A funny thing happened on the way to the 2016 presidential election.  The unelectable, uncouth, unintelligent, unpolitical, unlikeable, and utterly unthinkable guy won.  Clearly, the "deplorables" assisted, as did the "bitter clingers" — owners of guns and Bibles — and the so-called uneducated, unsophisticated, and ridiculed patriotic swath of the American people.  

But it took more.  The uncovereds carried President Trump over the finish line to unbelievable victory.  

Who and what are the uncovereds?  They are the silent army who are passionately pro-Trump but wouldn't and still won't admit it.  Why? one might ask.  Were they cowards?

In the months leading up to the 2016 election, the reasons for secrecy were very different from and far more benign than those dictating secrecy today.  In 2015, Trump's inner circle was aware of the phenomenon, as were the ancillary Trump campaign volunteers who walked the streets, knocking on doors, and toiling for hours at phone banks.  

What did they collectively discover?  Diverse but large groups of people were committed to voting for Trump.  However, while they would admit their pro-Trump predilection to anonymous pollsters or door-knockers or phone surveyors, they would not tell their family, friends, co-workers, bosses, or teachers.  Universally, their response would be "I'm voting for Trump, but I'm not telling my spouse, or anyone else."  In 2015, it just wasn't worth the hassle and ridicule to them.  They didn't want to argue with friends and relatives, teachers and students.  And they didn't want to be perceived as dumb.  

In 2015, many who admitted they were voting for Trump were recipients of snarky comments such as "I thought you were smarter than that"; "You are educated, aren't you?"; and "Would you want to be grabbed by your genitals?"

In 2019, going into the upcoming presidential election cycle, the uncovereds' reticence stems from far more profound fears.  There is a fear of violence.  There is a fear of being fired.  There is a fear of grade retribution.  There is a fear of a car with a pro-Trump bumper sticker being vandalized.  This fear radiates in America.  Incredibly, the Democratic Party has created an atmosphere of free speech suppression — "if you disagree with us, we will silence you."  

The Democrats, with their anarchistic thug minions, blackmail serial con artists, and monolithic control of public education and social and print media, have terrorized many Trump aficionados into diving underground and undercover.  By doing so, they have perpetuated the inevitability of their second and seemingly more comprehensive demise.  That is because, by pushing more uncovereds underground, they don't know how many uncovereds exist.

Yet despite massive intimidation, another funny thing is happening on the way to the 2020 presidential election: Many of the heretofore uncovereds are banning together and openly bursting forth from the Trump closet.  These include the Jewish groups Jexit and Jexodus and the ever-expanding black American and Caucasian movement #walkaway.  

The groundswell of Jewish appreciation for President Trump, in some Jewish enclaves, is so overwhelming that it has permeated the 2019 Jewish celebration of Passover.  Passover is the oldest of all continuously celebrated global holidays.  It commemorates Moses's facilitating the Jews being freed from slavery in ancient Egypt.

Each year, for thousands of years, Jews globally celebrate Passover with a religious ceremony surrounding a ritual dinner, the Seder.  Dayenu is a prayer always recited during the Seder.  Dayenu literally means "it would have been sufficient."  It is a thank you to G-d, recounting his numerous gifts to the ancient Jews, and after each item, Dayenu is chanted aloud.  President Trump's gifts to America and Jewish people have not gone unnoticed or unheralded by Jewish Republicans.  Senator Norm Coleman, president of the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) and Israeli ambassador to the United States Ron Dermer were so grateful for Trump's support that they were moved to create differing renditions of Dayenu, substituting stanzas to trumpet his support.

Black American celebrities seem to pay a higher price for supporting President Trump than their Jewish counterparts.  Icons such as Kanye West, Herman Cain, and Candace Owens have been ridiculed, shamed, and called unspeakable names.  Yet large silent bands of professional and blue-collar black Americans members are walking away without fanfare.

Year 2020 promises to be the year of both the uncovered and the uncovered uncovering themselves.

Image: Gage Skidmore via Flickr.