WWD’s Newsmaker of the Year: The Angry American
An Us-Against-Them Mentality
Today, WWD named The Angry American as Newsmaker of the Year. This comes as Donald Trump was just named Time Magazine‘s Person of the Year. While I know Time was not honoring Trump through bestowing the title (Hitler won it in 1938, after all), I still prefer WWD‘s choice. WWD‘s choice is more perceptive. Without the Angry American, Trump would still be a mere reality television phenomenon. Trump is just a symptom. It’s with the Angry American that we find the deeper issue.
Clark writes about an us-against-them mentality, David against Goliath, the Every man and woman against the Corporation. While Clark’s article vividly describes the anger of Trump supporters, and how that anger is actually part of global trend, I’ll add that Trump’s campaign rhetoric further activated more Angry Americans. As observers on the Left predicted, hate crime against minorities in America is surging.
Angry American against Angry American
It’s now Angry American against Angry American. Angry Hillary and Bernie supporters have taken to the streets in protest, horrified as Trump fills his administration with white supremacist neo-Nazis, misogynistic zealots, homophobes and bigots, and billionaires. Democratic and Republican politicians alike have called for investigations into Russia’s hacking of US elections, the possibility of which Trump refuses to acknowledge. All the while, Angry America’s teams blur the line with fake news to manipulate support for their side. That’s what got Trump elected, some argue, but fake news might also get Trump ousted. Where will it end? When will The Angry American finally have had enough?
From Evan Clark, at WWD:
An us-against-them mentality has taken over. It’s a fight between the everyman and woman and the corporate bigwigs moving jobs overseas, the billionaires and their tax shelters, Beijing and its currency rigging, the job-stealing illegal immigrants, the political elites lining their own pockets. Trump, the billionaire working out of his gilded Fifth Avenue Tower, managed to convince more than 61 million Americans he was on the “us” side in that battle — even as he proceeds to stack his cabinet with fellow billionaires.
Read more at WWD.