SF Writer has his say about these “Trump Times”

As the divisions within our nation become more frayed in the violent aftermath of the white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, a San Francisco-based writer speaks his mind.

Joseph Sutton is more than a writer with nostalgic musings of baseball and growing up in Hollywood. Sutton’s unique background spurs him on to speak out and not simply follow the ‘status quo’ of the day.

As a family man and former teacher, Sutton realizes he must speak out so as to set an example not only for his son but for the next generation coming of age in our troubled society.

In his usual format, Sutton contacted this reporter with his observations – written down in his journal that go back to the days when Donald Trump began his bid for the U.S. Presidency.

Right from the get-go, Sutton like many others noticed something ‘off’ about Donald Trump, who’s name is synonymous with big business and major real estate deals. “He’s a man who says the most inane things and somehow gets away with them,” noted Sutton back in 2016. “There are people who actually believe this braggart can solve all the problems in America.” 

Sutton could see through Trump’s counter-productive campaign strategies that pitted all rivals and opponents against him.

One blaring example of short-sightedness on Trump’s part was his attack on migrant workers, immigrants and foreign powers, such as China. If anything sent out a ‘red flag’ it would no doubt be the statements he made about migrant workers. Or as he and others often refer to them as “illegals.”

Trump who owns some of the most well-known and high profile hotels, was oblivious of something obvious to most people. Migrant workers are the backbone if not the life-blood of the hotel, hospitality and construction industry. 

Sutton is no stranger to the struggles of minority groups. In the 1960s as he reached the prime years of his life, he was eager to “do for your country” as JFK said in his famous speech. Sutton, while serving in the U.S. Coast Guard, recognized the importance of wanting to give back and make a difference. He became a teacher.

The students he taught in South Central Los Angeles were in the midst of radical social change during the 1960s. These were not the idyllic times just after WWII, when just about everyone was dreaming of a prosperous America in the horizon of the new tomorrow.

The prosperity of the 1950s opened the door to a new generation who had to grapple with the previous caste-systems of old, founded in a rigid class structure and the hypocrisy of slavery – which was an injustice to democracy. For Sutton, his students were dealing with racism, bigotry and inequality in a land of promise.

The accomplishments reached for American society during the turbulent 1960s are not forgotten by someone like Joe Sutton. In fact, his sense of self in American society goes much deeper. 

Behind the baseball fan and all things American from the ‘good-old days,’ Sutton is very much like the minority groups he taught in South Central LA. The immigrant experience is very close to him also. He is the child of immigrants who came to America for a better life amid political upheavals and dire conditions.

Ironically, when tensions in Syria erupted into civil war and thousands of people sought refuge in the U.S and else where, Sutton empathized.

As the tragedies of the disbursement of thousands upon thousands of people were strewn violently from their homes, Sutton realized something unpleasantly familiar.

Behind his mostly happy upbringing in sunny Southern California, his parents and grandparents held a different reality.

Sutton is of Syrian-Jewish descent. An American born and raised to the core is Joe Sutton. But he shared a common cultural identity and ethnicity of an ancestry that in and of itself became part of the American landscape and social fabric.

Still, even with such an immense collective contribution, people of Semitic background were vulnerable to persecution and injustices of all kinds; simply because this particular immigrant experience was “different” from the Anglo-Saxon, Protestant image and mindset that those in power at the time of the pre- and post-WWII periods wanted.

The lack of a clear directive in helping the refugees was heart-breaking. But it reminded Sutton of those prejudices of long ago that are still present in ways unfathomable to a progressive mind like his.

And, some time later when it was announced that Trump had been elected, like so many, Sutton was shocked. He observed and continued to document in his journal: “Is Trump actually going to build a wall and have Mexico pay for it? Is he actually going to authorize deporting and breaking up the families of 11 million undocumented Latin immigrants? Will he actually ban Muslims from entering the country? What’s going to happen with the Paris Climate Agreement that every nation in the world signed, but that Trump and his base think is a hoax? Will he pursue making abortion illegal? What will an already conservative Supreme Court be like when it becomes more conservative? What will 20 million Americans do when Obamacare is no longer available?”

Thoughts of dread and worry filled and continue to fill Sutton’s mind as the Trump Administration keeps unraveling. Years of important social and governmental progress are in jeopardy as the Trump administration erodes public confidence.

And now, there are these white nationalist and neo-Nazi rallies with their violence. Sutton believes actions such as these are “irrational.” Yet it is the irrational, the unreasonable and the impulsive traits that have taken over.

“Donald Trump is nominating the heads of his Cabinet so they can deregulate, deconstruct, weaken and dismantle the departments of Energy, Interior, Commerce, Treasury, Labor, Education, as well as the Environmental Protection Agency.” As Sutton viewed it in early 2017, “Those departments are needed to regulate the greed of individuals, corporations and industries instead of allowing them free rein to do what they want. Trump is only appealing to those who voted for him with his latest executive orders, the last one preventing Muslims from entering the U.S.”

Sutton is worried that more unrest will continue – only causing more division in a nation uncertain about the future.

“Trump’s slogan of ‘Make America Great Again’ is code for white resentment and nationalism, for returning to the good old days when gays and lesbians didn’t have the right to marry, when African-Americans, women and immigrants didn’t resist injustices against them and when smoking pot and abortions were crimes. A large number of his backers see him standing up for a past that no longer exists.”

The recent outbursts at the rally in Charlottesville emphasizes our nation in crisis with not only its history but it’s identity as a democracy – with ideals that have been an attraction to the world since it was founded over 240 years ago.

Sutton was among many to see that Trump, for all is bravado, had no genuine political experience needed to fill the position of President. No matter of his big business deals, he has never served in a capacity as an elected official, prior to taking the oath of office.

“Oh, dear backers of Trump,” says Sutton. “When are you going to realize that this man is not anywhere near presidential material? A corrupt, lying businessman is what he is.”

Sutton goes even further to say…”Trump is not fit to be a president or anything else, for he has screwed people in business with impunity. When are his supporters going to realize that he’s not for them, that he’s only out to gain their approval and eventually throw them under the bus? He feeds on their basest instincts. It’s every person for himself in these Trump Times.”

“Trump could wreck our whole constitutional system that began almost 240 years ago. Does it take one person to destroy the framework that our country was built on? We all know his chief strategist, Steve Bannon, wants to deconstruct, reduce and dismantle the administrative state of our government. Bannon is for allowing corporations and industries the absolute right to do whatever they want, regardless of whether it’s harmful to American citizens. Yes, Trump and Bannon are swiftly whittling away at America’s administrative state with Trump’s executive orders and the reactionary Cabinet that he’s appointed.”

“Trump,” said Sutton, “is changing the thinking of this country into a negative. The forces of good see right through him as being a liar and cheat, who, like a spoiled brat, keeps resisting and fighting until he can have his way. All the news all the time it’s Trump, Trump, Trump. Most of it is bad news for the man, and deservedly so. Now his administration wants to check the voter rolls of every state. It’s called the Voter Fraud Panel, where the panel wants the names, party affiliations, addresses, felony convictions, military service records and the last four digits of our Social Security numbers. And here I thought George Orwell’s 1984 was fiction. Many state secretaries have denounced this panel, as they should.”

Sutton continued by saying…”When the leader of our country promotes racism by blaming all of America’s troubles on immigrants, when he calls established and reliable news outlets “fake news,” when he loses the popular vote and says millions of those votes were illegally cast, when he wants to suppress the voter rolls by gathering pertinent information on every voter, when it’s been proven again and again that he’s a persistent liar, when he freely admitted in a recording that he is a sexual predator, when he wants to dismantle regulations and give the greedy free rein, when he calls climate change a myth, when the harshest words he’s spoken to President Putin about Russia hacking the presidential election were, ‘Did you do it?’ Oh, I can go on and on, said Sutton about the damage this man has done and continues to do to our country.”

As one who has faith in American democracy, Sutton is concerned. “We have a lot to fear of Donald Trump while he’s in the White House. Who knows, he might start a war with North Korea or some other country if Special Counsel Robert Mueller or a Congressional committee threatens his presidency.”

Sutton is not alone in his perspective. Vox.com reported last week with regards to the situation with North Korea. 

‘…New polls show a majority of Americans are afraid the US is about to wade into a war with North Korea, but are split on whether America should take military action in the face of increased threats from Pyongyang.’

Making note of Trump’s collaboration with Special Council Robert Mueller and others, Sutton said, “He’ll just try to grab hold of Fear and Hatred with the power he has and ride it for as long as he can. It’s going to be a wild ride for the United States and democracy as long as this man is president.”    To learn more about Joseph Sutton, his insights and opinions and his books, visit his web site.