I know Donald Trump is not Hitler. I’m a rational human being. I have a Ph.D. for gosh sake (although it’s in psychology 😊). And I know he doesn’t wake up in the morning and ask himself, “How much more can I destroy American democracy today.” He probably thinks that he is doing good.
However, the methods that he is using to rile up his base and get power are unforgivable. Unfortunately, humans are programmed by evolution to treat the in-group, “us,” and the out-group, “them,” very differently. That’s because for millions of years in our evolutionary history we had a lot of tribal warfare. As a result, more of your genes would be passed on if you were altruistic and blindly loyal to your tribe and its leaders. Those were the people that looked like you, dressed like you, and worshiped like you. Also, more of your genes would be passed on if you feared and mistrusted “them,” the people who were different, which were people from the other tribes.1
The playbook for using these natural tendencies to manipulate people politically goes back at least as far as the 16th century, when Machiavelli suggested that his prince stir up trouble with an out-group to increase his own group’s blind loyalty to him. The most extreme example of that strategy in modern times, of course, was Adolf Hitler. The most recent is Donald Trump.
He gets loyalty from his followers by playing up their resentment and fear of minorities. Mr. Trump started by claiming that a president of the United States wasn’t born here, saying he had remarkable evidence about this that he never produced. That was the first time that this kind of claim about a president entered the public consciousness. Trump suggested this president was born in Africa, and this was our first black president. That is not in any way a coincidence. Ultimately, this was about separating him from us white people.
Once in the presidency, his signature issue is about reducing immigration by people with brown skin (not so concerned about Canadians or Scandinavians, now is he?). In reality, there is absolutely no reason to be concerned about immigration right now. Crime rates are at historic lows2, and solid statistical facts show that immigrants commit less crime per person than native-born people do. The reasons are simple: more consequences. If I’m native-born and commit a crime, I fear fines and jail time. But if I’m an immigrant, I fear fines, jail time, plus deportation. For many immigrants that has horrendous, life-threatening consequences, depending on what they were running from.
Of course, Mr. Trump can find individual instances of immigrants that committed horrific crimes. If he looked, he could find many more worse crimes by native-born people. But Mr. Trump is into anecdote over solid statistics, irrational fear and prejudice over rationality. It’s not about what’s true. For him it’s a way to manipulate others and gain power. For his followers it’s about having an excuse to get angry or more afraid of those damn other people.
Playing to people’s fear of those who are different to gain power has always been available to every politician but thank God most have been moral enough or constrained enough by political correctness to refrain. But Trump is different. His language is about how they are rapists and murderers, bad hombres, coming to “infest” our nation. Of course, the idea of associating the out-group with vermin or insects that infest our body goes back directly to Hitler.
Cruelty toward the out-group is also part of the profile. Mr. Trump’s repeated efforts to take immigrant children away from their parents and lock them up fits.
American exceptionalism was something that some part of me always believed in. This is the theory that the United States is “A shining city on a hill,” different from other countries. I thought that we are blessed, we would never fall for primitive appeals to hatred and fear of others, or to blindly following autocrats more than science, truth, or justice.
Again, I’m a rational human being, so I know that we are not Nazi Germany. But it seems to be a difference of degree, not of kind, and that is important.
We are in a situation where many people are telling themselves, “When he separates immigrant families, calls them rapists and murderers, and puts their toddlers in internment camps to cry their eyes out where no one is allowed to hold them, it's acceptable because I’m not an immigrant. When he makes poor people suffer and takes away their insurance, social security, housing, financial aid, and ability to vote, it's acceptable because I’m not poor.
When he denigrates women and takes away their rights over their own bodies and life-plans, it's acceptable because I’m not a woman. When he legislates the LGBTQ out of existence, it's acceptable because I’m straight. When he promotes anti-Semitic conspiracy theories about rich Jews or says that neo-Nazis and white supremacists are good people, it's acceptable because I’m not Jewish. When he takes away protection for pre-existing conditions, it's acceptable because I’m not sick.
History has shown us how flawed that reasoning is. Once the whirlwind of our worst impulses is unleashed, it’s very hard to control. It will eventually touch everyone in some way.
Many people turn their heads and ignore all the above because Trump is a businessman. He is good for business. He may put another percentage point on my stock market returns; he may put a few dollars in my pocket. Hitler’s original appeal was about jobs and the economy too.
Personally, my primary identification has always been as a patriotic American, and most of my net worth is in stocks. But I am scared, shocked, and amazingly disappointed that such abhorrent tactics could succeed in our country. However, maybe it’s a hard lesson in our most essential creed, “All men (people) are created equal.” Perhaps we are not so special after all.
Every democracy in history, before 250 years ago, eventually succumbed to the appeal of tribal fears and prejudices and to the strongman. Hitler was elected into a democracy. Perhaps Mr. Trump’s presidency is a much-needed reminder about how fragile democracy can be. Perhaps it’s there to tell us how we must, to our last breath, do everything legal and nonviolent to make sure our democracy can’t slip away.
We must, first and foremost, above all, enact campaign finance reform. That should make everything else we need to change easier. Second, we must make everyone’s vote count equally, by getting rid of partisan gerrymandering and finding a way for the popular vote to determine elections. Finally, my list would include bringing back the FTC’s fairness doctrine, so that any political point made on the airwaves must give equal time to the other side. That pushed us toward a more informed and rational center.
References
- Did Warfare Among Ancestral Hunter-Gatherers Affect the Evolution of Human Social Behaviors? 2009, by Samuel Bowles. Science 324(5) June 1293-1298.
- 5 facts about crime in the US. 2018, by John Gramlich. Pew Research Center. Pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/01/30
- Criminal Immigrants in Texas: Illegal immigrant Conviction and Arrest Rates for Homicide, Sex Crimes, Larceny, and Other Crimes. 2/26/2018, by Alex Nowrasteh. The Cato Institute, Immigration Research and Policy Brief No. 4. Also: Does Undocumented Immigration Increase Violent Crime? 3/25/2018, by Michael Light and Ty Miller. Criminology, Vol. 56(2). www.cato.org