Editor’s note: This commentary is by Jon Glascoe, of Randolph, who is a screenwriter, a filmmaker and a Democrat.
[C]ontinuously since the ’60s, and in large swaths back to the birth of America, every single presidential campaign has begun with the exact same lie: “If elected, I will work diligently to heal the divides, and unite this country.”
Granted, no one has uttered those same words with the insincerity and cynicism of the current administration, but Trump is hardly the first to say them. And in the Pinocchio effect, his lies (and his ties) seem to grow longer every time he repeats them, every time he pretends to care about unity or about anyone outside his rabid and gullible base. Sadly he cares even less about them, but they don’t know it yet. Still their votes were essential in delivering to him a contested presidency, and one in service to the people Trump does care about — privileged, old (and sometimes not so old) rich, white American and Russian men.
I have marched and written and called. I have lost friends. I have lost sleep. I have tried to use facts and history to counter “alternative facts” and fear mongering. I have winced while Trump insults every ally we have, bows down to the reprehensible regimes in Saudi Arabia, Russia and the Philippines, and whose every action is out of Putin’s totalitarian playbook.
I have tried to explain to people that trained, legitimate and educated journalists don’t have an agenda beyond getting the story right. And that far from being the “enemy” of the American people they are every bit the patriots, and deserve the same respect, as the beloved soldiers whose ranks he never joined. You know, bone spurs, and all that. Instead actual journalists get beat up by red state politicians who get elected for their troubles, while teenagers in Macedonia get paid for pretending to be journalists and posting lies a 4-year-old could see through.
I don’t think Trump actually believes anything he says. I don’t think he’s a particular racist, though he has normalized racism. I don’t think that he hates gays, or women, though he has normalized attacks on both. Immigrants built his paper-thin empire and he married two of them. He probably doesn’t even hate the working class, though he considers them another species. He doesn’t hate any of those people, because hate requires a value system and he has none. He just needs to make sure that his supporters do hate. Loudly and violently. And they have not disappointed.
But this morning the veil lifted. The majority of this country (and the entirety of the civilized world) hates Trump. I hate Trump. Which is just fine with his crowd. Because they hate me too. They consider the rest of the world scourges out to get them, and me another bleeding heart snowflake. Forget that protectionism and isolationism have never worked; that’s want they want. They want the exceptionalism lie. They want to believe that somehow God made Americans the chosen people, better at everything than everyone. Sorry to burst your bubble, but America is not exceptional. Far from it. America is lucky. We have two giant oceans protecting us from harm. We have two giant countries, north and south, as stable allies (Trump has angered both). And we have natural resources that if existed in Japan, would have us speaking Japanese. We are in the middle of the educational pack in almost everything except where we are at the bottom end. But for our luck and a Constitution that mattered before Trump took a chainsaw to it, we would be just another country.
I used to ask myself, what is that one thing that makes us all American, besides geography. The answer is … geography. Nothing else. I have more in common with London’s Muslim mayor (the one Trump just cruelly politicized in a lying tweet) than I do with most folks in the deep South. And they have nothing in common with me. All of the anger in this country comes from the frustration of trying to convert each other.
I used to ask myself, what is that one thing that makes us all American, besides geography. The answer is … geography.
And here is where peace descended on me. Why bother? It will never happen. There is no common ground. There is no unity. There are no United States. Red state values and blue state values will never align. The challenge is, what do we do about that? Do we just hit the ping pong ball back and forth? Do we just undo every one of your policies when we’re in office, and watch you do the same? On and on in endless impotent governmental stagnation?
No. We go back to the founders. Back to when America was exceptional. Jefferson was onto something. Acknowledge that we don’t agree, and won’t ever. Forget this lie of “bringing us all together.” It’s not happening. So let’s use that absolute fact to light a path forward. Otherwise, let’s just have a second Civil War and get on with it. We’re already in one, it’s just that the guns haven’t arrived yet. But they’re coming. And it can be stopped.
The words almost choke in my mouth: state’s rights. The words I have always associated with everything I oppose. Yes, state’s rights. We need to make that our call as well. Republicans have always known it. They don’t want to have anything to do with us, and we don’t want to have anything to do with them. Why fight it? Let us, the significant, democratic (and Democratic) majority say the unsayable:
America needs to be two countries, under one umbrella.
It’s happening now. California, New York and others have already told Trump to shove it. There will be no wall in California. There will be immigrants and refugees and sanctuary cities. Mayors and governors throughout the land have agreed to implement the Paris accords, creating cutting-edge jobs in the meantime, while Trump looks for a coal mine that will let him put on a cool-looking miner’s helmet for a photo op. Cities and states are ignoring him, the way you do a too-drunk uncle at a wedding.
Two countries, one umbrella. Like NATO, before Trump screwed that up also. We all commit to national security. There remains a president and a Supreme Court. There remains a Congress. But their powers are significantly diminished. Every state decides how they want to live. The only taxes paid to the federal government are for our shared defense and infrastructure. That’s it. All other taxes are determined and collected at the state level. If you want to “trickle down,” great. If you want to tax the rich and their corporations, great. If you want to bind together with like-minded states for collective health care, Medicare, Medicaid, gun reform, reproductive rights, environmental rights — essentially every social issue — great. If you want to pollute your rivers with coal sludge, great.
Stay out of our way and we will stay out of yours. You may even find that the hate goes away. There is unlimited travel, after all. When I come to your states, and don’t care about your politics, I will get to enjoy you and your rich culture. And you may want to see the Golden Gate or Yankee Stadium. You are most welcome. We’re all Americans, and my experience is that when we have a drink and talk about our sports and our children and our food, we tend to like each other. Maybe even love each other. Wouldn’t that be nice? Humanity doesn’t divide us. Politics do.
Because there is something that unites us all. A desire to be away from one another.
Abraham Lincoln said that “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” He was right. The house can, however, be turned into two units, holding two families, under one roof.
