The USS America is Listing

For most of the time since World War II, American presidential politics has been a matter of adjusting our rudder, making sure our republic plots a steady course, averting potential hazards that threaten smooth sailing. 

In mostly eight-year cycles, the two major political parties have been captained by leaders characterized by compassion, fairness, and calm, the latter of which is needed now more than ever. If things tilted too far in one direction, there was a counter-balancing adjustment to the course. 

Consider Reagan-O’Neill and Clinton-Gingrich. Occasional choppy waters? Sure. But nothing that a rational, reasoned assessment of the overall situation couldn’t overcome. 

But lately we’ve been taking on water. 

The hard pulls of inflamed political rhetoric in the past two election cycles have us scrambling to regain and maintain equilibrium. We can hope that the political travails Joe Biden is suffering early in his term are an indicator that we may stop bailing water soon. The past two skippers of the USS America have consecutively allowed hyperactive shipmates to overload the port and starboard sides, virtually ignoring the need for weight amidships. 

You know … the middle. Our seemingly dwindling middle. The grounded center whose voice had been muted until the incumbent president learned the same lesson in his 2020 campaign that his opponent did in 2016, that ignoring the middle is a bad idea. 

Obama certainly had calm in abundance. He was the “chill” president who also showed plenty of compassion. Yet in the fairness department, the Clinton ‘16 campaign projected an attitude of “we know what’s best for you, the little people.” And while “we, the people” appreciate the reality of top-down, we don’t care much for talking down. 

Trump saw that and capitalized with that time-honored populist tool - “I hear you.” His “I’m on your side” message was the same as Bernie’s, but it resonated most strongly in the states and specific districts that HRC took for granted. We, the people, don’t care for that much either. 

Which is why it was astonishing in 2020 that the Trump campaign had a total blind spot to the voter profile of the Atlanta suburbs, what I’ll suggest was the most telling voter group of the entire election. How could the Trump campaign miss what Stacey Abrams could see plain as day? That tens of thousands of new residents, many of them center-right professionals, often interracial couples, were invading the Atlanta suburbs every week. 

Yet the best the Trump campaign could offer up was an appeal to a pickup-driving, gun-toting, Confederate flag-waving “base” that those suburbanites could not even begin to resonate with. Can you say “race?” And as a result, voters resisting the extreme messaging either sat it out or voted for Biden. 

Despite that obvious blunder, Trump returns to CPAC as if he’s the conquering hero - but hero of what? There is no political excuse whatsoever for the Republicans having lost the Senate. Even the most lightly moderated message to Georgia voters would have retained the seats lost in the runoff. 

So, hey, you actual Republicans! If you feel it’s best to continue your voyage on the sinking ship USS Trumpkin … well, happy landings on that next iceberg. Meanwhile, many of us will be looking for signs of ballast from both port and starboard.