The Greatest Danger of Trump
(note: this was written on August 21, 2020, but only published November 11th)
For the sake of those who already know, or immediately agree, or are bored to death by Ted Talks, I will lead with my thesis, so you can be done with this article in 15 seconds. Not to gloss over or minimize the many horrors perpetrated by Donald Trump, and those acting under him, but the greatest danger we face right now is not a sociopathic and feeble egomaniac descending rapidly into senility. Instead, it is the large number of ambitious and similarly immoral freaks who have seen the success of his nationalistic, overtly racist rhetoric and policies, and are thus emboldened to follow in that mold.
There is a theory in political science of “Great Men.” Roughly it posits that there are certain individuals of extreme charisma who change the course of history in a way which may be at odds with the larger societal forces and trends, and would not have happened without them. For example, that without Hitler, there would have been no Nazi Germany, no genocide of European Jews; that without Jesus there would have been no Christianity, no wars of religion engulfing Europe for centuries or Crusades assaulting the Middle East. From a mathematical perspective, I used to partially subscribe to this theory, believing it was possible to have a situation that balanced on the edge and was pushed over by one person. But overall, I feel that it’s a weak or unimportant theory. It gives too much credit to individuals, and in most cases probably misses the fact that history, though in detail different without some “Great Man,” would probably have been about the same in broad strokes. If there had not been Hitler, rampant anti-semitism in Europe (and it could have started in a country other than Germany) would probably have boiled over into a Genocide around the same time — after all, racism and scapegoating are extremely effective techniques, frequently repeated over the millenia for social control by those in power. If there had not been Jesus, Europeans would probably have fought wars about other invented religions for centuries, since religious difference is another handy difference to point to when seeking social control, and zealots make fantastic, cheap crack troops. And do we really think that all of history’s genocides, from the Native Americans of North America by British and French colonists to the Native Americans of South America by Spanish colonists to the Tutsis by the Hutus to the Armenians by the Turks, the Uyghurs by the Chinese, the Rohingya, the Bosnians…to the Carthaginians by the Romans… to the Talheim Death Pits… were the work of “Great Men?”
To see Donald Trump as an aberration, as distinct and different from other American leaders and as not representative of what the American polity is disposed towards is a potentially fatal mistake, in my view. Every American President before him was a racist mass murderer, who enthusiastically deployed violence against minorities and other vulnerable people in order to maintain social control and the wealth of the ruling class. Policies of deportation, family separation, and detention against people migrating to the U.S. from the south precede him, and have been consistent from administration to administration in recent history. The violent occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan are not of his invention. Rampant pollution, which ravages the health of all communities, but particularly the poor and those of color, is also a consistent U.S. policy. In any of these domains you can find some differences of details in policy from Bush to Clinton to Bush to Obama to Trump; but at no time during any of those administrations were southern migrants treated as equal valuable people; at no time was our country not engaged in violence against innocent Muslim populations on the other side of the world; and at no time did we protect the health of our citizens over the profits of polluters.
From another angle, by what measure would you see Donald Trump as a “Great Man?” He has one skill that I have noticed, the ability to instinctively hurl crowd-pleasing insults. He could have made your elementary school classmates mock you at lunch. Beyond that, it’s hard to see what special qualities make him a charismatic man changing the course of history. He’s rude, stupid, impulsive, and lately, senile. A man who struggles to make any sense when speaking is hardly prime material for a demagogue.
And this should further warn us of the true danger that lies before us. Imagine a 40-year old, good-looking, not obviously creepy, smooth-talking, healthy and vibrant rather than senile, person who takes up Trump’s rhetoric and political strategy. Imagine this person has managed to avoid a long track record of sexual crimes and bad business deals, that they have been able to control most of their venality in order to play an ambitious long game. How much more dangerous would this person be?
Well, they are out there. And hundreds more, men and women. First, realize that everyone in his administration has been a willing participant in his crimes; these are all people who know how to do these things, and would gladly continue them. After all, he hasn’t implemented anything himself. Then look to all the republican primaries, where new politicians are coming up, using the innovation of Trump’s overtly racist rhetoric. Many of them supported and endorsed by Trump: Tuberville in Alabama, Greene in Georgia, Loomer in Florida. There is a wave of wanna-be Hitlers in this country today, and if we think all we need to do is get rid of Trump, we will be blindsided again.
