Does anyone else remember a few months ago, when Republican pundits were crowing from every fence post and tree stump about the “diversity” of the Republican presidential candidates?

I put the word in quotation marks because there was really nothing diverse about the candidates at all with regard to substance – just with regard to shallow identity politics, which always plays well in conservative circles.

They crowed that they had an African-American brain surgeon, a female former CEO, an Indian American and not one, but two, Hispanic-Americans. Sure, the other 10 candidates were all white men, and all candidates professed Christianity, but hey, this was “diversity”!

So, after the dust settled, who did Republican voters overwhelming choose as their standard bearer? (You recall the “big tent” Republicans who, pundits claimed, had turned a corner and embraced diversity? See also: demographic reality.) A 70-year-old European-American Protestant born-rich billionaire named Donald Trump.

So, yes. There is a “big tent.” You’ll find it on the grounds of a Hamptons estate, and the only way 99 percent of us would ever get in would be dressed in white, serving silver platters of hors d’oeuvres and ordered not to make eye contact or conversation with the guests.

Jeremy Smith

Old Orchard Beach


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