Trump the Demagogue Has to Go: Guest MINDSETTER™ Schoos
Monday, August 28, 2017
The Miriam-Webster Dictionary defines demagogue as “a leader who makes use of popular prejudices and false claims and promises in order to gain power.” Over the past months, I have tried to raise the issue of President Trump’s fitness for the office he holds. For seven months, we have witnessed a stream of invective, character assaults, demonization of governmental institutions, and a headlong attack on the First Amendment.
He claims to “drain the swamp” while placing in his administration people from institutions inextricably linked to his so-called “swamp.” Of course, I may be mistaken, and Goldman Sachs just might be a training ground for government reformers. And let’s not overlook his attempt to populate government positions with former lobbyists, with over 100 lobbyists hired by this administration, two-thirds of whom work in the departments they previously lobbied. Many lobbyists cum government employees have yet to receive the requisite waivers from Trump’s own ethics rules, but that shouldn’t be surprising. His own director of Trump’s Office for Government Ethics resigned because he felt that he couldn’t do his job.
Disregarding the facts, “drain the swamp” is a good political tag line. Trump counts on a significant number of low-information, marginalized and angry voters to cheer him on at the top of their lungs. These people, many with justifiable grievances, form Trump’s base of support. And their leader, a narcissistic carnival barker, disrespects them by going on the stump and treating them like Pavlov’s dogs.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTSince his announcement for the Presidency in 2015, we’ve witnessed Trump’s racism and misogyny on full and constant display. Two years of bile and hate directed at those least powerful in our society – the poor, immigrants, and women. Who can forget the comments about Mexican rapists, the Billy Bush tape, and Trump’s budget and tax plans that will eviscerate programs that serve the poor and the elderly in order to support tax cuts for the rich? And this doesn’t even include his health care “reform,” which would only throw tens of millions off of their health insurance plans, while dramatically raising rates for those still insured.
Increasingly, Trump directs his vitriol toward other government institutions, particularly the courts and Congress, all in an effort to discredit them in the eyes of his supporters. The narcissist needs a foil for his failures, of which he continues to have many. Health care reform, that’s the Senate’s failure, not his. It’s hard for me to feel sympathy for Senate Majority Leader McConnell, but after Trump’s incessant haranguing, I do.
And the Courts, the bastion of the fair adjudication of our laws, have been vigorously discredited by this administration. From Judge Curiel in Indiana regarding a civil matter involving Trump, to two federal circuits that upheld the stay on his immigration ban, he attempts to undermine the rule of law at every instance. The only law is Trump’s law.
When the media reports on any of this, it’s called “Fake News.” Reporting on the size of public attendance at his Inauguration – Fake News. The over 1000 lies and mischaracterizations told by Trump since January 20, 2017 – Fake News. Russian interference in the 2016 election – Fake News. His contradictory statements on a whole variety of issues – Fake News.
In Trumplandia, there are only two valid and truthful news sources – Fox News and Trump’s own Twitter account. Trump’s Twitter feeds are legendary, if only for the ridiculous way he uses them to announce policy (e.g. transgenders in the military) or attack political opponents (take your pick as there are too many to begin to list).
In a previous Mindsetter™ I wrote about the method to his madness. Over the previous eight months, we’ve seen this madness, in stark relief, on full display. Trump can only disguise his incompetence and his insecurities by bullying and destroying others, plugging into the worst fears and biases of his followers. The cult of Trump begins to form…
As low as Trump has stooped since he championed the birtherism issue, the past few weeks have shown how shallow, ill-equipped, and soulless he is, especially for the leader of a great pluralistic society such as ours. First it was his overly bellicose “fire and fury” comments directed toward North Korea. Taking a tough stand against North Korea is one thing, but to use words that could inflame an already inflammatory situation is quite another, especially in a game of nuclear chicken. For a man who deliberately and often cynically uses words to affect events and outcomes, he was derelict. But then again, he seems to live in a Marvel Comics world where nuance and strategy don’t exist.
But his response to the events in Charlottesville Virginia, and his speech in Phoenix a week later showed us who he really is – a racist white nationalist who treads lightly around the Klan and Nazis, as witnessed by his initial statements. Drawing a false equivalency between two protesting groups for the violence that day, and barely acknowledging the death that occurred at the hands of one member of the “alt-right” protesters, he said there was blame on “many sides.”
Two days later, he delivered a prepared statement placing responsibility for the violence squarely on the “alt-right” protesters, but the very next day, in extemporaneous remarks, he not only defended his initial remarks but also tried to equate Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson with George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. It is one thing to have little knowledge of American history and another to disrespect that history with what little knowledge he had.
In Phoenix, he attempted to defend his Charlottesville remarks by omitting the portion that falsely equated the sides, and then called out the media for falsely reporting his statements. I guess he forgets, or hopes that we forget, that there are tapes of him speaking.
Donald John Trump has elevated hate into a political art form. Never in American history have we had a president as hateful, spiteful, narcissistic, uninformed, and temperamentally unsuited for the office he holds. He ran on hate and governs on hate. If someone has a grievance, he’s your champion. If someone has a bias, he’s there to justify and validate that bias. And if someone is confused by competing sources of information, he stands as the sole provider of “truth.”
President Trump is a demagogue, pure and simple. He calls for patriotic unity but behaves as the divider-in-chief. He has shown his lack of temperament and governing competence, along with his lack of character necessary to lead a great nation.
Whether by impeachment, resignation, or the 25th Amendment, it is time for us to show this demagogue the door.
Geoffrey A. Schoos, Esq is the President of the Rhode Island Center for Law and Public Policy
Related Slideshow: RI Democrats React to Trump’s Budget - 2017
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