It's Barack Obama's birthday. I think a lot about how clearly he exemplified the qualities conservatives used to claim to value -- dignity, honesty, consistency, love of family -- and how they responded to him with a historic outburst of violent irrational hatred.
Lots of people saying, "well, racism." And yes, obviously! But it was much more than that. Obama was effortlessly cool -- funny, smart, self-aware, able to slip into any situation & put people at ease -- in a way they hated & envied at a deep brainstem level.
In place of the toxic masculinity & blustery domineering they mistake for manhood, Obama was genuinely *confident*, at ease in his skin. Compare to Trump: brittle, hyper-defensive, able to manage only in situations carefully stage-managed to bolster his ego.
In a sense, Trump was their ideal response. They know they are too fearful & brittle to ever achieve Obama's grace, to be beloved & respected like Obama was, so they went the other direction: a crass, blundering moron who would humiliate the cool kids, show them once & for all.
Anyway, yeah, it was racism, but there was a huge, huge element of barely suppressed envy in all that resentment.
