The Man Who Would Be Great--Part 3

Culture:  Me first!  Me first!  Me first!

The image that for me most powerfully represents the Trump presidency is from his inauguration.  The leader of the richest country in the world, who himself claims to be one of the richest men in that country, whines pathetically, self-righteously about how terribly the rest of the world has taken advantage of us.  His audience, a middling crowd of mostly well-fed, well-dressed white people, cheers wildly, overjoyed that they have finally found a leader who will stand firm against the notion that anyone but them has any right to a piece of the action. America first?  Me first, maybe.   And Trump first for sure.

          Trump did not create the racism and sense of entitlement that pervades our political culture, but he exploits it to dehumanize anyone who opposes him.  He did not create the resentment of women that is rife in the US, but he has certainly put himself forward as the champion of woman-haters everywhere.  And he did not perpetrate the lie that the way to ensure prosperity for all is to give everything to the rich, but he is certainly happy to monetize the presidency for his own benefit.

          What is perhaps most important—Trump is certainly not the first politician to lie; but he has been remarkably successful at making blatant, bald-faced, obvious lies into a highly successful political strategy.  Like many professional crap artists, Trump understands that it is style rather than substance—how you say it rather than what you say—that moves a great many spirits.  Or, to borrow an observation usually attributed to Lincoln, you can fool some of the people all of the time.  Trump’s political success is built on this cornerstone.

          Trump’s lies about immigrants and refugees—that they are murderers and rapists, that they bring disease, that they are paid by Soros—stoke the racism that makes a mockery of our claim to be a nation of equals.  His ad hominem attacks and mockery of black elected officials and public figures—calling them low IQ or dumb or thief—speaks directly to the heart of racism.  His constant and crude degradation of women, along with his readiness to dismiss claims of abuse, warms the hearts of men who just can’t quite cope with women who fancy themselves the equals of men.  Out of the anger and hatred that he has stoked, Trump has built a winning electoral coalition.

          And it is a coalition that is proud.  Nazis and white supremacists stage public demonstrations—waving their flags, packing highly lethal weapons, shouting racist slogans.  And killing—a young woman in Charlottesville, random black people in Louisville, Jews at worship in Pittsburgh, and so on.  Trump, Republican officials, and the right-wing press routinely mock women who complain of sexual discrimination, harassment, or assault.  Women who have clearly suffered trauma of some sort are treated as a threat to men.  And Trump, along with his enablers in the GOP, routinely responds in ways that simply ratchet up the level of conflict and disharmony.

          The cult of personality that Trump has created around himself represents the worst elements of our culture—racism, sexism, greed.  Led by our own little third-rate Mussolini, they stand poised to gain virtually absolute power.  The election next week may well be our last chance to beat these fascist thugs at the ballot box.  If we the people lose there, our choices will be rather more restricted, and rather more difficult.