Trump's Deviance is His Appeal

What it says about him...and us

Amid the chaos and cruelty of Donald Trump circa 2023,  it’s easy to lose track of the recklessness and deviance at the center of his many controversies. A recent New York State appellate court ruling, backing a gag order imposed on Trump by a lower court judge, gives us a case in point.

Listen to the former president and his worshipping fans and you’d think the issue at hand was all about free speech. According to this view, Trump, already found guilty of fraud in his business affairs, should be allowed to say whatever he wants to about officials conducting the penalty phase of his trial.

What has Trump had to say? Well, for example, he has attacked the judge as biased, called the judge’s wife “Trump-hating,” (without proof of course) and said the judge’s clerk has been “palling around with [Democratic Senator] Chuck Schumer.”  He then posted the clerk's social media contact info online, which made her an easy target for his millions of rabid fans.

Our key concern here shouldn’t be the facts of Trump’s scandalous behavior.  Instead, we should ask — Why does he behave this way? And why do so many accept him; so much so that he leads most polls in the 2024 campaign for the White House? These questions can and should be answered in several ways.

First, we must understand that Trump does not respect any institution of any sort. Others offer respect to high-ranking officials, out of deference for their offices and our system of government.  He opts to either praise those who do his bidding or lambaste those who do not.  

Second, Trump believes that rules are written for others. This is true whether he’s cheating at golf or seeking to overturn an election. Look back through his life, all the way to his schoolboy days, and this pattern is clearly visible.

Third, Trump has no human empathy for individuals or concern for the damage he might do to any person or group. And he’s always happy to go after someone of lower status — “punching down” is the term —no matter the danger it poses to his target.

We have seen Trump stay true to form again and again. From the day he declared for president in 2015, he has abused the public trust with lies, inspired violence by promoting conspiracy theories, and berated everyone from mothers of fallen soldiers to scrupulously honest poll workers. In 2020 he began to claim election fraud long before any votes had been cast and to this day, he has refused to fully accept the clear result of Joe Biden’s victory.

Consider his words and his behavior, and you can only conclude that Trump is a power-seeking megalomaniac with no concern for democracy, public safety, and the rule of law. He is a reflexive, pathological liar who is so certain of his right to rule that he feels justified in seeking power by any means necessary.

With Trump’s character well established, we mere citizens are left to ponder the questions that frame the other side of his surge to power – Why do so many approve of him? And what does their support say about America?

As individuals, Trump’s supporters are drawn to aspects of his personality, character, and performance that repel the rest of us. Like Romans at the Colosseum, they revel in the spectacle he presents, jeering at the enemies he concocts and applauding his promise to use the government – even the military – to exact revenge against those who opposed their cause. In his bluster and aggression, they see powerful expressions of their own desire to be free of rules and conventions. Looking at Trump, they think, “He’s the kind of guy I wish I could be.”    

In groups, Trump's appeal can metastasize into the mob mentality that led to his followers' bloody attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. The thousands who besieged and ultimately overwhelmed police to seize control of the building were determined to aid a coup that would have voided the legitimate results that put Joe Biden in the White House and permitted Trump to stay in power as a dictator.

To answer the last question about what Trump’s popularity says about America we must allow that human nature is the same, everywhere.  Baser instincts for violence and authoritarianism can be found in every nation and group. The founding principles of the United States took these dangers into account, creating a rule of law and government institutions that serve as effective checks.  However, no standards or institutions, however ingenious, can guarantee American peace and democracy. These require that we each understand and embrace the system that separates us from the world. Trump and his followers tell us too many of us do not.      

How is this fixed besides rejection Trump in a year? The Oath each officer elected or otherwise, takes to the Constitution is the one thing preventing the collapse of guard rails. Each of us needs to vote less on how we feel, and more on who is committed to following their oath. It’s simple in theory, difficult in practice. Bottom line? We need an uneasy and unnatural alliance between the sane right, middle, and sane left. Only then can we truly put aside our grievances to ensure we leave our kids a country that can disagree, disagreeably.