the FEMA camps surfaced during the second term of G.W. Bush. The idea was that the Bush Administration had under the umbrella of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) established hundreds of secret prison camps throughout the nation where in case of an insurrection millions could be locked up: leftists, liberals, trade unionists, journalists, gun control proponents, muslims etc.
When the Democrats won the 2008 elections, the picture changed. Especially after the 2012 elections, President Obama became the secret warden of the "FEMA camps". The camp theorists became so powerful among the right wing electorate that many people voted for Trump out of fear of being carried off by Obama to the camps with their one-direction turnstiles. Some even migrated to Central America, according to Newsweek, to avoid the impending incarceration they reckoned with. Rumor mongers are still telling their audiences, “President Barack Obama soon will institute martial law and cancel or nullify the election... after which his FEMA will disarm and herd all the anti-abortion, religious-right, gun-owning, home-schooling folks into secret “FEMA camps” that his administration has spent years preparing”, Newsweek says.
Very soon, Donald Trump’s administration will enjoy its turn in being suspected of maintaining the so-called FEMA camps. The operators change, the myth persists. However, a note of caution is appropriate: The Trump team is not the sequel to the H.W. Bush team. The latter read the Weekly Standard as their main source of inspiration. The Trump crowd, having for years read Breitbart, Infowars, WND and listened to scare-mongering radio hosts, may have been sufficiently brainwashed to consider unconventional interpretations of American democracy a viable alternative.
John Wantock