Ask Bucko

It is fascinating to watch how Trump has taken a baseball bat to most of what was positive and reassuring about recent America. The country, with exceptions, was a global leader in science, health, culture, sport and general standards of living.

The last thirty or so years has seen American society go through a period of modernisation, mainly in areas of social policy. This of course includes civil rights for black Americans, but also included, over time, the inclusion of Native Americans, Hispanics and those with disabilities, the aged and the unemployed.

Myths about there being no safety net were just that: unemployment benefits and health care have mainly been state responsibilities, and so federal funds were available, but not really front and centre in the public consciousness.

Another area of excellence was foreign aid. The Peace Corps, and the U.S.A.I.D. programmes were unbelievably generous, and necessary. Although often derided as just another example of American power projection, they were essential and life-changing for millions around the world.

There were disparities and failures in many areas, but when you look at the work of DOGE and its immature vandalism, you begin to see the vast range of valuable research, innovations and lifestyle enhancements provided for ordinary Americans.

It is a case of you only know what you had when you lose it. That is what is so maddening and counter-intuitive about Trump’s crusade to take America back.

Look at what it was like before

The America of then was racist, obcessed with defeating the Soviet Union at everything, compulsively patriotic, militaristic, and narrowly religious. Its murder rate was stratospheric, non-white voters struggled to actually vote, abortion was conducted in back alleys, and heterosexuality was a rigidly enforced norm.

Marriage between the races was a crime. Communists were hunted down and exposed. Some even went to jail for their political beliefs. Americans charted their own course, and preferred to find their own solutions, thus the continuation of American exceptionalism. It was still spectacularly successful, however.

So America was not an egalitarian paradise. Essentially it was best for whites in general, unseemly wealth was celebrated, and mainstream social values were inflexible, and defended vigorously.

Convention ruled, at least until the arrival of the Hippie revolution, which if not able to overturn America’s conservatism, at least opened American minds to difference.

What does he want to reconstruct?

The working class had reasonable, well-paying manufacturing jobs, children were safe in their schools, the wives generally stayed at home, and the television news and the press could be relied on to tell the truth. This is the positive side to society, as it then was.

Here are some of the downsides. Religion was usually a choice between brands of Christianity; Protestants were mainstream, with Catholics slightly frowned upon; and Jews were still discriminated against. It was a relatively hidden type of bigotry. Its costs were mainly personal, but still profound.

Sihks and Muslims were virtually unseen, as were Hindus and Buddhists. Their religions were thought of as somehow not deeply religious, but part of a quaint, simple belief system, tied to national identity, for example “Indian Hindus” etc. There was almost nil interest in non-Christian religions.

The races were mainly kept apart, and the further south you travelled the more the segregation became cruel and obvious. Acts of racial violence occasionally erupted, but blacks were wary of going against the power structure. Lynching was a recent memory in some of the southern states.

Black entertainers, like Billie Holiday, were still barred from using the front door when entering hotels they were booked to entertain.

The Irish, Mexicans, Germans and Japanese immigrants went through periodic harassment; this often coincided with tough economic times, where competition for jobs was top of mind.

Many Germans were singled out and detained during the Great War, as “enemy aliens”; similarly Japanese immigrants were also locked up in detention camps, during the Second World War, for the same reason.

Homosexuality was completely hidden, and its discovery could easily destroy careers and families. It was also dangerous, as it often provoked very strong condemnation, and harsh punishment; this could include vigilante justice, alongside state persecution.

Trump wants to remove the gains, and take us back to the 1950s

In the immediate post-war period America was the land of unlimited promise. Housing was being built at a phenomenal rate, the returned soldiers were fit and ready for work. Women, some reluctantly, went back into the home to start families, and America opened its arms to millions of migrants.

America educated its returned soldiers, and created a huge white middle class. Positive discrimination gradually worked its way into the mainstream, due to a mix of social justice, and pragmatism. If America was to prosper, it needed the best and the brightest. And that included non-whites.

Another source of talent was skilled immigration. As the universities expanded, they became beacons for the world. Post graduates flocked to the universities, often staying to contribute to America’s burgeoning, multicultural successes.

So Trump has attacked everything that made America great

When considering Trump in light of his achievements we are led to the conclusion that his only achievement has been in de-regulating America’s shower-heads.

He is consciously reversing all Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion policies, which is just outright racism dressed up.

He has sabotaged America’s transition to renewable energy, and possibly exposed America, and arguably, the entire world, to societal collapse, and the destruction of civilisation, due to climate change.

He has caused millions of deaths, and will continue to cause more millions of deaths, by closing down U.S.A.I.D. programmes. According to The Lancet,

“For the past 20 years, the USA has been the leading government donor to humanitarian response plans, development aid, and multilateral development banks, mainly through the US Agency for International Development (USAID).”

He has removed Medicaid from 17 million Americans, and has de-funded food stamps for many of the poor.

He has effectively banned abortion in a majority of states, causing untold numbers of women to revert to backyard solutions. This will cause many deaths to the mothers, and also unwanted children, even when the result of rape or incest.

He wants to control what universities teach, and he wants to gerrymander voting districts, which works against one person, one vote. He will also make it harder for disadvantaged people to vote, by intoducing mandatory I.D. checks for voters.

He wants to outsource all science to private industry, and he has put an ignorant man, the original Nepo baby, in charge of the Health system. This man is currently dismantling the vaccine system in America, and during a measles outbreak. This same person is ignoring the possibility of another COVID outbreak, putting millions of Americans at risk.

America has been surrendered to barbarians.