On the protests and the "not my president" movement

So, I've been sitting back, watching how the left reacts to Donald Trump's victory, and I'm a bit concerned by what I see. I see tons of people coming out, protesting, saying Trump is "not my president", and basically equating him with Hitler. If the mainstream democratic narrative is to be believed, Trump is literally a fascist, literally Hitler, and we must oppose him with everything we got.

I could have sworn I've heard this all before. It's eerily reminiscent to a previous election I remember from not too long ago. And, at the time, I was of much a different ideological belief system, so I saw the issue from the perspective of the other side. What election was this you ask? Why, the election of 2008 and president Barack HUSSEIN!!!! (I must emphasize that part since I'm roleplaying a conservative here) Obama.

When Obama was elected, it was a massive crisis on the right. And like people are now doing with Trump, they made massive strawmen against him and opposed him with everything they had. Instead of being a fascist through, Obama was seen as a radical Marxist who would "radically transform" America into a communist state. The kinds of stuff coming out of the right was extreme, radical, and very light on substance.

This kneejerk reaction to an Obama presidency was met by fierce opposition by the republicans, and ultimately led to the rise of the tea party and the obstructionism we've seen over the past 6 years from the GOP.

This is worrying to me because one thing I hoped that the democrats would learn from their defeat was that they need to change. I really hope they take a hard look at themselves and change their message as a party to be more left wing. Instead, I'm afraid the rise of these manufactured, almost tea party like never Trump movements might be based on negative identity and hyperbole, and intended to unite the left against a common enemy while drawing peoples' minds away from flaws of the democrats.

I really must emphasize this. There is evidence these protests are manufactured, at least in part, because I actually have seen those craigslist ads the right is claiming exist for myself (they've apparently been removed from the site since then). Someone, somewhere, is putting out a lot of money to encourage these protests, and I believe it's to encourage solidarity against Trump and the GOP after the democratic defeat. Why, might you ask? Well, because this was their game plan during the election too. Focus the message on stopping Trump and people ignore the internal divisions of the democratic party, including the fact that this party is basically being controlled by financial elites with an agenda of their own.

Listen, there's a lot to not like about Trump and the GOP, and there is a lot of time to oppose things we don't agree with. My stance is basically identical to Sanders in the post election: insofar that Trump helps people, we should support him. Insofar that he encourages an agenda that is harmful to people, we should oppose him. I'm not a democratic party loyalist. I'm interested in seeing my ideology furthered here. Parties are just vehicles to accomplish this goal and I will work with anyone who is interested in reforming American politics in a more left wing image, be they republicans, democrats, or third party. I will also oppose any groups I think are harming my beliefs, and that includes the democratic party, who I turned against this election primarily because it turned out they were hostile to my ideas and trying to bully me into falling in line.

I'm just worried the democratic party is trying to deflect from its own flaws and shortcomings and trying to avoid a candid discussion they need to have in order to distract people with the threat of Trump. I mean, the guy isn't even in office yet, we have no idea what his agenda will be, what kind of president he will be, and he seems to be coming up with something new every day. Unlike most other politicians, this guy is a total wildcard. And while yes, he supported a lot of xenophobic ideas during the election, it's very possible he said these things to manipulate the republican party base and get them to vote for him. As such, to me, this whole "not my president" movement seems to be a bit too soon, and more partisan than anything.

Again, let me be clear, I'm not keen on a lot of Trump's ideas, and we should oppose him wherever he puts forth harmful ideas. But ultimately, I'm interested in ideology, not partisanship. Partisanship is based around one's "team" winning, regardless of what they team stands for. The GOP loyalists will promote the GOP and oppose the democrats however they can, and the democrats will do the same. And sometimes I feel we lose sight of our goals, and what we're actually FOR, because we get so wrapped up on beating the other side. This was a huge problem with the tea party, and it's a huge problem with the democrats this year. These guys are more interested in their team winning than they are in fixing the country. And that's a problem, and that's also why I'm leery of these protests. Again. I've seen this happen before. This was precisely how the GOP reacted to Obama, and that led an 8 year crusade to shut him down however possible, even when he was compromising and being reasonable. I don't want to see that being repeated.

In all fairness...

In all fairness, I will recognize that the people opposing Trump do have points. The guy is the most openly xenophobic candidate we've had in decades and he's set a bad precedent in that regard. He's said stuff that should not be deemed acceptable in public, and he also made Steve Bannon, who is pretty much a white supremacist, his chief strategist. This is unacceptable and must be opposed. However, I will warn people regardless that there are more issues than just identity politics and while these causes are important too, we should be leery of a blanket opposition on Trump regardless of what he does. Principled stands against Trump are okay, but we should be leery of hyperpartisanship against the guy. Like it or not, he did win the election, and we're stuck with him. And I think we (the left) can work with across the aisle on some key issues. He's not an ideologue, just a demagogue. The other republicans are more scary to me than Trump. People like Cruz, Rubio, Kasich, even Pence, those guys are true believers. They believe all this stuff they say and promote. I'm not sure Trump actually believes half the crap he's saying, and he might be able to be influenced. As such, throwing a tea party like tantrum is not something we should want to do. We should hold off, wait for him to come up with his plans, and when we see something we don't like, THEN we should oppose him. To do any less is to fall into the same trap the Tea party has been in in recent years.