Randy’s Rant — I Can See Through Your Mask: How Trump’s Authoritarian Ways Threaten Our Democracy
by Randy Kaufman, with research assistance from Dustin Lowman
“Come you masters of war
You that build the big guns
You that build the death planes
You that build all the bombs
You that hide behind walls
You that hide behind desks
I just want you to know
I can see through your masks”
That certain Americans have a surprising habit of voting against their interests probably won’t come as news. But as we near this all-important election, which feels like a referendum on who we are as an American populace, it bears repeating — and exploring. Why do working-class voters tend to tilt Republican, when, as far back as LBJ, Democrats have been the ones who have “supported labor unions, higher minimum wages, expanded unemployment insurance, Medicare and generous Social Security”?
Anyone jaded enough to know — yet still optimistic enough to watch as President Trump spews logorrhea all over Joe Biden and the rest of the debate stage — knows that, when it comes to voting, the majority of people aren’t policy wonks who make nuanced distinctions between candidates. For the most part, people vote with their guts, spurred on by the way the pundits make them feel.
Trump’s supporters include heads of corporations (Oracle Corporation, Home Depot, Bass Pro Shops, Apollo Global Management, Las Vegas Sands Casinos) but his base of support is primarily rural, non-college educated white Americans, who have traditionally worked in the manufacturing and agricultural sectors of the US economy. Real income for this group peaked in 2000 at the end of the Clinton administration.
For the last 20 years, as the center of the US economy shifted ever more to services and information, this group was left behind. There are whole sections of our country with vacant main streets, empty schools and minimum wage jobs with no healthcare or retirement benefits. People who live in places like West Virginia or Kansas felt abandoned by the Democratic party, sold out by deals like NAFTA.
Along came Donald Trump, the ultimate con man, in 2016 with the promise that he, and only he, could reverse decades of decline. Those of us who live in New York City found it hilarious that a man with six corporate bankruptcies, a brush or two with personal bankruptcy, a history of ripping off lenders, investors and contractors could be taken seriously outside the five boros. Alas we grossly underestimated the appeal of Trump’s image as crafted by “The Apprentice.”
Four years after the fateful day he was elected, Trump has proven to be as good a president as a businessman. He ran a thriving economy straight into the ground: recession, record unemployment levels, net job losses over four years, Americans are dying because of his carelessness — on average, 822 a day since January 20th. That’s like having a 9/11 every 3.62 days. Yet he takes no responsibility. Since he can no longer run on his economic record, Trump is now employing dictatorial methods to remain in power.
How Trump Channels Dictators
Most obviously, Trump is a notorious media bully, who would sooner see a press dedicated to his praises than to holding him accountable. Limiting media is a hallmark of authoritarian leaders — take it from the late John McCain, who in 2017 told Chuck Todd that limiting free press is “how dictators get started.”
Said Fox News anchor Chris Wallace, “I believe that President Trump is engaged in the most direct sustained assault on freedom of the press in our history.” Totemic names in authoritarianism, from Stalin to Hitler to Trump’s buddy Putin, have all employed this tactic, to try to twist societal narratives to their own personal ends. “His purpose is clear,” continued Wallace: “to raise doubts, when we report critically about him and his administration, that we can be trusted.”
Did someone say Hitler? Inadvertent (probably) Eva Perón imitation notwithstanding, Trump has repeatedly employed one of Hitler’s most heinous — and, to me, personally troubling — methods: Blaming all of a person’s woes on minorities. He did it in 2016, when he accused Mexico of sending “murderers and rapists” into America to cause trouble. He did it in 2018, when he denounced African nations as “shithole countries.” And he did it on the 2020 debate stage, when he refused to condemn white supremacists. Hitler’s scapegoat was the Jews. Trump’s, for the most part, is anyone who had the misfortune to be born something other than white. Immigrants bear the brunt of his ire. (In a blog post, Boston University American History Professor Heather Cox Richardson made some disturbing points about Trump’s use of a Thin Blue Line flag during a rally. Check out her writing if you’re hungry for more rigorous social criticism.)
Within the confines of Trumpland, the overriding law is loyalty. Trump’s opinions of people hinge on one very simple metric: Whether or not they say nice things about him, and agree with the things that come out of his mouth. Are you for me, or against me? Just as Soviet Russia evaluated its subjects on their degree of loyalty to the state, Trump evaluates his cabinet members on their degree of loyalty to the Don. As recently as July, as Trump was saying COVID-19 will go away and masks were not necessary, he did have staffers conducting actual loyalty tests, presumably out of fear of “leaks and other potentially subversive acts just months before the presidential election.” In a classic show of ego, Trump was more interested in loyalty tests than COVID-19 tests.
Setting loyalty as a top priority is a problem. If people live and die by how deeply and how often they kiss the ring, they’re going to end up lightyears from any notions of “truth” or “objectivity.” Should they choose, like James Comey (remember him?), to defy Trump’s implicit loyalty requests, they’re out. As of October, the Trump administration’s turnover stood at 91%. Since Reagan, no president had surpassed 80% at the same point in their administration. What you end up with is a band of sycophants, more seduced by power than committed to running the country.
All That’s Left is Civic Duty
I could go on — and on, and on — about the many ways Trump’s leadership style is more becoming of an aspiring authoritarian than a U.S. president. But if you are still reading this, you probably know the ways, and you could just as easily list them.
He has ripped pages straight from George Orwells’ 1984 and waged a consistent and aggressive war on the truth, and on the institutions concerned with purveying the truth, aiming to create a world which bows to his delusion. He has blamed the United States’s (very real) problems, many of which he created, on (very unreal) scapegoats, enlivening the anger in people who feel neglected by the American system, compelling them to vote against their interests. And he has attempted to consolidate power by squeezing loyalty out of the members of his administration, turning them into apparatchiks for his fear-based, self-serving, anti-truth campaign.
He has identified the irrational vices that lurk in our country, and he has exploited them. He depends on them — who knows where Trump would be without two endorsements from former KKK leader David Duke? Trump has erected his kingdom on an irrational foundation, one that has jeopardized democracy as we know it.
I believe America is stronger than Trump. I still believe in our electoral system, and I believe that if enough reasonable people take enough reasonable action (voting, that is) we can flush Trump out of power, and into the sewer system of history. To that end, I implore you to take stock of the situation, look at how this man likens himself to dictators, and do your civic duty.
Vote, for all you’re worth, vote. Just VOTE!
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