Living in Trump’s 1990 world
conspiracy theories. Those who disagreed were “radical” and “sick” while those in lockstep were “caring” and “principled.”
Conservative commentator Pat Buchanan, already notorious for penning attacks on blacks and Jews, made a hard run for the 1992 Republican nomination by spewing hatred. It culminated in a speech at the GOP national convention that summer that railed against women’s rights and gay rights among many other things. It ended with his praising military actions during the April Los Angeles riots that had come about after the acquittal of the white officers who beat black motorist Rodney King. Buchanan said we needed the kind of armed forces to “take back our culture and take back our country.”
These three-decade-old flashbacks are what I keep having these days, especially every time President Trump speaks or, worse, tweets.
Invoking fear and division and spreading outright lies in an already fearful, divided and confused country. Using name-calling and baseless conspiracy theories as factual arguments. “Make America great again” being code for “Remember when the people in power could oppress and pillage without having to answer to anyone?”
We should have seen it all coming with Trump, as far back as 1990. His interview that year with, who else, Playboy magazine, pretty much lays out his current governing M.O.
“I think if this country gets any kinder or gentler, it’s literally going to cease to exist,” he says. Trump further explains that if he was president, he’d install tariffs, distrust everyone including allies, and support an “eyefor-an-eye” rule of law.
He also lauds the communist Chinese
government for having recently put down pro-democracy demonstrations. “When the students poured into Tiananmen Square, (the government) almost blew it. Then they were vicious, they were horrible, but they put it down with strength. That shows you the power of strength,” Trump says of that watershed event that took place 31 years ago last week — the same week he had police use tear gas and brute force on peaceful protesters outside The White House so he could stroll over to a church for a photo op.
So here we are in 2020, living in Trump’s 1990 world. America is now his personal Disney Fantasyland. Well, everyone, it’s time to get off Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride and exit the park.
The daily doses of viciousness and paranoia; the tough-guy posturing; the lies — the many, many, many lies. The lack of empathy; the inability to promote healing and reform; the failure not only to understand, but to simply try to understand. Enough. That’s not how to lead a diverse democracy built on the motto “E pluribus unum” — out of many, one. It’s how you lead based on the motto “non solum” or “I alone,” as in “I alone can fix it,” as Trump boasted in accepting the 2016 GOP nomination for president. Trouble is, he isn’t and he obviously can’t.
“Our country is right now perceived as weak,” Trump also says in that 1990 interview, “as being spit on by the rest of the world.” If he said that today, I’d think the world would agree he is the one doing most of the spitting.