Helping America lance a boil?

Donald Trump Has Given the United States a Great Gift

By Bill C. Davis in Common Dreams

Poultice.

Not quite a homonym, but close.  Trump is a poultice poised to be Potus.

He is a poultice put on the body politic to draw out the poison. Whether or not that is his intention, it is the fact of his presence on us.

What he has drawn to the surface are various toxins isolated in a boil ready to burst. 

Election day is the lance. 

It would be an encouraging moment if he were to be shunned soundly on that day. 

But however unwittingly, he has done the country a great service by calling these elements to the surface.

"He gets to humiliate people. What a thrill for humiliated people. The inoculation for not being humiliated is to join the master as he mocks."

There may be hard core pockets of people who swarm to his dark summonings, but there are also aspects of most people who are tempted by his fumes. Scapegoating, humiliating, gossiping, ranting, threats – what a great primitive treat. And it works. Maybe.

Putting him aside for the moment, who wants him in power? Who believes his brand of power and authority is ideal and good for us? They need to be reckoned with and faced. 

The women and men taking to the airwaves rattling off a line of attack on opponents and generalized virtues laid at Mr. Trump's feet, who are they? People chanting USA and build that wall – who are they?

Are they well-meaning and good citizens? Who and what has he drawn to the surface and out of their corners of indignation?

There is a kind of a small collective kissing of the ring. A rich man. He is smart. He knows things we don't and therefore he knows everything about everything because how else does someone who can barely put a sentence together get billions of dollars?

He gets to humiliate people. What a thrill for humiliated people. The inoculation for not being humiliated is to join the master as he mocks.

He's real. Authentic. This may be the same as cruel. But there is the case of the bible and how well he does with The Evangelicals so he's not cruel – he's honest; true. And so we'll vote for him.

There's a hesitation to say anything about those who support and vote for Trump. It's superfluous, redundant and exhausting to state the obvious about a man who often refers to himself in the third person. But the ones who have been drawn to his fumes are the ones we might want to explore.

This is a kind of anthropological study. The dominant male in the tribe, to some, is identified by a certain sociopathy – a thick skin only when it comes to hurting another human being. 

The supporters identify not because they can do that, but because they wish they could do that. 

Maybe if they were very rich they would.  Maybe in their own way they do and are now emboldened by him to do it more. 

Because the poultice has as part of his brew enormous wealth and his own plane, all other pernicious vapors are vindicated.

"These followers have been brought to the surface and we should know them – they want to be known now. They are not afraid to be known and that is the gift Trump has given them – and us."

These followers have been brought to the surface and we should know them – they want to be known now. They are not afraid to be known and that is the gift Trump has given them – and us. 

He has given them a brutal benediction on their brutality. A blessing on their lack of empathy. A license to aim their disdain at the “other.” 

With his harsh sandpaper screech he underlines the “others” giving cover and consolation to the Unchristian Christians. What a relief not to feel guilty about being hostile and bigoted.

These supporters reveal themselves to be both cowed and exalted by his wealth. Supporting him is like buying a lottery ticket. 

The promised land is the prize and his voters have an instant membership because they hate what he hates. Wait – I don't – we don't hate anyone. Either we have a country or we don't.

The unifying aspects of a country is less about borders and much more about an overriding ethos. What do we ALL believe in in the United states of America? The poultice is calling out the elements that care not about unity but about dominating priorities. Trump and his supporters care about priorities that will dominate the less worthy members of the population.

To call Trump toxic is not the most important observation – the toxicity and the people he has invited to the surface for all to see - that is the best thing he has done for the country he loves.

Bill C. Davis is a playwright. Check out his website here.