Allegory #1 - From Riches to Racism

    Whenever I drive into the "whiter" and more evangelical parts of Orange County, where absolutely not one liquor store exists and the only wine for miles is locked behind chapel doors, I always feel confined by a moralizing authority that simply seems excessively fraudulent. I'm talking of course about Yorba Linda. Everything here is nicer, and richer, and much more conservative - after all who wouldn't want to conserve all this goodness once obtained? 

    Recently, I was picking up someone slightly more than a friend - who herself was staying at a friends house - and I arrived to an obscenely large estate marked by an equally large flagpole. Curiously, it was the only flagpole on the block. It happens that in my own more diverse neighborhood there is a similarly conspicuous flag pole that waves daily either touting "Trump", Beer themes, POW, or baseball paraphernalia. This being my only point of reference, I make a quick blanket assumption that these people too are likely Trump supporters - and perhaps possibly (*gasp*) racist? 

    Not wanting to make unwarranted assumptions so quickly, I assumed that perhaps their mansion,  American flag, two jeeps and two SUV's were simply not adequate enough symbols to support political conclusions. Nevertheless, when my friend eventually found her way to my car (drunk) from the farthest reaches of this estate, the first thing I asked was "So, are they Trump supporters?" 

                "Yeeeesssss" she bemoaned. 

    "What does he do?"

                "He's an environmentalist"

    "Sounds almost like an oxymoron...What does that mean?"

                "He owns a water testing company."

    "Gotcha. So he got a big company tax break and now he's a Trump supporter."

                "Basically."

    Fine. Nothing wrong with owning a business and reaping some rewards, but it still unnerved me that she was hanging around in that house. So I pressed a bit further and found out that her friend in that family is fairly liberal but her father and two brothers are bigly Trump supports. One of the brothers is dating a latina girl who apparently doesn't care enough about politics to think that who her boyfriend supports matters or says anything dubious about him personally. Fine, not my business, but a tad strange. More interestingly, her liberal friend recently admitted that she feels like she may ultimately just vote for Trump "because he hasn't really been that bad." Well certainly not for your family, I thought. 

    My friend was in between semesters and she had been hanging out with her friend in that mansion for the past week. I have mentioned consistently that I think she needs new friends (for multiple reasons, this being the latest) but she insists that these people have been extremely supportive in her life. That's great, but it doesn't mean they're a good influence now or that you need to keep them in your life by necessity. Unfortunately, she has an unstable home life so escaping to this mansion is probably extremely attractive. But in some way too, perhaps she's also being bought by the eloquence of riches...and maybe she too could be swayed to vote for Trump if she comes to believe that "he hasn't really been that bad."

    In any case, we get Ben and Jerry's and hang out. I drive to a spot with a view and realize we have no spoon. Slightly annoyed, I back out to leave and head for a gas station nearby where presumably they will have a spoon or two. On our way out, a group teenagers is gathered by the road and there is a couple embracing on the edges of the road. The guy thrusts the girl out into the roadway in front of us and then pulls her back suddenly. Given our speed, this admittedly wasn't dangerous but just a dumb joke and I quickly commented on that. My friend does the same, but out of a drunken frustration, and uncharacteristically spews: 

        "Fucking n****rs"....  (even though they were latino)

    I paused... shocked. Processed a bit, then asked her what she said. Full denial, "nothing, okay!" Obviously it wasn't nothing but she was ashamed, so in silence we drove to get the spoons. I was disgusted but also couldn't ignore that incident. 

    Upon returning I pressed her about why she had said that word. My assumption was that it genuinely wasn't something that she wanted to say, and she understood it as terribly racist, so it was probably something she had been exposed to. But by who? It hardly begs the question. I knew. It seemed obvious. Ultimately she admitted to me in no uncertain terms, that in that grotesque mansion property she's been basking in, exists at least 3 racists who not infrequently say the N-word freely. They have Trump's books, drink wine with his name on it, and in general bask in his personality. 

    To recap, initially I was worried that I had made uncouth assumptions of people based on their homes appearance, but in the end it seemed that my worst fears were confirmed. It is my perspective - although not entirely generalizable (it would be too ironic to pretend so) - that the Trump phenomenon is in part due to his ability to buy votes from his supports through the form of tax cuts. Businessmen think this is great and will accept him for all his flaws by their "good christian graces" so long as their savings continue. Racism, xenophobia, and jingoism are all ushered in under the gift of tax breaks, and now the spoiled children of a successful "environmentalist" think they're allowed to say whatever they want in rejection of some "P.C. libtard" values. 

    The success in that family blinds them to the greater sociocultural ramifications of their bandwagon support of a dangerous idiot, and it seems that like all advertising, opulence is a tough temptation to ignore and it may yet claim the votes of the lone liberal in that family, as well as - I fear - the vote of my friend.