As the darkest National Day weekend began, the President showed us what he thought of our current suffering. Saturday brought an explosion of angry Twitter messages followed by a round of golf. At the end of the day, he published a base and baseless conspiracy theory that slanders one of his perceived "enemies" and torments the parents of a young woman who died of natural causes. In addition to another round of golf on Sunday, he offered this enthusiastic lie: "Cases, numbers and deaths are down all over the country!" In fact, cases continue to increase in many states and localities.
Trump's carefree vacation has shown that, as his campaign for re-election begins in earnest, he will not change
the formula that brought him to the oval office in the first place. This method depends on the reliable power of division, anger and militant rage. Although disastrous when operated in response to a crisis like the current pandemic, Trump uses them as he did in 2016: to boost his base.
Much research has shown that many people find that their well-being and self-esteem increase when they feel angry or hateful toward others. What the Wall Street Journal recently described as "the pleasure of hating" can bring people together to act against a common enemy, whether that enemy is real or imagined. In his life before politics, Trump has talked about enemies of pop culture like Rosie O'Donnell so that he can engage in public fighting against someone he hated. In his political incarnation, where the consequences are real and serious, he used the same process but infused it with conspiracy theories on opponents of "the deep state"
Trump knows or cares about the power of this game. The more anger people feel, the less they are prone to moderation and compromise. Rabid people are also likely to feel more motivated to vote against the object of their hatred. Add Trump's ability to show feelings of hatred and revulsion - take a look at his rallies - and it's like he's issuing an official sanction so that everyone removes the restraints of decency and gives free rein to his impulsive hatreds.
Is the President's rage sincere? His affection for theater and performance argues that everything is game. We all know that the president likes to use showbiz devices to capture attention. The question of whether or not to wear a medical mask to visit a Ford factory has created a classic cliffhanger attraction. His frequent press conference collapses do the same service, keeping us all tuned in. These factors and others suggest that everything is an act.
On the other hand, as we watch the President reeling through the Covid-19 emergency, playing golf as the New York Times prepares to publish a list of the dead, we should consider the cruelty, l arrogance, rage and deviance are not an act. When I see it now on television, I recognize the same pattern that I saw when I interviewed him half a dozen times years ago. He is only really animated, really himself, when he expresses disdain for others or love for himself. Hatred and vanity are his comfort zones, and he comes back to them whenever he is under pressure.
Trump's sincere belief that anyone whose views differ from his own must be an enemy explains why he recently attacked the science that showed the drug he was touting and said he had taken - hydroxychloroquine - is ineffective and harmful. He called one study "an enemy declaration" and another "political work". In this way, he converted facts based on studies of a terrifying problem into an attack on him by people who personally hate him.
No president capable of dealing with the country, and who possessed a full range of human emotions, would return as systematically and automatically to the type of rude and selfish behavior that Trump shows if it were an act. Likewise, a president who urges people to fill places of worship, as Trump urged on Friday when he called them to challenge public health warnings against such rallies, is not acting rationally and thoughtful. Instead, he returns to his true type.
At its most authentic, our president is the man who, throughout his life, used an enormous family wealth and the power which accompanied him to escape all kinds of rules (for proof, see his commercial bankruptcies, his sex scandals, Trump University and Trump Foundation Scams, among others). Now, as president, he will break all the rules to respond to a national emergency and, even as the bodies pile up, will encourage his followers to do the same. Instead of rallying the country to sacrifice and shared efforts that would save lives and honor our grief, it would put us and our American citizens at risk, to prove our supposed enemies - the scientists and the doctors and officials responsible - - are false.
Trump's latest efforts to deviate and divide will prove why those who are not super rich or super powerful are safer to follow the standards. Along the way, he awaits more suffering and death for those who cannot protect themselves with wealth and power. The other leads to vital security and the reward of overcoming something horrible together. The president, true to himself, made his choice which, according to him, will lead to his re-election. It seems he thinks it is worth it, no matter what price we can pay.
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