Friday, Nov. 8, 2024 | 2 a.m.
Nostalgia generally is a lovely and harmful factor.
It’s lovely, as a result of it permits us to enjoy fond recollections of less complicated instances: swimming on the metropolis pool after which taking part in pickup baseball on the highschool area; when a greenback received you right into a matinee and it didn’t matter what was taking part in as a result of the theater solely had one film anyway; using bikes within the cool mist behind a mosquito fogging truck on a sizzling summer season evening; impromptu Sunday drives as a result of fuel was solely 30 cents a gallon.
However nostalgia’s harmful, as a result of whereas reminiscing, we are inclined to overlook the downsides: that the city had two swimming swimming pools, one for white individuals and one for the “different” individuals; the films had been cookie-cutter creations that by no means challenged anybody’s assumptions about something; mosquito fog was DDT combined with kerosene and our massive outdated V-8 Dodge was chuffing out instant smog and what we later discovered had been climate-changing greenhouse gases.
I convey this up in the present day as a result of Tuesday’s election was very a lot a nostalgia election.
On the coronary heart of Donald Trump’s marketing campaign enchantment was the promise of returning to a previous that by no means actually was, except considered with rosiest of rose-colored glasses.
Over the course of President Joe Biden’s administration, costs went up on plenty of issues. I don’t assume a day glided by once I didn’t see a put up on Fb displaying the 2020 value of fuel round $1.50 a gallon (in contrast with the $2.62 I paid this morning).
There was a profound and collective amnesia surrounding the explanation for the low fuel costs 4 years in the past, which was after all, the COVID-19 pandemic, and enterprise closures that precluded driving to work or occurring trip. I sincerely hope we don’t have one other public well being menace like that, as a result of 1.1 million Individuals died for that low cost fuel.
Right this moment, I urged to my buddies on Fb that they begin taking photos of value tags. Let’s revisit this 4 years therefore, as a result of I’ve been round a very long time and might’t recall any four-year interval in my life, besides throughout the pandemic, when costs didn’t go up.
And Trump nostalgia was not only a eager for decrease costs of yesteryear.
With its fixation on demonizing immigrants and others who’re non-MAGA-conforming, Trumpism can also be about going again to the times when it was OK to mock and belittle those that don’t match the mildew that his followers assume we must always — when minorities knew their place, and in the event that they protested an excessive amount of you would at all times flip fireplace hoses on them.
With that in thoughts, I supply this recommendation to particular subgroups of the Trump coalition, who exit polls present made a giant distinction in his victory:
• To my pro-Trump Latino buddies, you may wish to ensure you get your Actual ID and don’t go away house with out it. I’ve a sense you’re going to want it. As a result of what do you assume a million-person-a-year mass deportation marketing campaign in opposition to individuals who largely share your racial and ethnic background goes to appear to be?
• To the pro-Palestinian people who dogged the Kamala Harris marketing campaign with the drumbeat of “Genocide Joe,” do you really imagine the individuals you need saved will get a greater deal from Trump? Each indication is he’ll let Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu do something he desires in Gaza and the West Financial institution. Trump doesn’t respect you, your tradition or your faith, though he confirmed he may faux it when it benefited him.
• To the ladies of MAGA, we’re sorry, however your purity robes and winged bonnets are on again order. There are provide chain points as a result of they’re made by the godless commie Chinese language. Within the meantime, you’ll be able to sew your personal.
However congratulations, all of us wakened in a unique nation Wednesday morning due to you. You’ll need to forgive these of us who aren’t thanking you for it. We fervently hope will probably be a studying expertise for you.
It’s a sorry state of affairs when the most effective hope for the nation is that the president-elect is mendacity by his tooth about his plans for a second time period, as simply as he lied about election stealing or Haitians consuming pets.
And the humorous factor about nostalgia is it modifications over time.
Hopefully, someday round 2028, thousands and thousands of Individuals will get up one morning and assume, “You realize, instances had been quite a bit higher again earlier than 2016.”
Dion Lefler is a columnist for The Wichita (Kan.) Eagle.
