These days, everyone seems to have an opinion on Donald Trump. Elitist billionaire turned presidential candidate, Trump has seized the attention of the nation by becoming the front-runner of the Republican Party candidates. Despite never having held political office, Trump claims that he has the business experience and audacious attitude necessary to “MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” If by “GREAT” Mr. Trump means, for example, a society where all citizens can earn a living wage, freely exercise their civil liberties without fear of retaliation, and reserve the right to even a modicum of political power, then it is worth noting that America has demonstrably never been great. But you, I and Mr. Trump himself know that this is not what he means. What does he mean then? Are my friends right about him? Is Trump really a super-villain poised to become the next head of state? In order to answer these questions, all we need to do is examine Mr. Trump’s positions on the issues.
Contrary to what your Facebook feed may claim, Trump’s policies are not any more extreme or dangerous than those of the other Republican candidates. Even the most cursory comparison of their actual policies is enough to determine that Trump is actually the least extreme of all the Republican candidates. This is not saying much, however, as both the Republican and Democratic parties have shifted so far to the right in the past few decades that any true “moderate Republican” would fail to mobilize enough conservative voters to win any given election. This forces us to wonder how Trump could seem like the most extreme (and therefore most popular) Republican candidate without actually being such.
Trump is not popular for his policies, but for his bold (and sometimes even witty) rhetoric. He is, after all, a salesman, and salesmen are trained specialists when it comes to manipulating you into signing on their dotted line. (Now that I think of it, nearly all politicians are salesmen in that regard). Trump may be openly hateful of his enemies; he may be openly racist, xenophobic, and sexist; he may be openly indifferent to the suffering of others, but he does have one thing going for him: he is blunt. There is such apparent sincerity that comes with Trump’s stunts and scandals that it sways the hearts (and, therefore, the minds) of the American people and in this way substance ceases to be a matter worthy of account. This is why Trump can be the most moderate of the Republican candidates and still arouse the most passion on the Right, to much revulsion and mockery on the Left.
Now that we have a better understanding of the realities of a Trump candidacy, I must next point out that there is a disturbing schism between how the political Left regards Trump and how they should regard Trump. Not only is fear of Trump a pronounced topic of conversation these days, there are a myriad of articles and videos saturating the internet foretelling utter Armageddon at the hands of The Donald. This fear is discernibly irrational, as discussed above, which leads me to my next point: the population pays more attention to rhetoric than to actual stances on issues. This is a misaligned focus; if we care about policy rather than minutiae, then we must not allow ourselves to fall for Trump’s tactics. Just as Trump’s rhetoric undeservedly sways the Right, so too does his rhetoric undeservedly arouse the excessive contempt of the Left. This indicates a completely skewed state of how we interpret politicians and their meaning.
To clarify, I think it is important that we surely not agree to the truly absurd, albeit common, request that we simply stop talking about Trump. Such a proposal completely ignores the very important question of why Trump is so popular and resonates so powerfully with the masses and thereby shrugs off Trump supporters and their grievances as illegitimate. The truth is that the grievances of the American people, including Trump supporters, are legitimate and worthy of consideration. For example, Trump exploits the very real fears of American mediocrity, immigrants, terrorism, a failing economy, etc., in order to bolster his popularity. It goes without saying, however, that addressing grievances should not be equivalent to manipulating their espousers through fear tactics and wistful dreams of American exceptionalism. Rather, the political process should be altered in such a way that the concerns of Americans are addressed, argued over, and responded to in a reasonable way.
If anything, Trump’s popularity is an example of the practical dysfunction of one of the most important aspects of the political process: selecting candidates based on policies. Policy and substance should trump Trump; if we are prone to support or denounce our candidates purely based on their rhetoric and not their actual policies, then we are doomed to elect salesmen forever.
Contact Ian Knight at [email protected]