There is a common colloquialism used in the black community when trying to decide whether to attend a social gathering: “Who all there?”
Playwright Torie Wiggins, who recently wrote a play of the same title, said: “It really speaks to the level of comfort someone has in dominant spaces. … It just really means: what am I up against, and am I prepared?
I wonder if the Puerto Ricans who attended Donald Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden on Sunday were prepared to hear the area referred to as an “island of trash.” I wonder if the black attendees were willing to hear watermelon jokes or watch Dr. to listen to Phil talk about the hard work that went into building this country…without mentioning the transatlantic slave trade or the institution of slavery. Were the women present willing to hear the misogyny? Were queer conservatives ready for the homophobia and transphobia?
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In these last days before the elections, when approximately 80 million Americans considering voting for Trump, do they know who all is in MAGA land?
Because while you may be inclined not to take Trump’s rhetoric too seriously, the reality is that many of his followers do. And sometimes they appear in spaces with more than red baseball caps and racist jokes. Heavily armed militiamen and radicalized lone wolves also listen to the violent threats against teachers, women, immigrants, librarians, LGBTQ+ Americans, journalists, moderate Republicans, doctors, Democrats, pollsters, “RINOs,” people of color, members of Congress. Trump told a white nationalist group willing to kill to “stand back and stay with it.”
You might be tempted to dismiss this as just talk. That’s not it.
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Violence between a Trump voter and an election worker in Texas occurred on the first day of early voting in San Antonio this year. In 2019, a gunman massacred 25 people in El Paso, saying that “this attack is a response to the Spanish invasion” and that immigrants were trying to replace white people. Apparently the 2017 clash between white supremacists and civil rights demonstrators in Charlottesville, Virginia — where “Unite the Right” protesters chanted “Jews will not replace us” and where one woman died — was a harbinger of things to come, not a one-off event.
Yes, Trump rallies sometimes include people of color. Many women support the former president. There are LGBTQ+ people and immigrants who support him. However, in MAGA land their membership has limitations.
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MAGA is a space that temporarily tolerates those who are different for the sake of voting in close elections. But Trump and his minions only celebrate supporters who represent the homogenous image of America that Trump has long envisioned — heterosexual, U.S.-born white Christians who put Trump above God and country. And as in any space where someone is merely tolerated, tolerance ends once their usefulness expires.
“Who all there?” is not just about who is present. It’s about the energy of the space. Who is embraced and who is loosely attached. Martin Niemöller, a Lutheran minister, is known for writing the poem “First they came‘ about the creeping slippery slope through which most Germans allowed the Nazis to take power in the 1930s and 1940s. What is less often discussed about him is that he initially supported the rise of Adolf Hitler. The hatred radiated was not initially directed at him. “Then they came for me,” Niemöller wrote, “and there was no one left to speak on my behalf.”
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I wonder how confident many Trump voters have that the MAGA movement’s vision for America will ultimately include them. You can’t look to Trump for an answer. “Who all there?” is not about the host; it’s about the attendees who determine the atmosphere at the party.
In Trump’s first campaign, he was endorsed by the KKK’s newspaper and advocated for Holocaust deniers. In 2022, he dined with Holocaust deniers. In 2024, Trump made Tucker Carlson the face of the “closing argument” rally at Madison Square Garden – just after Carlson promoted a Holocaust denier on his show. So if you want to know who’s out there in MAGA land, this is part of your answer.
These are the people who want to eliminate the Ministry of Education, this is the movement that banned ‘The Diary of Anne Frank’. Never forget that the Republicans are just having a party; it’s MAGA showing up.
On the other hand, look who shows up for Harris.
Days before Vice President Kamala Harris and former First Lady Michelle Obama joined forces at a rally in Kalamazoo, Michigan, on Saturday, Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas), national co-chair of the Harris-Walz campaign, met with a small group supporters for lunch at a restaurant not far from Western Michigan University. There were students who voted for the first time, as well as community members who were still somewhat undecided about Harris.
“When you look at the politicians you can trust, at the politicians, you wonder whether or not you can believe the words they say. I can tell you that every time she says she’s going to lift while she climbs, she means it because she’s lifting. me while she was climbing,” Crockett said. “This is someone who will randomly call to inspire and uplift me, even as a sitting vice president.”
Crockett’s story is very similar to that of former South Carolina state Rep. Bakari Sellers, which he shared during a Zoom call early in Harris’ campaign. He said Harris would often visit with him and his family as they were dealing with a complicated pregnancy.
And That The story of compassion is very similar to the way President Obama characterized Harris in a Zoom call with voters on Sunday, the day of Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden.
Harris herself met with Latino voters in Philadelphia on Sunday to talk about her economic plan to help middle-class families.
For me, the question of who to vote for is almost a distraction. Voting is one action in one day. Each candidate can be tolerated for a day or even an election cycle. What happens next is what counts.
How can you know what will happen? Just look at the two camps and ask, “Who’s there?”
@LZGranderson
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This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.
