Over the past few weeks, right wing

personalities Ben Shapiro, Tim Dillon and

Joe Rogan and other Trump supporters

have taken to their podcasts and radio

programs to assiduously deride the

47th president for what they see as his

egregious and horrendous missteps from 

multitude of issues ranging from tariffs,

callous immigration policies, free speech,

damaging relations with allies etc. Such

discontent is coupled with Republican

lawmakers faced fierce outrage at town

halls across the nation in recent weeks,

where constituents have expressed

concern about mass federal layoffs,

social security, health benefits the

potential unraveling of our postal system

and other social services. Elon Musk’s

tremendous degree of influence and

continued soaring prices have

contributed to such frustration, unease

and anger.

One particularly egregious example of

public discontent is the case of Kilmar

Abrego Garcia a naturalized Hispanic

man from Maryland who was mistakenly

deported by Trump administration

officials was detained by Immigration

and Customs Enforcement agents who

were looking for another person on a

deportation order. Garcia’s subsequent

arrest and deportation to El Salvador

which the administration belatedly

admitted was a mistake culminated in

massive levels of horror and monumental

shockwaves that transcended well

beyond his own family, his local

community and the nation.

Next door in the state of Virginia,

another naturalized Hispanic resident

Jensy Machado was heavily interrogated

and forced to provide documentation of

his legal status. After an intense

confrontation with law enforcement

officials, concluding that he was not the

suspect in question, he was released.

Nonethless, the two other individuals

with him were taken into custody for

reason unknown to him.  Mr. Machado

conceded that the entire episode has left

him so disillusioned and rattled that he

has regrets casting his ballot for Trump

last November.  The conclusion he

reached isn’t surprising: “I voted for

Trump last election, but, because I

thought it was going to be the things,

you know, like … just go against

criminals, not every Hispanic-looking,

like, that they will assume that we are all

illegals.” Sad to say, he may very well be

correct.

All one has to do is peruse you tube

videos, tik tok snippets, overhear

conversation is supermarkets, fitness

centers, libraries, houses of worship and

other public venues to be astute to the

fact that a considerable segment of the

populace is/has had second thoughts

about-electing Donald Trump as

president. Indeed, such buyer’s remorse

among Trump voters isn’t confined to

right wing podcasters, Latino voters who

were misguided and arguably arrogant

enough to believe the virulent hostility of

Republicans toward illegal immigrants

would not be directed toward them. After

launching and engineering a sinister

campaign that very adroitly and

successfully fractured Americans into

resentful, seething, paranoid factions and

hardworking and unfairly treated “us”

being exploited by an elitist and

fraudulent “them,” those who ascribed to

such myopic and reductive sentiments

are abruptly coming to the realization

that such perceived, stark contrasts are

far more socially, culturally and

economically muddled and identical than

they have been previously led to believe.

This includes people across ethnic, racial,

political, religious and socio-economic

groups.

Such circumstances remind me of the

October 2015 report that was issued by

At the time, there was intense buzz

about the recent report conducted by

recent Nobel Prize-winning economist

Angus Deaton and his wife Anne

Case.  The study published almost a

decade ago, that examined

disillusionment among many Middle-class

White people, in particular, White men,

garnered intense interest from the entire

spectrum of the journalistic community.

It appeared that everyone was

commenting on the plight of middle-

aged, White people. The report produced

a plethora of information most strikingly,

that that discussed the escalating,

skyrocketing suicide rates among White

people, in particular, White middle-aged

men., For many of us whose academic

scholarship focuses on race, gender and

cultural topics such revelations were

somewhat shocking though not all that

surprising.

The truth is that these are the men and women (mostly men) who have largely bought into the arrogant, brash, and largely misguided illusion that if they worked hard enough, were smart enough, good at what they did, attractive enough, married a respectable spouse, socialized in the correct social circles, harbored condescension, disdain and/or contempt toward the right people (e.g., very poor people, feminists, LGBTQIA+ people, many minority groups, in some cases, Jewish people, the disabled, etc.) that they could rapidly ascend up the social climbing ladder and head ever onward toward pursuit of the American dream. Rather, many people of this age and racial demographic belatedly came to dramatic realization that the ladder has been pulled out from under them. They had driven down a dead-end road with no U-turn available. As a result, alcoholism, drug use and sordid vices have served as a tragic yet reliable refuge from an environment and reality increasingly filled with despair. A reliable form of self-medication, so to speak. A sad commentary for sure.