Fifth Avenue Pride and Prejudice

It was January 23, 2016, but it wouldn't be all that long before he ran down John McCain's military record, before the Billy Bush tape, before anyone ever heard of Stormy Daniels, before he slammed his Attorney General for not running an office that cleaned up the President's political enemies or whoever he fingered. That January 23rd line wasn't the first passionate irreverence to issue forth, and it certainly wouldn't be his last. If his first year-and-a-half is witness, he won't be changing. Look for more.

At the time, this moment was a biggie and it remains so. It's legacy is sure because, astonishingly, it was true when he said it and is still true today. What every last poll ever taken about Donald Trump makes perfectly clear is that his disciples are just that--disciples. They've chosen to follow him no matter where he goes or what anyone--even he--says or does.

He claims white supremacists and neo-Nazis are good people too, and it doesn't matter. He belittles others with lip most parents wouldn't tolerate from their children. He walks into a room with his blessed evangelicals, and he prays; an hour later, maybe less, he's vulgar and despotic. His White House is a mess, and his third marriage is a mystery (his wife's major campaign is about cyber-bullying?). He doesn't read, hasn't a clue about American or world history, and his mercurial temperment makes him a flame-thrower. But his people adore him, a schoolyard bully.

The moment above happened just down the road at the B. J. Haan Auditorium on the campus of Dordt College, an institution I attended as a student, a place where I taught 37 years' worth of students. I wholeheartedly agree with the position of the college president to allow Presidential candidates, one and all, to come and speak at the college. His being there was, in every sense, educational--we're still learning to this day.

But what he most famously said about shooting people and not losing any of his loyal voters is inherently evil, not because the illustration is in poor taste--it is; not because the country he now runs has a sordid history of mass shooting--it does; not because anyone ever believed he would do such a thing--he won't; but because the now famous sentiment is basically composed of two equal parts of pride and prejudice. 

Its arrogance is Trump-typical. I could shoot people in cold blood and my people would love me. That he's not wrong doesn't make the incredible line any less arrogant. Pride.

But it also belittles those who follow him, makes those who follow him into zombies. "Can you believe how idiotic that is--and they are?" is simply implied in the line. Preduice

But, as he said, he gets away with it. Forty per cent of the American public will follow him anywhere.

“They say I have the most loyal people—did you ever see that?—where I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn't lose any voters,” Trump said. “Okay? It's like incredible.”

Yes, it is.