jimnyc
10-30-2018, 11:17 AM
---
Steve Hilton: Trump and his supporters are being blamed for a climate of rage and hate – but here’s the truth
Predictably, the establishment is blaming President Trump and his supporters for a climate of rage and hate.
But let's be honest, a lot of Americans have had a lot to be angry about for an awful long time
I'm thinking in particular of African-Americans whose long struggle for freedom may have been won decades ago but whose struggle for genuine equality and opportunity and dignity and fairness is a long way from over. A very long way.
I'm also thinking of working Americans, especially those outside the booming centers of the modern knowledge economy, whose economic security has collapsed, whose economic opportunities have disappeared and whose social fabric -- especially family and community -- has been ripped apart.
That's been going on since at least the early 1970s. That's nearly half a century.
This anger we're seeing, it didn't start with Donald Trump. I think it goes back at least a decade.
In 2008 you saw the elite bail themselves out while working people paid the price for their recklessness and incompetence.
And you saw a new tone enter our politics.
Before then we had presidents who, whatever their political views, made clear they loved America and loved Americans - all Americans
Reagan, the Bushes, Bill Clinton, Bill Clinton perhaps a bit too much - they weren't haters. You got the sense they loved everybody.
But then we saw something new. A cultural elitism came in. Condescension. Even contempt
Remember when then-presidential candidate Barack Obama said on April 6, 2008, “They get bitter, and they cling to guns or religion.”
How about when his wife Michelle said this on February 18, 2008; “For the first time in my adult lifetime, I'm really proud of my country.”
We saw hate and divisiveness -- from the top. And remember, from the left, not the right. From the elitists, not the populists.
From Joe Biden who said this on September 15 recently at the Human Rights Campaign dinner, “They, not you, have an ally in the White House. This time they have an ally. There are small percentage of American people-virulent people-some of them the dregs of society.”
And of course from the queen of hate, the empress of divisiveness, Hillary Clinton, on September 9, 2016, we got this: "You could put half of Trump’s supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables."
Rest - https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/steve-hilton-trump-and-his-supporters-are-being-blamed-for-a-climate-of-rage-and-hate-but-heres-the-truth
Steve Hilton: Trump and his supporters are being blamed for a climate of rage and hate – but here’s the truth
Predictably, the establishment is blaming President Trump and his supporters for a climate of rage and hate.
But let's be honest, a lot of Americans have had a lot to be angry about for an awful long time
I'm thinking in particular of African-Americans whose long struggle for freedom may have been won decades ago but whose struggle for genuine equality and opportunity and dignity and fairness is a long way from over. A very long way.
I'm also thinking of working Americans, especially those outside the booming centers of the modern knowledge economy, whose economic security has collapsed, whose economic opportunities have disappeared and whose social fabric -- especially family and community -- has been ripped apart.
That's been going on since at least the early 1970s. That's nearly half a century.
This anger we're seeing, it didn't start with Donald Trump. I think it goes back at least a decade.
In 2008 you saw the elite bail themselves out while working people paid the price for their recklessness and incompetence.
And you saw a new tone enter our politics.
Before then we had presidents who, whatever their political views, made clear they loved America and loved Americans - all Americans
Reagan, the Bushes, Bill Clinton, Bill Clinton perhaps a bit too much - they weren't haters. You got the sense they loved everybody.
But then we saw something new. A cultural elitism came in. Condescension. Even contempt
Remember when then-presidential candidate Barack Obama said on April 6, 2008, “They get bitter, and they cling to guns or religion.”
How about when his wife Michelle said this on February 18, 2008; “For the first time in my adult lifetime, I'm really proud of my country.”
We saw hate and divisiveness -- from the top. And remember, from the left, not the right. From the elitists, not the populists.
From Joe Biden who said this on September 15 recently at the Human Rights Campaign dinner, “They, not you, have an ally in the White House. This time they have an ally. There are small percentage of American people-virulent people-some of them the dregs of society.”
And of course from the queen of hate, the empress of divisiveness, Hillary Clinton, on September 9, 2016, we got this: "You could put half of Trump’s supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables."
Rest - https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/steve-hilton-trump-and-his-supporters-are-being-blamed-for-a-climate-of-rage-and-hate-but-heres-the-truth