Who knows what a demagogue is? The dictionary knows: In the rough: “A political leader who seeks support by appealing to popular passions and prejudices.” The idea is not a bad one. Talk to people about the things that mean the most to them and you'll get their attention. Right? Right!
Donald trump is a demagogue. What passions and prejudices does trump work with? Essentially fear. Some people say Hatred and Fear, but that's redundant because hatred is always the product of fear. So, we fear being put out of work by illegal aliens and the next thing you know we hate them. It's that simple and pretty much that quick.
Same with Muslims. We've all been lied to about Muslims. We've been shown selections of their holy book that talk about killing heretics, and we've been told this is what their religion is all about. Well, if you are a Christian or a Jew you must know that your holy book is chock full of similar awfulness. Trump only attacks them because they are a small group we can learn to fear and hate, and because they are at the focal point of a holy war that frightens us all. They represent the problem; but they are not the solution, even though trump pretends otherwise.
Lots of men (sometimes myself included) wonder whether women are going to take over the world. You think it would be a good thing? Well, I'm not so sure … leadership, moral courage, intelligence; women have no special handle on these attributes. Lust for power? They're just as susceptible as men, I'm quite sure. Regardless, lots of men feel their traditional role as “the boss” is being diminished (and so it is). This is scary. Fear again, and trump appeals to this particular fear by making outrageous jabs at women, in ways that make some men feel like maybe he's the guy who will protect them from this truly dramatic change in our modern societies. With trump's references to the size of his penis, and to the implied weakness of a woman who bleeds on a cyclical basis, he doesn't pretend there is any actual significance in this harsh talk … it's just to make the men feel better, to make them feel there's somebody on their side in a very unstable and increasingly less male dominated world.
Gays and all the related types are another great focal point for fear. First of all we need to consider that most men have a little hidden away fear that they might not be seen as wholly masculine as they want to. Myself included, once again, we want to be seen as absolutely MALE. Me MAN and you know it!!! So, trump has his opportunity. Here's a group we can all be a little afraid of (if for no other reason than we can't understand them). With a little help from trump we can hate the lesbians, the homosexuals, the bi's. It doesn't really matter that they are just people trying to live with body-spirit mismatches, not to mention that people's basic sexuality is really none of our business anyway. Notice though, like most demagogues, trump is also a convincing liar. To one audience he claims to be friend to the LGBT community while to another he says he's going to make gay marriage an entirely states-rights issue (by appointing the proper justices). You see … he's not about truth, and he's not about moral courage. No, what trump is about is getting our votes because he believes we will each hear his message the way we want to hear it. This gives him the latitude to change his lines to suit the audience of the day.
There are a lot of such examples that trump has provided us with, but I think these will do to make the point; trump is only about getting his way, which means getting our votes.
You may think all politicians are crooks; well that's your opinion. I think most politicians are people who want to impose their beliefs on the world they live in because they feel their beliefs are better than everybody else's. They're hungry for power simply because that's the only way they can possibly get what they want. There's no doubt that trump is a politician; but he's also a person who stands for absolutely nothing except his own power. And it's beginning to look like trump's going to get his own way. God help us all if he does.
One more truly frightening point. I hope I've made it clear that trump is not about right and wrong, good and bad, law and order. I don't think he cares two hoots for any of that. So, consider, in a land where a significant number of people who are his ardent supporters also have AK47s (and not just one, but arsenals) and where the man that is trying so very hard to get his way also has a few billions of dollars to spend on buying carefully placed anarchy, disorder, mayhem, and chaos … do you ever wonder what the next election might shape up to be? I am very worried. I would not like to see those millions of private gun owners who think they can protect their country and selves and loved ones, matched up against hired, organized military. You think he won't do that? Maybe not. But think what kind of man he really is. Is he honest? Is he respectful of the law. What does he really care about? Just one thing matters to trump. trump.
Donald trump is a demagogue. What passions and prejudices does trump work with? Essentially fear. Some people say Hatred and Fear, but that's redundant because hatred is always the product of fear. So, we fear being put out of work by illegal aliens and the next thing you know we hate them. It's that simple and pretty much that quick.
Same with Muslims. We've all been lied to about Muslims. We've been shown selections of their holy book that talk about killing heretics, and we've been told this is what their religion is all about. Well, if you are a Christian or a Jew you must know that your holy book is chock full of similar awfulness. Trump only attacks them because they are a small group we can learn to fear and hate, and because they are at the focal point of a holy war that frightens us all. They represent the problem; but they are not the solution, even though trump pretends otherwise.
Lots of men (sometimes myself included) wonder whether women are going to take over the world. You think it would be a good thing? Well, I'm not so sure … leadership, moral courage, intelligence; women have no special handle on these attributes. Lust for power? They're just as susceptible as men, I'm quite sure. Regardless, lots of men feel their traditional role as “the boss” is being diminished (and so it is). This is scary. Fear again, and trump appeals to this particular fear by making outrageous jabs at women, in ways that make some men feel like maybe he's the guy who will protect them from this truly dramatic change in our modern societies. With trump's references to the size of his penis, and to the implied weakness of a woman who bleeds on a cyclical basis, he doesn't pretend there is any actual significance in this harsh talk … it's just to make the men feel better, to make them feel there's somebody on their side in a very unstable and increasingly less male dominated world.
Gays and all the related types are another great focal point for fear. First of all we need to consider that most men have a little hidden away fear that they might not be seen as wholly masculine as they want to. Myself included, once again, we want to be seen as absolutely MALE. Me MAN and you know it!!! So, trump has his opportunity. Here's a group we can all be a little afraid of (if for no other reason than we can't understand them). With a little help from trump we can hate the lesbians, the homosexuals, the bi's. It doesn't really matter that they are just people trying to live with body-spirit mismatches, not to mention that people's basic sexuality is really none of our business anyway. Notice though, like most demagogues, trump is also a convincing liar. To one audience he claims to be friend to the LGBT community while to another he says he's going to make gay marriage an entirely states-rights issue (by appointing the proper justices). You see … he's not about truth, and he's not about moral courage. No, what trump is about is getting our votes because he believes we will each hear his message the way we want to hear it. This gives him the latitude to change his lines to suit the audience of the day.
There are a lot of such examples that trump has provided us with, but I think these will do to make the point; trump is only about getting his way, which means getting our votes.
You may think all politicians are crooks; well that's your opinion. I think most politicians are people who want to impose their beliefs on the world they live in because they feel their beliefs are better than everybody else's. They're hungry for power simply because that's the only way they can possibly get what they want. There's no doubt that trump is a politician; but he's also a person who stands for absolutely nothing except his own power. And it's beginning to look like trump's going to get his own way. God help us all if he does.
One more truly frightening point. I hope I've made it clear that trump is not about right and wrong, good and bad, law and order. I don't think he cares two hoots for any of that. So, consider, in a land where a significant number of people who are his ardent supporters also have AK47s (and not just one, but arsenals) and where the man that is trying so very hard to get his way also has a few billions of dollars to spend on buying carefully placed anarchy, disorder, mayhem, and chaos … do you ever wonder what the next election might shape up to be? I am very worried. I would not like to see those millions of private gun owners who think they can protect their country and selves and loved ones, matched up against hired, organized military. You think he won't do that? Maybe not. But think what kind of man he really is. Is he honest? Is he respectful of the law. What does he really care about? Just one thing matters to trump. trump.
