Donald Trump is a conceited, arrogant, egotistical, lying, shameless racist, and anyone who supports him shares one or more of these characteristics with him. How have we as a country come to condone this style of national leadership?
There have been less deviant behaviors of national leaders condoned in the past. Incidences occurred when national officials have acted in immoral and unethical ways, and they have survived the negative consequences of public scrutiny. Sexual scandals and financial corruption allegations have plagued politicians from the earliest times of our country’s national constitution, some more well known than others. However none of these patterns of formerly judged misbehaviors compare with the degree of antics predicated by Donald Trump. His words and actions are clearly confined to a singular recently established despicable category.
That Donald Trump as an individual behaves in this exceedingly immoral and unethical manner is not necessarily a matter for public concern. Many other people practice the same extensive debauchery as Donald Trump, patterns of behavior that assault the dignity and composure of others, taking from them without consent privileges and expression that only serve to enrich and entertain the predator. Yet to have as president of the United States a person who openly and without shame has and does participate in these condescending scenarios is another matter entirely.
So the question that must be answered is …Why? Why do so many people in the country support and approve of this behavior? Why do they allow it to continue?
Certainly some people who approve of Donald Trump would not publicly declare that they too behave in the way Donald Trump behaves. These people would not openly and shamelessly participate in the same offensive assaults as Donald Trump practices. At some place in their awareness they would be embarrassed to know that others knew that they acted like Donald Trump. Even if indeed they do behave in ways that reflect the immorality and unethical behavior of Donald Trump they would not want others to know about it. Here is a degree of hypocrisy that hides truth from reality.
Other people approve of Donald Trump because Donald Trump provides them with a measure of something they desire. These people would not practice the same offensive behaviors as Donald Trump practices, yet they condone that Donald Trump does it because Donald Trump advances programs and policies that are important to them. Whether the issue is one of white supremacy or anti abortion or anti immigration or protections for the wealthy, no personal misbehaviors of Donald Trump will cause them to end their support for him. Here is a degree of rationalization that vails inconsistency.
Then there are people who just enjoy seeing others being pushed around. These people like to see power applied to those unable to defend themselves--misfits and accomplishers and anyone who creates a bit of resentment and envy in them. Actions that disrupt and make life harder for persons who are resented produce a degree of satisfaction and pleasure for others who are bothered by people who aspire for or have achieved a level of presence that they themselves have been unable to achieve. Here is a degree of deficient self confidence that denies individuality.
In all of these incidences when persons resolutely support and approve of Donald Trump there is a common character trait: the yearning for power. More precisely, the yearning for power over others, power to make others do what they otherwise would not do. And behind this yearning is a judgement of entitlement, of being privileged to be in a position to demand that others conform to some preceptively composed authority. These people believe they are special, chosen because they presume to believe they have been given an insight not discernible to mere mortals. Therefore they can speak on the behalf of those less endowed.
The quest for power is a universal trait. I have seen it among those in power—how they maneuver to hold on to their power—and I have seen it in those who live under the rule of the powerful—how they conspire for power. Yet I have seldom seen the powerful live with compassion and empathy for those under their authority.
But I have often seen those without power live with compassion and empathy for others in circumstances like themselves; not all of them but many of them. The people who are marginalized seem to be in touch with the human predicament in ways that elude the powerful. These controlled people are meek, caring, without presumption. They know they are not privileged, not entitled. They are human beings, vulnerable to the conditions formulated for them by those with power. And they submit to their condition, living as best they can with the limited provisions passed down to them.
Those with power and those seeking the advantages the powerful can give to them live in a delusion. Their perception of their value precedes themselves. They do not understand their humanity. They do not aspire to be good human creatures. They set their determination on being more than they are. They confuse power with escape—escape from normality. Their existence is an apparition.
Yet no one will escape the destiny of being human. At best any effort to do so by acquiescing to the lure of benefiting from power will be a temporary escape. And for these people there will eventually and certainly be a huge surprise.
Until empathy and compassion become the expectation and obligation for national behavior, those who follow and support and approve of “T rump = That ass” will make an ass of themselves—behaving stupidly, looking silly. …Democracy will never prevail when most people act like this.