I’ve been to TEA Party events and many other Right Wing events. While these events always left me baffled, there was some modicum of reality to those past events. Trump has bred a new kind of politicians and followers. And what I saw was dangerous – an alternate reality. There is one silver lining, however.
The Candidate Forum between two Republican Primary candidates proves an important point; the Right Wing lives in an alternate state of reality. The candidates adopted the biggest Trump flaw, lying. Because they have the trust of the community and a corresponding media and Right Wing think-tank support, they can mislead a large section of society.
TX-02 Candidates Kevin Roberts & Dan Crenshaw: An Alternate Reality
I want to be clear. These people are not evil people. A well-designed system convinced some who were predisposed to the programming.
A few weeks ago I got an email from Kevin, a past president of the Kingwood Area Democrats. He told me that a local organization was going to have a Republican Primary Candidate Forum for Texas House District 2 featuring Dan Crenshaw and Kevin Roberts in the runoff. One of them will run against Democrat Todd Litton in the general election to replace Congressman Ted Poe (R-TX). I told him I would go to it.
He texted me about 45 minutes before the event to let me know the place was packed. He said he got on the last table and was saving me a chair. As I walked in, people were leaving. Kingwood folk filled the place way beyond capacity. I walked up to the front of the line wearing my “I-Report for CNN” T-Shirt purposefully for this eventuality. They let me right through.
I am not sure if I got in because of the T-Shirt or because they did not want to deny entry to the only black person at the event. I found the stares amusing. I searched around till I found Kevin. He had a seat for me. I could detect that some of the people on the table seemed decidedly uncomfortable with my presence. Funny, one would think that I would be the one suffering some discomfort of distinctness. I am comfortable in every environment because cauterized in my psyche is the reality that race is a social construct. That is a part of my being and a tenet I am trying to get all Americans, all people, to understand.
Cynthia Calvert, Publisher, and CEO of The Tribune Newspapers was the moderator. It was a cookie cutter uneventful list of fundamental questions one would expect at any Republican event. I saw absolutely no differences between the two candidates on policies. Dan Crenshaw, the former U.S. Navy Seal, is energetic with a brash delivery. Kevin Roberts comes across as patently dull but one who is a legislator type.
So what did the Trump adoring audience learn? And yes, they are in fact Trump adoring. A woman in front of me seemed to scoff when each of the candidates said they supported the president. I thought it was my opening, someone out of the fog? I either misjudged her reaction, or she did not want to break away from the prevailing thought. She told me she was repeating something to her husband when I asked her if her reaction was against Trump.
The Trump adoring Republican learned the following.
- There is a deep state, unelected bureaucrats that they must extricate.
- Disregard the mainstream media. Illegal immigrants continue to rush the border. [LIE]
- California is running a massive deficit. [LIE]
- They won’t cut Social Security for old folks, but migration to privatization for the future is their policy [2008 anybody?]
- They will uphold the second amendment at all cost.
After the event, I asked a former candidate in the race if he genuinely believes in a deep state. He said yes. I asked if he thought everything these candidates were saying were correct. He confirmed that he did. Folks this is an alternate reality. He promised to come on my Politics Done Right show to discuss further where I intend to civilly counter his points.
But that isn’t the end of my adventure. While speaking to the former candidate, a woman patiently waited. She asked me in a kind voice what I was doing at the event.
“I see you at Starbucks every day with your laptop,” she said. “When I saw you come in I started to laugh because I knew you were not here for the candidates.”
I had never spoken or noticed her before. How could she know? Hmm. She said that we have a friend in common. She then went on a rant on immigrants. Kevin attempted to give her some immigrant history to no avail. I chimed in, but she was not listening but waiting to get her talking points in our sphere. I gave her a hug and card and asked her to read my blog even if hurts. I would try to engage her if I see her in Starbucks.
I left there at first amused but then feeling so sorry for the citizens there. The politicians know better. These people live in an alternate state, one of whose genesis is the Powell Memo, where they are nothing but the widgets to allow a select few to continue the pilfering of America.