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Things I have written about Rob Ford, with Donald Trump’s name substituted in

There are key difference between Donald Trump and Rob Ford.

The Republican presidential frontrunner typically expresses his racism through fear and contempt, whereas the former mayor of Toronto more often conveyed his through paternalism and pity. Trump routinely emphasizes and exaggerates his personal wealth, whereas Ford, who passed away last week, seemed largely in denial about his own.

But their approaches to politics aligned at a very particular intersection of populism and demagoguery. Uniting and giving purpose to the politically dispossessed is among the highest ambitions to which a politician can aspire – but when the strategies for doing so include directing anger at marginalized groups, that’s politics at its most abominable. (Yes, there are parallels to 1930s fascism, but you’ll have to read Chris Hedges if you want more on that.)

Here are several excepts from pieces that I’ve written for NOW with the name “Donald Trump” inserted in place of “Rob Ford.” Aside from a handful of instances in which I originally referred to “the Fords” – i.e. Rob and brother Doug – and changed subsequent verb agreements from plural to singular, the rest of the words are the same:

Video: Trump Fans Go Nuts, Attack Queer Protesters (July 26, 2014):

If I’m being entirely honest, Donald Trump’s events have always had an air of menace to them. While they’re indeed for the most part celebratory, joyful, and even family-oriented, the intense concentration of jingoistic fervour has always been somewhat troubling.

But it was only last night, at the sixth Trump Fest I’ve covered as a journalist, that I saw a Trump event devolve into the outright violence and bigoted hatred of which they’ve always seemed capable.

Queeruption At Trump Fest (July 31, 2014)

The Trump Nationals are amped up. “Trump! Trump! Trump! Trump!” A few dozen gradually congregate around the protesters and attempt to drown out their interviews with the media by shouting pro-Trump slogans.

Bigoted taunts join the “TRUMP NATION!” growls.

Louder and louder they grow, the mob mentality taking hold. While there are a few…who might act this way on their own, it’s doubtful most would. You can see them gaining power and licence from each other.

“Go home! Go home! Go home!”

After a 10-minute buildup, the confrontation turns physical when a man grabs a sign from an activist’s hands and tears it to pieces. The crowd goes wild.

The word “faggot” finally emerges…

One protester is shoved…

Race Reckoning (January 21, 2015):

…the mainstream media and much of the public tended to dismiss Trump’s racism, homophobia and misogyny (and that of some of his supporters) – or at least were reluctant to call it what it was. The social systems that were supposed to identify and confront hatred were too timid or polite to do so.

…parts of the community…were caught off guard by Trump, failing to grasp the extent to which his attitudes would reverberate through the larger population.

“It seemed that it was just one person, so we just let him go. He’s the clown in the room. But that one person did a lot of damage to our community.”

City Council’s Race Problem (November 26, 2014):

Trump may have exacerbated these prejudices – and afforded them licence to be aired more freely – but he did not create them. To wish things would return to the pre-Trump status quo is to dream of a black-and-white Pleasantville whose patina of respectability masks the fact that all are not treated equally.

Besmirch In The Church (July 16, 2014)

Here are the highlights of last night’s debate – and, uh, a video of anti-Trump and pro-Trump demonstrators nearly coming to blows:

Everybody Donald Trump Tonight (July 10, 2013):

It’s tough to grasp Trump’s grip on a substantial slice of the electorate until you’ve attended one of his carnivals. His appeal extends past ideology or policy into identification. Many people who feel disenfranchised not just by the political establishment but by the entire social hierarchy that underpins our culture have found in him a vessel for asserting themselves and their right to shape the world in which they live.

And they love him for it, the way you might have loved Barack Obama once upon a time.

Queeruption At Trump Fest (July 31, 2014):

…Trump is not so much the king of Trump Nation as its pope. He offers straightforward answers to difficult questions, not knowing or caring about facts. To contrast what he says with observable reality is to miss the point: for him and his followers, truth is derived from conviction.

His adherents’ collective certitude has never seemed more coherent than it does here. They know what they stand for and are prepared to defend it, not intellectually but through passion.

Face-to-face With Trump Nation (April 24, 2014):

In Donald Trump’s orbit, the outlandish becomes acceptable and even valued and integrated. He is an entrenched, formalized cause for those whose frustrations and desires might not otherwise benefit from a unifying theme.

…it has only become more difficult to examine Trump Nation – those who still, despite everything, believe that Trump is both fit for office and uniquely suited to it – without falling into the traps of ethnography, exoticization and othering.

There are clearly fundamental differences of understanding at play, disparate conceptions of principles, tenets or even facts that most of us would consider settled.

Donald Trump’s Political Brilliance (December 5, 2013):

…a crucial component of Trump’s political brilliance was his active discrediting of the press by dismissing it as a collection of self-interested parties invested in a status quo that he threatened to disrupt. Don’t believe what you read, he intoned.

In the conventional view of things, the media are the professional truth-tellers who hold sometimes dishonest politicians to account. But Trump successfully shifted the debate to one of relative trust: in whom do you put more faith?

Our Year Of Magical Thinking (November 7, 2013):

Any one part of the Donald Trump story is, by itself, insane. But taken together, it all makes sense, each development a natural progression – a slow-motion satire about democracy gone wrong.

Trump Country Jamboree (October 30, 2014)

…Trump’s substantial talent is helping the powerless feel empowered, as though someone is responding to them for the first time in their lives.

Several people reply to his speech with proclamations of “In Trump we trust.”

If you’re looking to bring Trump Nationals toward reality-based politics, the only hope is to elect someone who can improve their circumstances in ways Trump only promises.

jonathang@nowtoronto.com | @goldsbie 

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