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President Donald Trump
Is Donald Trump a Walking Subreddit?
Or is Trump the President of the Trolls?
Posted July 22, 2015
July 22, 2015
Donald Trump entered the ring with a flamethrower on June 16th, announcing his Presidential bid in a speech that could be described as ironically macho, given that he denounced Mexican immigrants as “rapists” and criminals. He seemed to be itching to fight everyone, from allies to ISIS, in order to “make America great again”, the inevitable flag-wrapping that seems to pass for patriotism in Trump-world.
Clearly, his “patriotism” is more like tyrannical-rantism, made even clearer by his attacks on John McCain and POWs. He's the malevolent shiv of patriarchy, informed by Machiavelli’s “better to be feared than loved”, or to "better to be loved for being feared," creed. Yet somehow, his star continues to rise. Trump’s bubble stands athwart the swarming horde of GOP contenders, at first timorous to his trolling, and now declaring their disgust. This marks the beginning of what could be called the GOP’s Climate Change. I’m picturing Mr. Trump’s head as an overheated Earth, emitting far too much in the way of greenhouse gasses for anybody’s good. Here, at least, we can agree that this is a man-made phenomenon.
It’s interesting that Trump’s rise comes concurrently with the Reddit Revolt. After a moderator was fired, and recognizably vile subreddits banned, users rose up, forcing Ellen Pao out. Yet her replacement Steve Huffman promises to do more of the same, it seems. It will be interesting to see the struggle between those committed to cleaning up the Conde Nast site and those committed to kinda nasty “free” speech. Just as the Republican presidential rivals seek to reign in or eliminate Trump, Huffman and his cohort will battle a legion of opinionated and sometimes verbally aggressive opponents who want to “make the internet great again”, to borrow a phrase. Wrapped in a digital flag of free speech without consequence, these anonymous netizens and cyberpatriots want what’s theirs: hard drives and dark drives.
That dark drives exist in the human psyche is no new discovery. But it seems that hate and aggression, particularly the aggression of a particular kind of white male, is resurgent. The Southern Poverty Law Center reports that despite a dip in the last two years, the number of hate groups is at historically high levels, “driven by a backlash to the country's increasing racial diversity, an increase symbolized, for many, by the presence of an African American in the White House.” There are some pretty paranoid and hostile folks out there. When people can’t control their own distress, they try to control others.
When people can’t control their own distress, they try to control others.
Trump is doing this by running for president in a hostile and eerily magnetic manner. Maybe we can call it “polling for trolls”. He’s not only con-trolling, he’s pro-trolling. His accusations and mudslinging are, to be generous, like Mel Gibson’s mooning of the Brits in Braveheart, as Scottish hero William Wallace. (Before I get angry letters from Scotland, I’m well aware that Trump has been mooning the Scots for years.)
But Trump (and perhaps the subReditters) are mooning the advance of what might be called proper civilization – grounded in both the feminine principle of relatedness (eros or love) and the masculine principle of rationality (logos). The banner of proper civilization (yes, you trolls, that is the real “PC”) has been carried by men, women and children of all races and nationalities, religious and secular, educated and illiterate, wealthy and poor, and is always a work in progress – because no one carries it perfectly. The banner of civilization is interdependent, brimming with the fullness of all its parts. Pregnant, one might say.
I want to say to all those paranoid folks out there: This child comes in peace.
So even with the ugliness emerging from dark corners to face the light it doesn’t like, I have hope. Three weeks ago, I wrote an essay marking what I thought was a Turning Point in Trust after the Charleston shooting. The problem must be surfaced before we can solve it. The problem is, in a nutshell, disconnection and self-centeredness, against a growing and undeniable awareness that we are deeply connected. The problem has been “surfacing” for many people for quite a long time, particularly those formerly considered at the margins of society, the victims of prejudice, alienation and exclusion.
Before us, now more than ever before, is the question of America. Can we live up to our motto “E Pluribus Unum”? Out of many, one. In what proportions and when do we stress mutuality, and when do we allow individuality to flourish? The San Francisco spirit I’ve felt over the years can be summed up as “as long as it’s consensual and doesn’t hurt anyone, go for it. And if it helps someone - then do it early and more often.” It’s as good a motto for love making as it is for life. (And voting, by the way.)
I hope what we all secretly want is a way to make love – and not simply to screw the other guy. As Rainer Maria Rilke wrote, “Perhaps everything that frightens us is, in its deepest essence, something helpless that wants our love.”
“Perhaps everything that frightens us is, in its deepest essence, something helpless that wants our love.”
So Donald Trump is a seemingly powerful Bogey-man – but maybe he’s also essentially helpless in the face of his impulses, from greed to lust for power, vainly wanting love in the form of attention. He’s so, so wrong – and from a comedian’s perspective, hilariously entertaining. Fasten your seat belts and enjoy him while he lasts.
America is pregnant, and pretty soon, there’ll be a new kid in town. Us.
Will the real U.S. please stand up?
(c) 2015, Ravi Chandra, M.D. F.A.P.A.
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