Donald Trump is not the disease — he is the symptom.
For many, America is in a directorial crisis. Liberalism is inherently optimistic, and with a growing percentage of Americans identifying as working class, its cracks are multiplying.
The GOP might fear the Islamic State’s apocalyptic vision, but this feeds beautifully into its own ghoulish desires. Trump’s TV ad promises “He’ll quickly cut the head off ISIS, and take their oil.” Even baby Bush’s ad says, “Serious times require serious leadership.” Rick Santorum — a very silly candidate — pleads, “Serious times need serious people.”
Rather than crouch in a bunker of the mind, we must remember the harrowing potential of politics born of fear. Fear needs a scapegoat, and fear will sniff one out. In mass movements, our worst impulses take root and our best turn to seed.
These are scary times without easy solutions. Defeating ISIS won’t be “so easy,” as Trump promised. We mustn’t reduce world-shaping political decisions to gut impulses, adrenaline rushes and sweaty, electrifying pep. We mustn’t glorify Trump for saying what others are too timid to say, thereby glorifying racism, sexism and warmongering.
The tragedy is that his magnetic appeal to triumph and power blinds many to very real and very troubling specifics.
Trump famously branded undocumented Mexican migrants as rapists. It is tragic that the working poor attack the working poorer — the trodden and abused in our already-stratified economy. Many pay taxes; few are able to achieve mobility; all live in blood-curdling insecurity. Additionally, many migrants from Mexico are Central American children facing violent deaths at the hands of gangs. Last year, thousands were denied asylum. Some were murdered within days of return. Sadly, the Obama administration nevertheless began its first large-scale deportation effort this month.
Trump opposes legal abortion. A World Health Organization and Guttmacher Institute study proved that making abortion illegal did not reduce its incidence; only contraception access did. Prior to Roe v. Wade, as many as 5,000 American women per year died during illegal abortion procedures.
Speaking on Vladimir Putin’s support of the Assad regime, Trump has stated, “at least he’s a leader.” Putin has bombed several schools and at least one hospital in Syria, and he supports the authoritarian, near-genocidal Assad regime. The horrors of the Assad regime, along with the destabilization of the Iraq war, only served to bolster the ranks of the Islamic State.
Despite supporting military might against ISIS, Trump opposes the invasion of Iraq. So do I. However, Trump’s narrative shows a horrific flippancy regarding human rights. In a recent speech in South Carolina, Trump recounted, “Then Saddam Hussein throws a little gas, everyone goes crazy, oh he’s using gas.” I believe he is referring to the 1988 Halabja attack, a genocidal massacre that killed up to 5,000 Kurds and injured up to 10,000 — the largest chemical-weapons attack on civilians ever.
Having launched his business with a million-dollar loan from his father, Trump is an unlikely avatar of the average Joe. Sadly, the dispossessed working class stands to suffer most in Trump’s fantasy world. But in the fantasies of many voters, it is they who will rule with an iron fist.
In the December GOP debate, Ted Cruz bellowed, “America can win again, and America will win again.” The Donald said, “Our country doesn’t win anymore. Nothing works in our country. If I’m elected president, we will win again. We will win a lot, and we will have a great, great country, better than before.” Substitute “I” for “country,” “America,” and “we.” Repeat these affirmations over the shower radio, but, please, don’t julienne the Middle East for them. Don’t force women to puncture their uteruses for them. Don’t force Syrians to suffer barrel bombs and chlorine gas or drown at sea. Don’t deport children to their killers. To quote President Obama in his end-of-the-year NPR interview: “What exactly are you talking about?”
Ann Manov is a UF French, English and Spanish senior. Her column appears on Mondays.
