We Are ALL Trump!
Trump is America’s favorite whipping boy. As scapegoats go — he is perfect for the job, a fat,orange-haired, rich-guy moron, a bully, a vulgar. And he doesn’t hide it. Add “brazen” to the list. WYSIWYG. How American!
But “the Donald”is not the problem and getting rid of him and replacing him with almost anybody else, even Bernie Sanders, would not change anything. In fact, even a new Barack could only make things worse, just replacing a pig with a wolf.
Who is to blame? The American people.
You get the governments you deserve — which is why the US of A has always had a dysfunctional government. It is mandated by your moral inadequacy.
Trump makes for excellent cartoons, but everything you accuse Trump of in some way applies to the American people and that is no laughing matter.
Narcissism
Me, me, me. The average American, like Trump, prides himself or herself on WYSIWYG — obsessed with image. What’s inside doesn’t matter. The Orange comb-over? Now that is truly American. Look at the people around you.
Sociopathy
Sociopathy reflects a lack of empathy and altruism — the inability to identify with others’ feelings. It also is “me, me, me”. Trump may be a poster boy for sociopathy but you make it real. What makes it most pernicious that most sociopaths are pretty good at pretending to be caring, sharing people. Even Trump tries.
Materialism
Consumerism is the ultimate materialism. Things matter — people don’t. It doesn’t matter that people are dying in the Yemen because of you. Nor that old people are put in “homes” for soft euthanasia — because of you, too. You need that new smartphone, a new car, more than you donating to the formation of a new progressive party or doing some civil disobedience — or even voting. Trump is a billionaire. You don’t like that because you want to be one but you are not.
Dishonesty
Trump is accused of being dishonest. He says whatever comes into his head to confirm his image. Naturally he believes his own bullshit. How is that different from the average American? The public says it is more than 60% in favor of progressive change like Medicare for All,free education, etc, etc — but are not willing to actually DO anything to get these things. They pretend they can’t effect change individually — so they don’t vote or participate in politics or social movements, other than those mandated by the two equally dishonest political parties, which represent the Rich. This pretense of lack of agency is as I have indicated lazy but also a huge lie. Sure, it might take a revolution. But — the usual response to an anti-democratic and corrupt political system.
A lack of shame
Trump has no shame. Although probably better than Hillary and Barack who also had no shame and started some major wars, he has still killed a lot of people and supported fascist coups, like every other President before him. The US has killed perhaps 30 million people since WWII: the world’s most violent and murderous empire, quite a lot worse than the Nazis in terms of outcomes. Hitler had some principles: just the wrong ones. He liked dogs and hated smoking but used Germany’s healthcare system set up in the 19th century to kill off the old and weak and undesirables — like Trump. Oh, and there was that holocaust thing, which was modeled on American genocides of the past. While most Americans say they love their country, how can you love a psychopathic serial killer? Where is the shame? If you have no shame, maybe you are psychopathic too.
Lazy
Trump is lazy. He rarely reads. He gets his information the easy way, from the headlines and his friends — and never bothers to check facts — just like most Americans. Of course, Trump watches Fox. For a lot of Americans, the NYT and WaPo and MSN and CNN are their media bibles. Whether the bias of hte media right like Fox, or a little less right like the rest, it doesn’t matter how many times they have been shown to be lying — often at the cost of hundreds of thousands of lives, most Americans accept their obvious propaganda, which was created to further the agendas of the handful of rich people who own the media. It’s just too easy to scan Google News for headlines. Do the Rich brainwash the 99%. Nope, Americans brainwash themselves.
Racist
What is Sinophobia, Islamophobia and Russophobia but new antisemtisms? Racism is a a convenient way of buck-passing, scapegoating and deflection. All things we accuse Trump of. Yet, as many as 70% of Americans believe that the Chinese were “covering up” the origins of COVID19, if not actually responsible for the epidemic. This category overlaps beautifully with all the others.
Rationalization
Rationalization is excuse-making. “Oh, but we can’t change anything”, people say, denying both agency and responsibility, which are the fundamentals of a democratic society. Yet, you can have an impact — if you are willing to to the distance. A general strike — which has been done before with excellent results — would help. An American version of the Yellow Vests would have impact. Massive civil disobedience bringing normal life to a standstill could do wonders. Rent strikes. Tax strikes. There are lots of possibilities. Some of these things are not possible this year on account of COVID19, but the first vaccines — from much despised China — are due in September. A rejection of “lesser evilism” is also necessary. For “lesser evilism” is actually “greater evilism”. People have to come out and vote — and vote for independents or the Greens and not for either of the two parties, including “progressives”. There are NO true progressives in the Democratic Party, even Bernie Sanders, who has proved that point twice now by endorsing the Hillary in 2016 and Creepy Joe this year. If voting doesn’t work, then democracy is broken. If democracy is broken, think revolution.
