“Hopefully, Donald Trump will be our one and only psychopath as president. We must not put ourselves through this national anguish and darkness again.”
Alan D. Blotcky/SALON
“If you can convince the lowest white man he’s better than the best colored man, he won’t know you’re picking his pocket. Hell, give him something to look down on, and he’ll empty his pockets for you.”
Lyndon Johnson
Setting aside professional disclaimers, many people with psychological training seem to have enjoyed analyzing the mental health of Donald Trump. It is understood that no official diagnosis can be made without seeing the patient, nor made public without the patient’s permission—two situations which Trump would never allow. Still, we judge each other’s sanity all the time, and public figures are publicly vulnerable. Whether Trump is a clinical psychopath or not, he held for four years a position of vital importance to everyone in the world; his behavior over a lifetime, especially as president, suggests more than the usual amount of human quirks; and we are all entitled to our opinions. Americans are about evenly divided between those who believe he suffers severely from mental illness, and those who believe he is sane enough to merit permanent presidency. Though his behavior ultimately cost him reelection, more Americans voted for him the second time than did the first. Trump is a symptom of a sickness that infects the whole country. It took two centuries for our country to get sick enough to choose a president that sick. Jimmy Carter was hooted out of office for suggesting that our country might suffer from a “national malaise,” but events of the past forty years, culminating in the Trump presidency, keep proving him right.
The culture that elected Donald Trump got what it asked for with the COVID-19 pandemic, another symptom of a country suffering possibly fatal psychic and social disabilities. We will surely learn about others as they become newsworthy. Of course, there was no way of avoiding a new, serious, highly contagious viral infestation. But Trump’s mismanagement—actually, non management—put the situation quickly out of control. Meanwhile, half of America applauded his incompetent negligence. The fundamental malady that let the pandemic ravage the country is a governing philosophy that applauds rugged individualism defined by corporate rule. Americans must face that fact and change it before we can stop unleashing deadly illnesses, be they COVID, Trumpism, or disasters unforeseen. America is now ruled by corporate elites who are determined to stay in power by continually convincing Americans that corporatism is not fascism, but individualism. More sick tragedies are lying in wait, as is another Trump—maybe smoother, friendlier, more congenial on the surface, abler to disarm and confuse his opposition…but just as power-mad. And lest we forget, the current power structure, through tax cuts and deregulation, got what it wanted out of Donald Trump.
We who feel relieved about the outcomes of the 2020 election and the close scrape on January 6 know we cannot go back to our “normalcy” up to 2016. The normalcy that got Trump elected is an American culture mired in the dogma of rampant, unbridled capitalism. People are expected, no matter what, to be personally responsible for procuring all their needs or wants, the more the better, without help or interference from society, making everyone totally free. Under this dogma, though some must fail due to their laziness or shortcomings, the rest of us should achieve incredible prosperity and progress—and total freedom as well. History shows different results whenever humanity has tried to practice that materialistic faith: income inequality, overproduction, poverty, depression, and war have occurred often enough as the results of freewheeling capitalism. We ought to know better by now. Still, those who prosper from greed will always want more, no matter the cost to others, and their propaganda machines in radio, TV, and social media continue to promote the religion of greed in ever cleverer ways. The extent of the rulers’ success is measured in their low taxes, and downsizing and elimination of public social services—a process that has been ongoing for about half a century.
Since most working stiffs are perceptive enough to eventually know when they are being conned and robbed, the plutocrats who rule our world have to employ devious tricks to get the workers’ votes they need to elect politicians who will be at their beck and call. Most workers favor government regulation of ruthless capitalism. They favor labor unions and programs like Social Security and Medicare, among others. There is no way corporate rulers can get enough votes from proles to win elections, based on issues like eliminating government services and regulations, just so we can all enjoy mythical, promised “freedom.” The rulers need a catch to hide what they really want to do, to get the votes they need from common people. They found it some time back—toxic, insane and brutal, but it works: racial prejudice. Going back to Barry Goldwater’s admonishments to go slowly on desegregation, the Republican Party has established itself as the party of states’ rights—concerning the national government’s ability to enforce the Constitution in states which desire not to honor the civil rights of certain citizens. While the Republicans replaced the Dixiecrats in the South, they also took advantage of racism in the North, where they convinced many unionized, well-paid workers to give up their hard-won New Deal benefits, rather than extend the same advantages to minorities.
The dependable votes of racists nationwide have enabled the corporate elites to stay in power, but there is a price. Now the party of rich people is held captive by White supremacists, never mind the half-hearted denials of rightwing politicians and the news cartel. American plutocrats, like those in France in 1789 and Germany in 1932, mistakenly thought they could control the lunatic fringe fanatics, and use them to suppress democratic reforms. The election of Donald Trump, finishing with the wreckage at the Capitol, should liberate American plutocrats from their delusions; but greed, like all other addictions, is immune to common sense. Now that Trump has served his purpose, wealthy Americans could work with Joe Biden and most Democrats, if they give up some of their ill-gotten gains in order to achieve social stability, which is good for business. Then the far-right gunslingers, bereft of leadership, might return to the swamps, hills, and wide-open prairies to nurse their grievances against modern society. We progressives would be foolish to depend on the rich to help the country recover. We need to push forward with the Democratic platform as quickly as possible, while we have the advantage.
Progressives know that all people have the same needs, wants, and desires, regardless of race, religion, or ethnicity. A government that can fulfill human aspirations and increase the hopes of all Americans can clear the way for further unification and growing prosperity. If we cannot accomplish these things while we control the legislative and executive branches, then hope will fade quickly. The coalition of minorities, young people, the poor, and liberal Euro-Americans must be kept intact for the country to recover from its malaise. The Supreme
Court will stand in our way, and we cannot predict how the rich or the racists will act. But the choices are clear: a better life for all Americans, or a relapse of the malaise, with ever worsening symptoms. I would love to see our country get well.