By Phil Elder, contributor, Troy Media. Image: Donald Trump, credit Joseph Sohm / Shutterstock.com
“Who could have seriously imagined that a strongman, nativist, egoist, populist and plutocrat would be the nominee of the Republican Party?” writes Andrew Cohen.
Most commentators, observing American presidential candidate Donald Trump’s blustering, abusive behaviour on the campaign trail, have denounced him as a narcissistic buffoon. Some have attributed his surge in the race to the ignorance and stupidity of his supporters.
But all candidates have less than astute supporters. Something else must be going on.
According to Conrad Black, Trump’s polling discovered that “between 30-40% of American adults, cutting across all ethnic, geographic, and demographic lines, were angry, fearful and ashamed at the ineptitude of their federal government.” Trump’s campaign has shrewdly exploited these and other darker emotions like misogyny and racism.
Could some of his base’s anger stem from the same feelings of helplessness and resentment which motivated the more sophisticated “Occupy Wall Street” protesters? Perhaps, but that’s more Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders’ country. Instead, Trump’s fans seem to admire, and aspire to emulate, his perceived success and huge wealth, even while their own lives are full of stress and fear.
And no wonder. Insecure, lower income jobs make the American dream less accessible for their children, while politicians ratchet up their resentment and treat members of the other party as potentially treasonous enemies.
What’s my take? First, Donald Trump is a menace to democracy in the United States because of his contempt for rational discourse, his low-brow, vulgar statements and behaviour, and constantly shifting policy positions which are often just nutty.
Second, he lacks judgment and apparently has no respect for the rule of law. For example, he denied that water boarding is torture and advocated bombing the families of terrorists, only to back down when senior military officers pointed out that the latter recommendation would be a war crime and that the U. S. military would be obliged to disobey the order.
Third, voting for him would be a huge mistake because it is impossible to know what he believes (if anything besides self-aggrandizement) and thus what he would do as president.
Trump’s prominence appears to stem from his relentless self-promotion in marketing his “brand” and his celebrity status in the world of reality television. But unfortunately, popular culture tends to view life through entertainment spectacles, where critical thinking, truth-telling, authenticity and accountability for one’s statements, indeed coherence, are far less important than momentary amusement. Trump himself appears to equate reality television with real life and attacks his opponents in boorish ways which even bitterly partisan American politicians find distasteful.
Modern North American life has gone terribly wrong and public figures like Trump seem to prove it. Our popular culture and institutions systematically encourage the worst in us, instead of fostering “the better angels of our nature”. Intractable social problems have resulted, involving symptoms like alcohol and drug abuse, rudeness, bullying and gratuitous violence, even random mass shootings. Perhaps the resulting climate of fear and the anti-intellectual dumbing down of discourse helped create the Trump phenomenon.
Trump, of course, is not alone in being unfit for public office (his only redeeming feature is his contempt for “big money” like the Koch brothers who buy the votes of so many representatives). His main competitor, Ted Cruz, a Tea Party fan, was apparently told by God to run (without a promise of 72 virgins), although he has not revealed how repealing Obamacare and abolishing the Internal Revenue Service will lead Americans to Nirvana. He also supports a constitutional amendment banning deficits and would “carpet bomb” ISIS.
Instead of political leaders like Trump and Co., Americans need profound thinkers who can bring out the best in them and help build a just, nurturing society. With this sort of insight, they could set an example by tackling the meta-problems which threaten civilization – like global warming, grotesque inequalities and ethnic hatred – and consign Trump and his ilk to “the dustbin of history”.
Phil Elder is Emeritus Professor of Environmental and Planning Law with the Faculty of Environmental Design at the University of Calgary.
© 2016 Distributed by Troy Media
