"JIM, ADMIT IT. YOU HATE DONALD TRUMP"

"Jim, admit it.  You hate Donald Trump!"

That's a reappearing statement in this blog's message box.

The commenter's insinuation seems obvious; that my observations about Trump are personal, likely based on his rough-around-the-edges style, his rejection of historical norms, my personal rejection of his in-your-face opulence or even a jealousy of that wealth, fame and fortune.

The other side of the "you hate Trump" coin, perhaps, the softer, gentler side is "I would trade one mean tweet for $1.69 gas," a statement that attempts to minimize Trump's ineptitude as President, characterizing it as a certain "meanness," that the wimpy, oversensitive among us might find intolerable, but, also a statement, that reflects a misunderstanding of the market fluxes that influence oil and, subsequently, gasoline prices.

Believe it or don't believe it, but I've never been partisan, Republican or Democrat.  

I've been genuinely proud of the way almost all of our presidents have carried themselves; with dignity, diplomacy, courage and knowledge of how the world works.

If any of these presidents of my lifetime; Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Bush, Clinton, Bush, Obama, Biden, were racist, they hid it well.

Yet, Trump revealed exactly who he was when he came down the escalator in 2015 to announce his candidacy for president using racially inflammatory rhetoric against Mexican Nationals.

Even obvious racist George Wallace, the Governor of Alabama, who ran for President in 1968, was more subtle in his racism than Trump, as was David Duke, long time head of the Ku Klux Klan.

Wallace would say he wanted what was "best for the Negro" and his campaign garnered support, not only in the South, but among working class whites in northern states.

KKK Grand Wizard David Duke: "Voting Against Donald Trump is Treason to Your Heritage."

Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard Duke always made it clear he did not hate Blacks, but was simply a "civil rights" advocate, for white people.  He even started an organization whose acronym mimicked the NAACP, the NAAWP, the National Association for the Advancement of White People.

While Wallace awkwardly tried to conceal his racism, Duke was super smooth, appearing on talk shows with blow-dried hair and a $1,000 suit, trying to convince us he wasn't at all what we knew him to be. 

While not personally a member of either political party, as I watched Trump in 2015 destroy 17 or 18 Republican candidates with personal insults and lies, I knew I couldn't support THAT.

Prominent Republicans initially fought against Trump, his lies and insults.

When Trump made the utterly false claim that Ted Cruz' father, Rafael Cruz, played a part in the Kennedy Assassination, something Trump had read in the garbage rag, the National Enquirer, Cruz responded by calling Trump a "pathological liar," "utterly amoral," "nuts," "kooky,' someone incapable of distinguishing between lies and falsehoods.

Republican leader Lindsey Graham also initially pushed back against Trump's lies and divisiveness, saying:  A Trump nomination "would be an utter, complete and total disaster.  If you're a xenophobic, race-baiting religious bigot, you're going to have a hard time being president of the United States, and you're going to do irreparable damage to the party."

And, later:  "You know what would make America great again?  Tell Donald Trump to go to Hell. . . . He doesn't represent the values the men and women in uniform are fighting for. . . He's ISIL Man of the Year."

Yet, undeniably, Trump tapped into something, deeply rooted fears within the American working class.

Yes, fears.  White Americans had long been fearful of Blacks, especially educated Blacks, taking their jobs and, later, to Mexicans, Central Americans, Laotians, Vietnamese and Cubans.

Hell, Bill Clinton lost his only election ever, the Arkansas governorship in 1980, when President Jimmy Carter sent thousands of Cuban "boat people" into Arkansas to live in the old Army barracks of Fort Chaffee.  Fear!

Trump also benefited from the backlash of America electing their first Black President, an articulate one at that.  Having lived in Deep South Arkansas for thirty years, I know one thing whites hate is an "uppity Negro."

Again, from my personal experience, I've watched white men thrill and cheer at the hoops and touchdowns scored by athletic black young men for their favorite high school, college or professional teams while secretly fearing those same young Black men might rape or have consensual sex with their blonde cheerleader daughter.

It was not accidental or inconsequential that Donald Trump's racist comments at the bottom of the escalator contained the word "rape."  It played into racist fears.

Trump also played evangelicals, religionists who love the Good Book, but also are influenced by the television pulpits of Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, Jimmy Swaggart, Kenneth Copeland, Jim Bakker and others, all righteous Trump supporters.  

Disgraced TV evangelist Jim Bakker once said:

"You know what?  Trump is a test whether you're even saved.  Only saved people can love Trump."

If there are two symbols most Americans cherish, they are the Bible and the flag.  Trump cleverly embraced both as his own.

Trump supporters will point to accomplishments.

They will say he lowered taxes, even if it was primarily for the rich.

They might say he tried to drain the swamp, although his administration had the most criminality of any in history.

Some even claim that Trump engendered respect for America from the world, while he actually tried to unravel our country's relationships with allies seven decades in the making.

Certainly, our country's intelligence-gathering agencies felt the brunt of disrespect when Donald Trump took the words of Vladimir Putin over their intelligence.

Yet, none of the words above will have any effect on true believers in Trump.

Trump has already convinced 35% of the American people this is all "fake news."

Rupert Murdoch, Fox News, QAnon, Breitbart et al, have done a number on America, hopeless dividing it as never before.

Good people, patriotic Americans, Bible believers, good Samaritans, Boy and Girl Scouts, your neighbors, my neighbors, your relatives, my relatives, some of our closest friends, have been duped, conned, tricked and manipulated into believing in America's greatest con artist, Donald J. Trump.