Emerging from the Trump Presidency: Part One

David Domke, professor and former dean of the University of Washington Department of Communication, and founder and director of Common Power, streamed the first of a two-part post-election lecture series this evening.  As mentioned in my earlier Domke posts, I'm offering what is essentially my summary of his lecture, without critical analysis, and doing so for my own future reference more than for your entertainment.  However, I'll be delighted if you enjoy reading my summary.

Domke began his lecture by expressing the uppermost thought that virtually all of his audience had in mind -- Just 40 More Hours of Trump!  And warning us that winning the presidency was not a culmination, but only the beginning, of our efforts.  This is no time for slacking off.

This lecture was Domke's study of similar moments in America's past, and an analysis of what history suggests will happen in the future.  He recalled to our minds the "Southern Manifesto" of March 12, 1955 -- signed by 19 of the senators from the eleven states of the Confederacy.  (Only Al Gore, Sr. and Kefauver, of Tennessee, and LBJ of Texas didn't sign -- and LBJ was talked out of signing only because the Southern bloc saw in him a potential Southern president.  The Manifesto was a reaction to Brown v. Bd. of Education, urging that integration be resisted by all lawful means, and in the hope that reasonable readers in the North would help the signers and thus avoid forceful resistance by less prudent Southernors.  Senator Byrd coined the phrase "massive resistance," a phrase that has emerged once more since November's election.

Domke pointed out that there have been three periods in American history where social changes resulted in progressive movements, movements that were strongly resisted by parts of the population, and whose fervor eventually died away.  The net change in each case was one of progress.  To effect that progress, large numbers of individuals had to work together, each helping the country inch slowly into the future.

Those three movements were:

1.  The mid 1840s to the late 1860s -- Abolition and women's rights.

2.  Late 1890s to early 1920s -- Progressive movement and women's rights.

3.  Late 1940s to early 1970s -- Civil rights movement and women's rights.

We are now in the midst of a fourth movement, beginning in the mid 2000s, focusing on the pluralization of American society.

Each of these movements was met by strong resistance:

1.  The Civil War, and the post-War white terrorism.

2.  The temperance movement was co-opted by men, giving the women one of their major social goals (Prohibition), but doing so under male ownership.  The Ku Klux Klan.  The Immigration Act of 1924, limiting immigration from each nation to its percentage of the population in 1890.

3.  Hostility mainly to Blacks, but also to all coloreds and women.  The Religious Right -- flipping the South to the Republican party, and laying the roots of today's White Nationalism.

4.  Today -- nativism and xenophobia, voter suppression, anti-abortion, voter ID laws, and anti-immigration.

Each of these four "progressive" eras was marked by technical improvements in communication that were of use to both side:

1.  Telegraph

2.  Film and radio.

3.  Television

4.. Cell phones, internet, Twitter.

How much longer will today's period of turmoil and conflict continue.  Historically, each period has lasted about twenty years.  This suggests we will continue to be at each other's throats until 2025 or 2030.  Domke says this is good, because we have a lot that needs to be accomplished, and it can be accomplished only at the price of stirring up opposition.

The first three periods were marked by progress promoted by Congress through legislation, such as the Voting Rights Act of 1964, and approval of constitutional amendments.  Our present period has been unique because of the absence of any serious legislation, aside from Obamacare.  The reason can be stated in two words:  "Mitch McConnell."  

He notes that Obama's presidency stirred up enormous opposition, not only because of health care but because of the symbolism of his being a black president.  Note how the rioters in D.C. were virtually all white males.  Progressives have a lot of work to do, and it will be difficult.  But Domke is optimistic. 

He ended the night's lecture with clips showing CNN's Van Johnson reporting the elections of 2016 and 2020.  Stunned in 2016, hoping that Trump would realize how many Americans not in his base feared his leadership, and urging Trump to take firm steps to show that he served as president of the entire country, not just his supporters.  In 2020, when CNN declared Biden the winner, Johnson broke down on camera, describing how devastating the past four years had been for all Americans who weren't white.

Domke's second and final lecture will be tomorrow.