The Privilege of Self-Destruction

Yes, I’m enjoying this election, thank you for asking. I’ve been watching the race ever since the first announcements hit the airwaves. Scott Walker, Jeb Bush, Jim Webb even Lincoln Chaffee. Most have been amusing, some, downright hilarious. I’ve enjoyed the articulation of vision and even more, the exposure of political ineptness. In some cases, I’ve been shocked. Shocked at the missteps, clumsy soundbites and outright lies. But mostly, I’ve been amazed at the transparent presumptuousness of the candidates that have come and gone…and even more, the presumptuousness of Donald Trump—as he—his campaign—self-destructs.

The wealthy, self-promoting, self-proclaimed billionaire will be remembered as the presidential candidate who shattered a realistic chance of actually winning the office, but for himself, he couldn’t get out of his own way. Sadly enough, Donald Trump couldn’t see the forest for the trees.

After gorilla-stomping his Republican candidates in the election primary by exhibiting some of the most atrocious character traits one could ever display, Trump continued to ‘go low’ but has reached a new low in his pursuit of the Holy Grail of US power. With absolutely no evidence to support his latest assertion, he’s thrown an “overtly subliminal” (an oxymoron) message to America: The election will be rigged. His intentional act to poison the water (better yet, poison the Kool-Aid) is but the “last refuge of a scoundrel.”

Donald Trump’s putting out this false assertion is an act of desperation. His “tell it like it is” campaign has turned out for him to be a miscalculation; the campaign ruse has caught up with him. His opposition to “political correctness” has reached its ceiling. I heard only one political commentator correctly articulate what’s actually happening: The Trump claim of a rigged election is only a public acknowledgment that he’s losing. Simple.

If one were to take a serious and earnest look at American history, Black people have endured this “rigged” game called the United States of America since the birth of this nation. Think about it: a country that stated to the world that “all men are created equal.” Huh! Equal? If you were born Black, you could not vote. And yes, the one-drop-of-Black-blood rule applied. When Blacks could vote, the white power of state governments imposed onerous barriers, such as literacy tests and disinformation about voting days to today’s widespread efforts to disenfranchise Blacks through voter ID laws. Now that’s the “rigged” system, not this hocus-pocus, unfounded gibberish of which Trump speaks.

Despite the real rigged election system of outdated, malfunctioning machines; proprietary software and inability to verify voters’ choices; switching voters’ choices on electronic ballots, and, of course, voter suppression by law and in practice, Black people still participate when they should not. The “rigged” system can count on Blacks to cast ballots that elect Democrats. When will we STOP BLOC voting for Democrats—the lesser oppressor [of the “rigged” two-party system]?

Here’s my takeaway for you: One: We, as Black Americans, grin and bear a “rigged” system every day. Two: Don’t get sociopolitical amnesia. Remember, right-wing and some corporate media cries of “ther’ll be blood in the streets!” if Obama wins? We are still here; though arguably a tad better or worse since his election. Nonetheless, the New Millennial civil war didn’t happen, and it won’t happen if Trump loses. Remember that!