I don’t know why it took this long for people to finally denounce Donald Trump so thoroughly and publicly, but hey, here we finally are. It would appear that as a country we have decided to grab this election by the pussy and rally against Trump in earnest, in light of the appalling comments made by someone who should only be thought of as a filthy, old, criminal bastard rather than president of the United States.
But that isn’t to say that Trump doesn’t still have his inner circle and core group of supporters; not everyone is jumping ship on Trump. No, there is a subset of people who have experienced new political life through Trump’s campaign, who if not for Trump, would be relegated to the fringes of society where they belong. These are the political vermin, and Donald Trump is their exalted rat king.
The list of vermin is extensive and varied. You have failed racist candidates like Pat Buchanan. You’ve got mid-major politicians looking to suckle on anyone’s teat for some attention like Chris Christie and Newt Gingrich. You’ve got conservative media members like Sean Hannity and Ann Coulter glombing on to Trump for potential presidential access. You’ve got gay-hating bigots jumping on board, led by vice presidential nominee Mike Pence, a man being praised for his “calm demeanor” and presidential attitude, despite the fact that he’d vomit all over himself if he brushed shoulders with a gay person. You’ve got evangelicals like Robert Jeffress slyly still supporting the candidate. You’ve got people with no self-respect like Ted Cruz. You’ve got F-list celebrities like Scott Baio and Don King. And, of course, you’ve got plain old insane people like Rudy Giuliani, Michele Bachmann, Sarah Palin and many, many more.
These names represent just a small fraction of the carnival of horrors that is the Trump campaign, and while they come from different backgrounds, there is one thing that binds them all: there is absolutely nothing that can be said or done to make them rescind their support for the nominee, because he is their meal ticket. Not just to a role in a potential administration, but as a future talking head on a network, someone who can get on the speaking circuit, or a future best-selling author.
This is the most frustrating and at times terrifying aspect of Trump’s ascendancy. There are so many dirtbags surfing Trump’s balls that it will be impossible for all of them to disappear when this nightmare is finally over in November. These people have been given a prominent voice and that’s not going away, not for a long, long time. And imagine if Trump does decide to start his own network when it’s all said and done. Trump’s greasy, fast-food-laced rat king body and its connected vermin have found their way into the mainstream. He’s normalized hate. He’s validated the thoughts of racists, bigots, sexists and more. He’s given motherfucking David Duke a platform. Trump can – and will – see to it that his “movement” grows.
And among these vermin, coalescing around Trump to form such a hideous monstrosity, there are plenty of politicians who would love for you to think they won’t support Trump, that they’ll stand up to him this time, but never truly will out of party loyalty. People like senator Joni Ernst:
“There’s no excuse for this reprehensible behavior! But am I going to rescind my endorsement of him? Not when the lamestream media lets Killary off the hook for coughing into a microphone.”
While some have withdrawn their support, Ernst is just one of a million Republicans who will scold Trump but never go all the way. Pence, Marco Rubio, Paul Ryan and the rest of the gang can stomp around and act as disgusted as they want, but until one gets in front of a camera and says it is imperative that Trump is stopped, it’s all hollow gesturing that favors party loyalty out of respect for all Americans.
And while a guy like John Thune can puff out his chest and call for Trump to withdraw, asking for Pence to take the nomination is just as mind-numbing. Trump has promised to not drop out, but there is a myth being bandied about that Pence is some moral warrior, which shows just how far the Republican party has fallen without the help of Trump’s tiny doll hands. A man who wanted to use public funding for gay conversion therapy is just as abysmal a person as Trump. Pence is a con man in his own right, a bigoted, backwards bumpkin who appears presidential because he was able to calmly tell bold-faced lies in front of 30 million people.
So hey, you can eat shit too, John Thune.
There are plenty of people who will say Trump is a passing phenomenon, a simple little blemish on the Republican party that will ultimately be overcome and forgotten. Even if that does happen, when exactly would that be? This didn’t just happen overnight; it’s been brewing for eight years out of ignorance from people who get their news primarily from TV, are constantly tricked by memes spewing false information and, in some cases, have expressed an inability to cope with a black president. So when will the effects of Trump’s existence no longer be felt?
There are tens of millions of people who will be voting for Donald Trump no matter what he does or says. These are tens of millions of people with children who will learn from their parents the supposed virtues of Trump. He’s a systemic virus, a rat carrying a black plague through our political discourse, powered by bigotry and prejudice that has always permeated but has never had such a prominent voice and leader. The perceived acceptability of hatred against Mexicans and Muslims, of misogyny, of almost proudly being uninformed – that’s not going away anytime soon.
And when Trump inevitably loses, he’s not simply going to disappear. The rat king will endure and even thrive with his surrogate vermin connected stronger than ever. With his 12 million Twitter followers he will declared the election to be rigged and go on an endless quest for “the truth,” and the vermin will follow because they have nowhere else to go and the cycle will continue because this time, they just won’t be able to handle a woman in the White House. If you don’t believe me, let me just say I’ve lost count of the people who have said they don’t like Hillary Clinton simply because she “sounds like my mother-in-law, my ex-wife, my annoying girlfriend.”
I’ve got no answers for any of this other than to say your awkward family Thanksgivings are only going to get more awkward and the memes your extended family members share are only going to get more insane. Donald Trump will likely be inundated with numerous fresh lawsuits as we slog along in the years ahead, but that will never stop a network from wanting to work with him. With his kind of influence, he’ll always be worth far too much to ignore.
Donald Trump is the personification of all that is wrong about our country, and at the same time is the champion of the people who have always and will always feel slighted by society without realizing they’re the wrong ones. So while Trump’s pussy-grabbing and his forcing women to experience being kissed by a living, breathing anus only seals his fate as a presidential candidate, that was never his endgame in the first place. He’s long since made himself an essential figure in our country’s history. He’s now something people can identify with. He can’t be forgotten.
For the people who should rightfully be cast aside as bigots and sexists and generally just idiots, they now have a seat at the table. And through never-ending deception and lies that come at you in droves at such a blistering pace you can never keep track of them all, they’ll be able to keep it.
It will take a generational shift to rid ourselves of the rat king and the damage he’s done. It might even get worse before it gets better. But when you vote against Donald Trump and remain on the right side of history, you’ll at least feel better about getting through it.
