Muhammad and Trump: Riding An Organic Wave ll

    In the recent times, Muhammad's tribe, the Quraysh, had become wealthy due to trading profits much like the upper financial class in America has done very well, particularly with their stock market holdings as corporations fire their primarily lower and middle-level employees and free up vast sums of money.
The feeling in Mecca was apparently (according to Karen Armstrong in her book, Islam: A Short History) that the upper financial member of the tribe had ignored the needs of the poor members and this had been at the expense of the poorer tribesman. Though Karen doesn't explain just how richer members got rich at the expense of the poorer members of the tribe, let us take for granted that it, if not actually supported by the facts, was a prevalent feeling at the time. Likewise, there is a feeling in America that the poor are getting poorer and the rich richer. One hears that the middle class hasn't had a true raise in fifteen years. On the other hand, the evidence not only on paper, but by your eyes, is that minimum wages only decrease the number of jobs available. People see the proof of that when they see robots replacing human clerks in stores and fast food restaurants. The customer is also asked to do more which frustrates many people, especially seniors, not adept with using computers and looking up the numbers for the items you want to buy. People don't know the way out, and now stipends for the every citizen are being discussed and voted on. Karen writes that there was a great feeling of unrest on the Arabian Peninsula, and any sentient being today can say the same in respect to the world today.
    The times of both cultures were ready for change. We don't know the day to day detail of life in Mecca during 610 C.E., but we do know what is happening now. Trump is riding a wave of anger and need for change that emanates from the people. He is so on top of things that every event that comes up reinforces his positions. He is spending no money on advertising yet while his opponent spends millions. He hads almost no organization, and his opponent has one that has put her husband into the White House twice plus she has the full cooperation of her party and it's support. Trump's party is still largely holding their noses.
    And yet, Trump is neck to neck with someone who is spending everything she can get her hands on and demeaning him every day. All he does is be Trump. The people have chosen him as the vehicle to express their anger and dissatisfaction with the status quo of the smugness, contempt, and intrusions of the political class. Both Muhammad and Trump have profited from a popularity not contrived by mass advertising and snarky speeches, but a popularity that comes spontaneously from the people. An organic popularity just like Brexit a week ago.
    Peter Nickerson, Philosophy Major, Class of '68, College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia. peternickerson12@yahoo.com.