Trump Flag: What It Means to the Person Flying It.

On a recent walk, I noticed a house flying a Trump flag. A beaut! Probably blocks light from flowing into its living room windows. Poetic, I’d say. Nothing blocks light from coming in like a tsunami of lies and false accusations.

At any other time, if I walked up to the door and showed people a picture of beautiful little kids crying their hearts out because their mothers were taken away from them by government agents, they’d be sympathetic.

In any other time, if I told them a prominent politician called the Marines who died in Belleau Wood “suckers,” they’d be furious. Or if I showed them a video clip of prominent political personality insulting a Gold Star family who lost a son in the military, they’d be angry.

If any other time, I told them that a political party was making it more difficult for the post office to get medicines and pension payments on time to people who needed them, they’d be concerned.

Any other time, if I told them that Social Security was under attack and that, if successful, they’d enter retirement with nothing but their savings to sustain them, they probably wouldn’t believe the government would do that to them.

Any other time, if I told them our state was not going to get the federal funding the congress voted for it because the governor belonged to the wrong political party, they’d think that was really unfair.

At any other time . . .

This family would probably not want to see tax money intended for public schools funneled into private schools only wealthy people can afford to send their kids to. Schools, that is, they could never afford.

They’d probably be against having tariffs imposed willy-nilly on other countries because it causes prices to go up for everyone.

Trouble is this is not any other time. I’d probably find whoever answered the door was white, probably not a fitness nut with no education beyond high school. Neither adult in the household would have travelled extensively. Both trudge off to a boring job every day that holds little chance for advancement. This two-income family is probably in debt, with less than $1,000 put away for an emergency. Even that doesn’t cover their credit card debt.

They would probably like the cost of healthcare and drugs go down and become more affordable. They wouldn’t like knowing the old folks in the family would look to them for support when their social security and Medicare is taken away. They can’t imagine families filing for bankruptcy because they are overwhelmed with the debt from health care and life-sustaining drugs.

Maybe not a hoax . . .

They are probably not too concerned about Covid-19. They may not believe it’s a hoax, but then it hasn’t hit anyone they know so far. Trump must be doing an okay job. You can’t trust the numbers. Most of the time they dutifully put on masks as they go about their business. This isn’t New York, after all. They don’t work in a meat packing plant.

I honestly do not believe they thoughtfully chose to back a party that decided it wouldn’t publish a platform for the 2020 election. Their own experience has been that neither party keeps its promises anyway. They don’t mind a government on the level of the kids’ card game fifty-two pickup. Throw everything on the floor and let whoever comes along next to reassemble the deck so play of any kind can continue. There will be no program to address the ills of the nation, redress the inequities, and put us on the road to domestic peace and peace abroad. Maybe things will get better if we just leave it alone.

So why the flag on this family’s porch? Because Mom and Dad are pissed, that’s why. They’re pissed at kids picking up signs and protesting when they should be in school or working. They’re pissed at Black Lives Matter because damned little has happened in their lives to help them realize their own lives matter. They know they’re not going anywhere. It’s the same shit every day. The same pain-in-the-ass jobs. Same asshole bosses. The same bills at the end of the month. A mortgage and two SUV’s to pay for.

Their limited circumstances seem more confining every passing year. If there is an American Dream, it doesn’t seem it’s coming true for them. They work hard. Do the best they can with the kids. They don’t like it when others get paid for doing nothing. All those folks on welfare. They’re the cheats. Not the billionaires the press keeps carping about. Can’t believe anything you read anyway.

They are afraid they are losing out. The people in the cities, the African-Americans and Hispanics, are going to wrest away what little confidence they have in his future. Them and the snobs like Hillary Clinton. That bunch. People of color are going to increase in numbers. People of color are going to take over. They had nothing to do with making the nation great. They are just coming in at the last minute to reap the rewards of something they never worked for in the first place. You see them on TV. They are everywhere.

If only . . .

Only Trump recognizes this horrible threat. Only Trump gives voice to this family’s anger and resentment. Only Trump can turn back their fears. Never mind he hasn’t been successful so far. The Democrats keep ruining his programs. If America were only white again, the way it was in 1980’s, or even earlier, when they were kids. Life made sense. Mayberry all over again. They aren’t against poor people. They wouldn’t be against people of color if they were white. Maybe not even then. Maybe if everybody just acted white.

Keep America Great means keep America white. Ignore all those people who piss and moan about lack of freedom. If they don’t like it, they should go somewhere else and let good, hard-working, honest folks stay in charge of a world that is their legacy.

The election is not about policies and programs. For them, it all about control. Control more than ever. They have felt it slipping away for years now. That’s why they own guns. It’s time to hang on because your way of life is at stake. That’s why they don’t care about programs. That’s why they don’t listen to other points of view. Their rage wants a voice. They’re entitled. They don’t need to be reasonable when they’ve been ignored all this time.

They’d be pissed to know that their big beautiful Trump flag is a banner for a family too afraid think about a better way to do anything, a family so fearful of the present, they want to retreat into the past. That’s what they are signaling, for all the guns and camo outfits. They feel abandoned and alone and in search for others just like themselves for comradeship and consolation. None like them have the foggiest idea of what to do next nor how to lay out a thoughtful program that will help us all find our way out of the violence and uncertainty that has taken over our lives.

The family flying the Trump flag is a good, honesty, patriotic family. Good guys actually. It’s just that following rage, giving in to fear and anger, are more important right now than understanding how the nation needs to heal and overcome all the trouble that’s on TV every night. Grab your gun, jump in the back of a pickup, take back the power, and do what law enforcement can’t seem to get done. Or, at the very least, urge those guys on.

There’s no arguing with fear.