Dueling Town Halls

 In times that are apparently now far in the past, and, I suspect, irretrievably so, I might have thought that anyone making even a cursory evaluation of the dueling Biden/Trump Town Hall broadcasts would have had, despite preexisting prejudices, to concur that Biden, though not a silver tonged orator, was at least knowledgeable and thorough in his comments, whereas Trump was vague, repetitive, and of course dishonest (though the latter is his familiar trademark). 

But things are different now, aren't they? There is no critical thinking, there is no sober judgement, no honest appraisal or even an attempt at honest appraisal. It simply does not matter what Trump says, because, I think, it is simply not important, not the point. The point is an overarching, overwhelming hatred of all that Trump seems to stand against, or what they believe he stands against, at any rate. 

Which is what? 

That is a bit of a harder nut to crack, because my mind simply does not work that way. I take it to be a feeling of being threatened by changes in our society, a shifting of power to non-white minorities, a validation of things that have traditionally been thought unacceptable, or at best unmentionable, an acceptance and inclusion of 'the other', an ongoing degradation of economic realities (along with a will to blame the diminishing returns of lifestyle standards on the poor and on minorities). 

I do not believe that it is a dislike of Biden himself, or of anything in particular that he says. I don't really think that they have listened to anything he has said. Again, that is not the point. These are people with a special affection for an image of a past that has actually never existed. The American dream. A picture that has only taken and held its shape where fantasy was robust and suppression vigorous. They are angry because, frankly, their lives are falling apart, all of our lives are falling apart, the nation is falling apart, and dammit this must be someone's fault! It is a new world, and they liked the old one. The one that never existed.