Talking about the hard choice the Americans are facing between filling the gas tank or buy some groceries for dinner and the consumers’ ferocity when it comes to feeding their families. Compared to racism, it pales: the passion on our race versus their races is a gut feeling deeper and more powerful than paying a couple hundred dollars more for gas or groceries. That’s why even though the economy of ordinary people has gotten harsher that would bring down any democratic administration, the majority of white Americans are steadfastly behind MAGA: 80% of Republicans, that means 100% white, considering that some colored people have also joined the RP in hope of being recognized or admitted, that makes up for the 20%. And white people take 72% of the U.S.’s population.
The world can’t escape admiring President Trump for his political triumphs. Is he such a good fighter considering he grew up in that dog-eat-dog world of New York City construction industry? Or was he a political genius?
When he ran an ad advocating for the death penalty during the Central Park Five case, not many observers understood that he possibly positioned himself to run for high office. Twenty-six years later, he announced his candidacy for President of the United States. He had been opposed, fiercely and scorched-earth-ly, by his opponents but won the election in 2016. With the support of MAGA, he defeated them all and came out on top – literally, and won again in 2024, an unbelievable political comeback, leaving the Democrats in bewilderment.
MAGA seems to have figured out the winning strategy. The main ingredient was, and still is, racism – the strategic core to unite the white mass.
A new “How To” book has just come out titled “Liar’s Kingdom, How to Stop Trump’s Deceit and Save America” by Andrew Weissmann – a former prosecutor, professor of law, and a life-long democrat. If he saw the need to write a “How To” manual to save America for the Democrats, it could be said their statecraft has been in a dire.
So, any concerned citizen, even a Republican, should chip in to save Democratic America. Here is my piece.
The American political atmosphere was just like Germany before WWII when lurking behind the then feeble German government was the seething mass blaming foreigners and “others” for their predicaments after World War I. Nazi harnessed that energy, bent, and directed it toward a target more easily understood by the mass to vent their anger: the Jews.
Blaming foreigners for the White Americans’ difficulties is not new. That was, and is, the book that has been around at least since WWII, studied by MAGA, used by bigoted billionaires and their AI software, and applied incredibly successfully to rally the white mass to gain and maintain MAGA’s hegemony. For the last 30 or 40 years, many factors (you can read about them in my book, “A Supreme Conspiracy”) converged to turn the anti-foreigner sentiment into a latent movement that was turned by MAGA into a political strategy. Learning the lesson well, they looked for and found a scapegoat, the immigrants. Then, with great fanfare, masked agents roamed everywhere to look for, arrest, and send them away, just like the Nazis did – so soothing to the white population’s anxiety.
But here is the lesson from Candidate and now President Donald J. Trump. He is NOT racist. A racist would not sit at the same table with Jews let alone marrying off his precious and beautiful daughter to a Jew. But he plays a racist well. The number should be repeated here: 80% of Republicans continue to support him when gas rises from about $4 to about 6$ under his watch that would kill an incumbent’s candidacy two times over, a percentage all other politicians can only dream of. A percentage possible only in North Korea.
So, the first lesson Democratic candidate needs to a learn well: Play your role passionately and fiercely. Sometimes, a curse or coarse language would propel you a long way ahead. Refrain from being overly sincere or friendly. Politics is a serious business. Don’t over-smile in public.
Critics and Democrats label President Trump a liar when he insisted that he did not lose the 2020 presidential election. They even called him a mental disorder case. But they may be wrong in this case as it could be explained in a different way: it was a deep, ironclad conviction quite similar to extreme stubbornness that he was to win, and his defeat was not acceptable. It was an extraordinary state of psychology and mentality.
That of course is quite unusual in politics. All politicians know Bismarck’s motto that politics is the art of the possible that means flexible, losing is normal, and denying a political campaign loss is lying. But Donald J. Trump did not know any of that or probably did not care. When he decided to run again after his loss to President Joe Biden, everybody thought he was Sisyphus. It turned out he was not Sisyphus – he was Donald John Trump.
The devout Buddhists in Asia chanting mantras everyday believing that doing it would clear the path for them to reach Nirvana. Mr. Trump did seemingly possess such single-minded determination, blind conviction, a tremendous force carrying him forward. That in part explains his staying late at night texting. Such determination keeps him moving ahead regardless of the surroundings, an unshakable belief that was contagious and no doubt inspired his followers.
That is the second lesson: Democrats running for Congress or the White House must show deep conviction and true passion. If the saliva comes out of both sides of your mouth and you sweat and lose your breath when you expound your conviction, you will win. You should go to Hollywood to look for such good players. When Robert De Nero talks, people listen.
The third lesson: Racism or nationalism is not the exclusive domain of white people. It is human, at least the reaction of un-enlightened humans. It is universal. Look at the Venezuelans and the Iranians. Before the Israeli and American air attack that killed off the upper echelon of Iranian government, Americans and Israelis might have some belief and trust in “our” Iranians working against Ayatollah Khamenei. Now they are hard to find. Right after the taking of the Manduros, Venezuelan opposition was exhilarated – for a short time. Now they lie low. Even their acting president dares to contradict the president of the United States, the one who had just plucked her predecessor out of his bedroom in the mid of the night.
Therefore, Democrats must heed the wave, the White People First wave. You can entertain progressive thoughts in your brain, not in public. You must show that you are pro-white. You can say things like: “I think Elon has a point. I don’t understand Mr. Nolan’s casting philosophy”. (For those of you who have not read the news, Chritopher Nolan cast a colored lady to play Helen of Troy. Elon Musk and his friends vehemently objected). Or “I will let my Mexican gardener go as soon as I can find a white gardener”, etc.
So, talking racist or nationalist, if it helps to gain power, is not all bad. Without power, all your talks about ideals are just that, shooting the breeze. To do good you must first have power. Remember Blaise Pascal’s saying? Man is a thinking reed. When the wind blows East, does the reed, according to Pascal the weakest in nature, want to lean West? It could, at the peril of being blown into irrelevance or even oblivion. If you are stubborn sticking to your progressive ideas at this time and age, MAGA will surely be here for a long time. The ultra conservative justices on the Supreme Court will make sure of that and they won’t go anywhere, even the oldest ones. Justice Samual Alito is a rock of conservatism. Rocks do not change and rocks lasts long. Justice Clarence Thomas has preserved his energy so steadfastly – he does not want to speak at hearing as it requires expense of energy, and any contribution to an Opinion or Dissent is researched, prepared, and written not by him – too much work – but by his law clerks. He appears on the bench like a statue doing his best to preserve his energy – speaking sparsely or not at all saving his energy to protect his longevity.
Or in 2027, Justice Alito, a loyal adherent to conservative causes, who hoisted the national flag upside down to protest his neighbor’s political statement, could volunteer to resign and the president could appoint a thirty-something such as Stephen Miller to replace him. You could see no end to the conservative hegemony (at least 5 to 9 is guaranteed) in the Court, and the “Color Blind” doctrine à laLouisiana v. Callais (a decision deftly authored by him to forbid Louisiana to create a second black district), will reign indefinitely.
You don’t think Democratic politics is easy, do you?
JOHN P. LE PHONG
(This article appears on X, Facebook, and thelephongjournal.com)
