Not all Americans, in fact, but a diminishing minority of them. But they are desperate to maintain their imagined hegemony, and they have entered into an unholy alliance with a brutal and uncaring ownership/managerial class that has shown itself perfectly capable of exploiting that angst for their own purposes. Through voter suppression, gerrymandering, campaign funding and a cynical propaganda machine, they have exploited the worst aspects of American culture; violence, misogyny, bigotry and religion, in order to perpetuate their own fading "majority". They want guns because they see the country as filled with non-white, cultural enemies eager to steal their possessions, their power, and their women. Yes, there IS a deep psychosexual element at work here.

Its not just Trump. It permeates the the entire social fabric. One statistic illuminates the whole process. In Wisconsin, 47% of the voters (Republicans) control 60% of the state legislature. This is not a mathematical anomaly, it is the result of a deliberate and orchestrated political campaign, conducted in secret, to bring this about. And it is happening all over the country.

And as this ruthless minority senses that their prosperity and dominance is diminished by historical and social forces outside their control, they will mobilize to see that they and they alone get the biggest piece of the shrinking pie.

We call them "old white men", although of course they are not all old or white or men, and many old, white men (like me) recognize the sickness and corruption these people represent. They are not particularly affluent, although they see what affluence they do possess threatened and are determined to find scapegoats they can blame that on. Neither are they particularly rural, although those shrinking demographics are desperately trying to maintain and expand their political influence over an increasingly urban and diverse nation. This community is not increasing in size, it is precisely the realization that they are no longer a majority that has provoked their reaction. They just saw a black President elected, twice, and they realized their majority was coming to an end. And the realization that they are losing their economic position and power has only added to their urgency to reverse that loss.

This is the dictatorship of the middle class. And what we see emerging is the country THEY want.