Fintan O'Toole writes that Donald Trump is the Unpresident -- a man who enlarges the public sphere as he tries to shrink history:
This sudden enlargement of the public sphere is a response to Donald Trump’s mastery of belittlement. For all his logorrheic meanderings and florid hyperbole, Trump’s method is essentially reductionist, with mocking nicknames (“Crooked Hillary”), three-word slogans (“Lock her up!”), and an entire presidency predicated on four letters: MAGA
A central feature of Trump’s practice of malign minimalism is the erasure of American history. It is not just that his own ignorance (exposed, for example, in his suggestion in February 2017 that Frederick Douglass was still alive) seems almost total. It is that Trump is obsessed with a pseudo-history in which the past exists only as prelude to his own greatness and to the unique evil of his enemies. In the days after George Floyd’s death, Trump tweeted repeatedly about history: “The Greatest Political Crime In the History of the U.S., the Russian Witch-Hunt”; “the greatest political, criminal, and subversive scandal in USA history”; “Our Country has just suffered through the greatest political crime in its history.” He twice tweeted versions of a quote from Fox News host Lou Dobbs describing Trump himself as “arguably the greatest president in our history” and “Absolutely 100% the greatest President in history.” And he claimed that “My Admin has done more for the Black Community than any President since Abraham Lincoln.”
In this demented solipsism, the entire American past is shrink-fitted so that it hugs Trump’s own ample figure, cleaving both to his greatness and to his victimhood as an object of unparalleled persecution. The immediate backdrop for this obliteration of history is the catastrophic failure of Trump’s administration to control the spread of the coronavirus. A word Trump has repeatedly used to characterize both the crisis itself and his allegedly brilliant response to it is “unprecedented.” (He used it twice, for example, in his address to the nation on the pandemic on March 11.) The virus must exist in a temporal vacuum. Nothing like this has ever happened before, so how can Trump be blamed for not being prepared? There is no history of pandemics.
Trump doesn't know history. But he's convinced he can make it go away. Unfortunately, those who don't know history are condemned to repeat it.
6 comments:
Not knowing history doesn't matter to his disciples, Owen, since they have the same benighted affliction.
Like past demagogues, Trump incites the mob, Lorne. History shows that story never ends well.
We're good at letting our leaders say just about anything away. If we're not looking we can have the comfort of not seeing it until it smashes us in the face when three's no more room to duck.
.. we are an intriguing, though odd species .. yet like most, if not all species.. we are vulnerable to parasites. So where or what is 'the upside of down' ?? Not just in regard to Trumpism or Harperism.. but to other breeds and broods of political parasites ?? If we're so smart.. and know what is good for us.. why don't we understand how to avoid what is disastrous for us ??
Complacency ? Laziness ? Especially when the parasites parade openly right in front of us. Ideological creeps like Kenney and Trump are not hard to spot. They 'proclaim' where they are or will be. They actually 'tell us' where the most devious parasites are. The Stephen Harpers, the Steve Bannons.. Obviously, my main concern is here in North America.. Britain can solve their own parasitic issues like Boris Johnson.. I wonder and worry about my backyard.. our Canadian environment.
Paul Watson (Sea Shepherds) teaches a valuable lesson. If everyone looked after their own backyard.. we could solve larger scale problems efficiently. Again & again I come back to seeking out exemplars.. or hoho.. even trying to emulate them.. or practice.. or try out their suggestions ! Haha.. their it is again ! Employ 'Best Practices' ! Make a checklist !
If we hate that ticks now inhibit where we should or could hike safely with or without our trusty dog.. it behooves us to inform ourselves. rather than hike there anyway and provide the transportation to spread the infestation. If we identify the problem, the solution is probably staring us in the face. In this household we promote 'pollinators'.. bees, butterflies etc... our neighbors are aged greeks who are 'lawn nazis. They too love to see Monarch Butterflies flutter about.. and the gorgeous Swallowtails & Mourning Cloaks etc. Yet they do not comprehend the larva stage.. have proudly showed me the Monarch catterpillars they dutifully slay when found on their tomato crop.. what !! ?? I was astonished ! I now believe that they believe 2 butterflies were aboard Noah's Ark. When I showed them photos of butterflies emerging from the cocoon.. of caterpillars entering the pupae stage etc.. rhey were thunderstruck.
To see the lightbulbs going off in their heads was laughable yet heartwarming. But... These people have children and grandchildren and seemingly do not know about the birds and the bees or butterflies. I watched as my flustered neighbors cackled in Greek and Afghan dialects about the butterflies and the milkweed.. and the caterpillars. It was a WoW moment & experience to 'win one' Owen.. The milkweed is now appreciated in this neighborhood & flourishes .. the butterflies cometh.. and I mount my bike, feeling godlike haha..
PS.. I also showed them the magic of eliminating lawn grubs from their precious perfect golf green lawns.. and thereby discouraging racoons from tearing them up nightly.. Nematodes. Next week I will solve Donald Trump and Doug Ford
These days, John, the information -- and misinformation -- is out there. If we are ignorant, it's because we choose to be ignorant.
I encourage you to solve the Trumps and Fords, sal. It's time to go after the Big Grubs.
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