If there's one thing we should've learned watching the bizarre orange spectacle that is Donald Trump these last months, it's to expect the unexpected. So far that's been for the worse as he's appealed to the basest instincts of America's soul. His rhetoric of racism, sexism, xenophobia, nativism, anti-intellectualism and the like, has been substantial enough to repel decent people everywhere, while simultaneously building him a strong following of White Nationalists, the alt-right, the Ku Klux Klan, and ignorant bigots across the country (plenty of overlap between those groups). And while this coalition has been enough to carry him to a victory in the 2016 GOP Battle of Regressives, it likely won't be enough to bring him a victory this November. His trademark campaign ideas are building a wall on the border with Mexico--that they'll pay for, of course, deporting every undocumented immigrant in the country, creating a database of Muslims, shutting down mosques, and banning Muslims from entering the country. While a host of pundits and politicians anticipated he'd back off or tone down his hateful posturing, thus far he's refused to do so.
Regardless of what you might think of the short-fingered vulgarian, one thing Trump has going for him is the infamous, zealot-like devotion of many of his supporters. This demographic probably made up the bulk of his primary votes, and mostly falls into the "ignorant bigots" category mentioned above. The proto-fascists who make up the other groups, while loud when cloaked in the anonymity of internet, are much less significant in regard to potential ballots cast, and are probably more a detriment to his campaign than assets. In other words, they're not just expendable, they're dead weight. There's a reason the GOP mastered the dog whistle, and it has nothing to do with being politically correct. Overt racism and sexism simply aren't characteristics of a politically viable campaign strategy in a national election.
This combination of ignorant devotees and dead weight creates an opportunity for Trump. And, bear with me, could put him in a position to help assuage some of America's repulsive intolerance he exploited to land the nomination in the first place.
Before I go any further let me get this out of the way. I don't think Trump is likely to embrace the occasion and make a positive contribution to society. I set out to do a thought experiment about unexpected things he might do that'd make him more palatable in the general, and this is one place I wound up. It's not a prediction so much as me pondering the possibility.
But I digress.
The way Trump could move toward reducing the bigotry that's been a centerpiece of his campaign to this point is simple, pull a complete 180° on a few key issues. Instead of building a wall and deporting undocumented immigrants he'd begin extolling the merits of immigration and heralding the longstanding American Melting Pot tradition. Instead of banning Muslims he'd start to speak to the importance of religious liberty in the spirit of the Founding Fathers. Instead of playing to racist and Islamophobic stereotypes that remove context and hold entire groups liable for the actions of a few, he'd transition to exalting the American tradition of individualism.
This would accomplish several things. First, Trump's contingent of Angry White Men involved in White Nationalist projects would denounce him as a traitor and be forced to scurry back under their respective rocks. This, in turn, would make Trump a more suitable candidate with large swaths of general election voters currently turned off by his nativist demagoguery. And most importantly, it could help a whole group of ignorant bigots come to a place of being slightly less bigoted.
Trump once joked that his fanatics, er, I mean supporters, wouldn't bat an eye if he plugged a few shots into random people walking down Fifth Avenue. And at this point I think he's shown that's pretty much right. Begging the question, why couldn't he convince them to embrace some legitimately patriotic ideals like religious liberty and the virtues of immigration--even when applied to Muslims and People of Color? He could. Not only this, he might be one of the only people in the country capable of pulling off such a feat. Ignorant white bigots aren't listening to Ta Nehisi Coates, bell hooks, Michelle Alexander, Khaled Beydoun, Linda Sarsour, Chela Sandoval, Tim Wise, Chris Crass, or any other Leftie antiracist. But Trump, well, they just might listen to him. If he made this radical shift it'd shed his dead weight, make him a serious contender this fall, and potentially make some progress mending the wounds he's picked at to get to where he is. I'm not counting on it, but I'm not counting the possibility out either. Trump is capable of pulling off a whole lot of surprises between now and November, there's a chance one of them might be semi-positive.