Truth
vs. Trump
By
Lawrence Davidson
February 27, 2017 "Information
Clearing House"
-
During the
presidential campaign I often referred to Donald
Trump as a congenital liar, but it is possible
that in doing so I made a “category mistake.” By
definition liars, even chronic ones, belong to a
category of people who know that there is truth
from which their lies deviate. I am not sure
that accurately describes President Trump’s
state of mind. Perhaps a more accurate way of
describing Trump’s outlook is that it presents
as a
grandiose delusional disorder.
People
with this sort of disorder seem not to be able
to discern what is real from what they want to
be real. Their beliefs do not have to be bizarre
but can appear as persistent misrepresentations
that are either false or gross exaggerations.
One sort of delusional disorder is called
“grandiose.” Here the person has “an
over-inflated sense of worth, power, knowledge,
or identity.” Trump seems to fit this
description.
Here
are a few of Trump’s misrepresentations and
exaggerations that appear to underpin his
alternate reality.
—
According to the president, the nation was in
deep trouble when he took over. He insists that
he inherited “a mess.”
No one challenged this description, although it
is plainly an exaggeration. In truth the economy
(including job production and employment rates)
under his predecessor was doing well and no new
foreign wars had been launched by Washington.
Civil rights were being extended to more and
more minority groups. Where there was dissension
it was over such things as police violence
(which Trump seems not to see as a problem).
To tackle this exaggerated “mess” Trump claims
to have put together a “well
oiled machine.”
This is a misrepresentation. By all evidence his
early administration is disorganized, amateurish
and
plagued by internal dissension.
When the situation was reported in the press,
Trump got very angry at this challenge to his
preferred view of reality and declared that the
media is the “enemy
of the American people.”
—
President Trump claims that a key to the safety
of the nation is the imposition of his
immigration ban blocking immigrants from seven
predominantly Muslim nations. However,
the statistical evidence
showing a lack of
violence on American soil by such immigrants
makes Trump’s claim insupportable. Just so his
grossly exaggerated
assertion that immigrants generally hurt the
economy by taking jobs away from citizens.
— He
(along with that other deluded leader Benjamin
Netanyahu) describes Iran as the greatest terror
state in the world, even though, in practice,
Iran has been a discreet ally of the U.S. in the
“war on terror.”
—
And, of course, Trump continues to
insist on his overwhelming popularity,
as exemplified by claims for his
Electoral College numbers
and an alleged record
inauguration attendance,
despite the fact that each claim can easily be
shown to be a misrepresentation of reality.
Trump’s real approval rate now hovers
around 40%,
lower than every other post-World War II
president at this point in their term.
To these instances of misrepresentation and
exaggeration can be added other evidence, such
as the fact that just about all contrary views
appearing in the media are now described by
Trump as “fake news.” In his own opinion,
nothing he says or does is ever wrong or
mistaken. If something does go wrong it is
because some other person or
group has maliciously sabotaged his efforts,
while twisting the truth he knows to exist into
a maligning falsehood. This is why he can’t work
with anyone who has previously criticized him or
who is likely to do so to his face.
Bullshit
There is another way to understand what Trump is
doing. This is explained in a 2005 book by Harry
Frankfurt entitled
On Bullshit.
Actually, an older and less crude way of
describing this is “humbug.” Whatever you call
it, this way of relating to the world is,
according to Frankfurt, worse than lying because
it is “indifferent to the truth.” Those who
consistently engage in bullshit “quietly change
the rules governing their end of the
conversation so that claims about truth and
falsity are irrelevant.” You do
this enough and you lose your capacity to tell
what is true and what isn’t.
Frankfurt believes that Trump
does often lie, but even more often he just
bullshits, and he really cares little about what
is actually true. Perhaps he has reached the
stage where truth is just whatever comes out of
his mouth.
The Road
to Power
How are
we to understand the millions of Americans who
respond to Donald Trump with uncritical
enthusiasm – as if these large numbers are
following a pied piper into a promised world. I
think we have to see them as an archaic subset
of any population. In the U.S. case, this is a
largely white American subgroup which has been
obsessively angry since the 1960s over both
economic and cultural changes. In other words
the progressive political and social reality
that most Americans have created beginning with
the Civil Rights movement is anathema to them.
For these discontented people, the changes
happening around them appeared unstoppable until
now. However, Trump’s language, his attack on
the political system per se, his choice of
targets such as immigrants, have given voice and
direction to the frustrations of this subgroup.
Trump’s alternate reality is one that they are
comfortable with. This situation is not unique
to the U.S., nor is it unique to our historical
period.
|
Break
Free From The Matrix
|
Even though there is no eliminating such a class
of malcontents entirely, it is to be emphasized
that, despite the publicity given emotional
Trump rallies and the Tea Party movement,
Trump devotees are a minority of the national
population. If
that is the case, how is it that Donald Trump
occupies the White House? We can answer this
question by accounting for the outlook of the
rest of the adult U.S. population.
First, it is important to understand that a
large percentage of American adults (perhaps 40
percent) don’t
vote. In my opinion, most of them are just not
interested in politics. It is not an important
part of their local reality. Thus, they do not
show an interest in, much less an understanding
of, politically important issues beyond their
own immediate locale. This accounts for the
chronic low turnout for American elections both
national and regional. The default position of
this very large number of citizens is one of
political passivity.
Second,
during the past campaign season a large number
of traditionally Democratic Party voters became
disaffected. The party was essentially split by
the Bernie Sanders challenge. When that proved
of no avail against an entrenched leadership
mindset more beholden to special interests then
to the needs of the ordinary citizen, the party
lost millions of votes. Some of these defectors
probably became closet Trump supporters. Others
voted for third party candidates or simply
stayed home on election day.
You put
all of this together with other voting variables
such as gerrymandered voting districts, the
usual barriers to minority group voting, and the
distinct lack of enthusiasm for Hillary Clinton
as a candidate, and the mystery of Trump’s
victory gets less mysterious.
Actually, Donald Trump’s delusional worldview,
and the reinforcing support given to it by his
enthusiastic followers, does not prevent him
from occasionally coming out with accurate
observations. Unfortunately, these occur almost
spontaneously, in what appears to
spur-of-the-moment situations. For instance, in
an interview with Bill O’Reilly aired just
before the Superbowl, Trump responded to the
assertion that Vladimir Putin was “a killer” by
saying,
“we’ve [the U.S.] got a lot of killers. What, do
you think our country is so innocent?”
This complemented his on-again – off-again
desire to reach an accommodation with Moscow.
Then, during Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent visit
to Washington, Trump
questioned the continuing viability of the
two-state solution
(of course, without contextualizing the
statement by pointing a finger at Israeli
policies).
Yet
these relatively rare public displays of
reality-based insight are of little reassurance
to the rest of us just because they are
intermittent and apparently not characteristic
of any disciplined analytical way of thinking.
So, we are still left with guy who, for most of
his waking hours, lives in his own world of
“humbug.”
So what
can we expect from this delusional, morally
suspect personality who now occupies the White
House? My guess is that as things get more
contentious, Trump will retreat from the policy
business of governing. He will turn that over
(if he hasn’t already) to his accomplices:
Stephen Bannon, Reince Priebus, and Vice
President Pence. Having done so he will devote
more and more time to his so-called reelection
campaign where he can vent his spleen amongst
the adoring crowds of supporters who serve,
collectively, as a stimulant for the man’s
immense ego.
Lawrence Davidson is a retired professor of
history from West Chester University in West
Chester PA. His academic research focused on the
history of American foreign relations with the
Middle East. He taught courses in Middle East
history, the history of science and modern
European intellectual history.
http://www.tothepointanalyses.com
