Mad or Bad

To be honest, I wasn’t happy with the election of Mr. Trump as the new president of the United States. I didn’t agree with his views and I didn’t like the way he behaved and expressed himself. But after he was inaugurated as the new president I thought by myself: He is the democratically chosen president, meaning many American citizens feel represented by him. He apparently gave voice to their feeling of being left behind by society and government in the recent years. I sensed that feeling was not wrongly in all respects. And I considered, that the new President might even be able to do something about it on behalf of those citizens. At least we should give him a chance to prove himself. Against the blunt opposition from the beginning of his presidency I even tweeted a message in which I suggested that it is an obligation of all parties in a democratic system to help the new president become a good president and not just to oppose him bluntly. I hoped he really cares about the people who voted for him and that he would seek the best advice available to take measures that would help those people that really were left behind.

It’s still only weeks after the inauguration of Mr. Trump and he has signed quite a few statements and executive orders since then. Though I have my doubts, it’s far to early to judge whether these statements and orders will really make life better for his voters. Commentators opinions differ, but so far his voters seem to be happy with his actions and his statements.

Nevertheless, over the past weeks I’ve become more and more concerned. The presidency of Donald Trump seems to me a real threat to the American and to other societies. As I see it the greater danger lies in the deeper message president Trump has been sending in the first weeks of his presidency as much as during his campaign. Through this message, he has been painting a picture of reality that FALSE and DANGEROUS.

Let’s see what the president has been saying.

From the beginning president Trump has confronted the media with qualifications like ‘Fake News’, ‘Opposition’, ‘failing’, ‘hateful’, ‘following conspiracy theories’, ‘dishonest’ etc, every time the published something he didn’t like. Most of the times these qualifications were clearly misplaced and accordingly false. Thus, he sent a message that the media are unreliable, especially when they show a critical attitude against his words and actions. In a way, he has been sending the message that the media that are critical unto him are the enemy of the people whom he claims to represent. Thus, he has not only marked the press as untrustworthy but he has been feeding animosity against the Press

In a similar way president Trump has been communicating about the judicial power and about its servants, especially when they opposed his Travel Ban. Quote: “Our legal system is broken”. His main message was that they by their decisions exposed America to great dangers. He even made them personally responsible for the possible consequences. If he had the power he fired them (Secretary of State – DOJ), if not, he warned them. Thus, he has been painting a picture of the judicial power as part of a hostile system that is putting the safety of America and the Americans at risk. Again, he is feeding animosity against the judicial system and its representatives.

A third group the president has been addressing are the people in government. He has used terms like ‘Elite’, ‘Corrupt’, ‘Acting in their own Interest only’, and about his predecessors: ‘They left me with a mess’ …. ‘total chaos’ …. ‘disaster’ ….! Most of the time he doesn’t elaborate on those qualifications and when he does the claims he makes are false or at least unsupported by facts (voter fraud; paid protesters). About the people in government positions his message is that they are incompetent and only representing themselves and the elite they belong to. They do not care at all about the well-being of the people. Thus, making the ‘elite’ government the enemy of the ‘people’ and again feeding animosity against government and its representatives.

Then there is the world of science. Mr. Trump has been discrediting the scientists that have provided scientific support for the position that most environmental problems including the warming of the Earth are at least partly and substantially caused by human influence. He’s using ridiculous arguments to support his own position (using hairspray in his apartment with closed windows ….) He’s communicating that his own position on science issues, based on plain stupid arguments, is worth just as much as the position of scientists. His message seems to be: don’t bother about science, just use your ‘common sense’ to make out what you believe in.

In similar ways Mr. Trump has been discrediting the American Intelligence Services.

Overall, he has been sending the message that the common people of America are disadvantaged and endangered by dishonest and unreliable representatives of its main institutions. And he sends this message without providing any facts to proof it. The only proof seems to be that those representatives oppose the opinions and acts of Mr. Trump.

So much about the picture Mr. Trump paints about American Society. But Mr. Trump doesn’t stop at the American borders. Across the borders, he sees a World filled with enemies of the American People. He sees ‘Lots of Bad dudes out there’, he depicts people from Islamic countries as potentially dangerous (especially for Christians who have been executed on a large scale by Muslims), he depicts Mexicans as profiteers that endanger the economic position of common Americans, refugees are depicted as potential terrorists. With this message, he is feeding the already growing fear of, and animosity towards Muslims and Latino people. Besides that, he sees countries like China and Mexico taking advantage of the U.S. So, the surrounding world is filled with evil threatening the Americans.

Further, in his mind, the world outside the U.S. is in total chaos because of terrorist attacks, war, an unstoppable stream of refugees and bad policies by political leaders like Merkel and Juncker and the same chaos is threatening the American society.

Most of the time president Trump doesn’t bother about facts to support his statements.  For instance, the number of casualties in one year because of gun-related violence in the U.S. is many times higher than the number of casualties in one year because of terrorism in the entire European continent. So where is the chaos then? Another example: by far the most victims of Islamic terrorism aren’t Christians, but Muslims. Many other facts would support the argument that, despite more open borders and the terrorist attacks, life in European countries is much safer and economically better for ‘the people’ than in the U.S.

Personal impressions and logic seem to provide president Trump the so-called facts on which he wants to build his policy.

 

Why is the false message of the president so dangerous?

He has been sending this message ever since he decided to run for the presidency. So at least he has been consistent. But there is a difference between a candidate sending such a message and a president doing so.

I wouldn’t say it’s a wise campaign tactic, but a presidential candidate may question all the facts and opinions he wants. He can send any message he wants to. Voters can decide whether to believe his views and whether to vote for him.  A candidate may decide to do so because he wants to give a voice to the feelings and opinions of ‘the people’ and the people may feel recognized by the candidate. During the election, it may be less important whether the feelings and opinions of ‘the people’ are in fact true. As said, I don’t think it’s wise to support factual untrue views, because people feel supported in those views, but it may be functional.

After winning an election however things change: facts do matter; especially if you really want to help the people that have voted for you hoping for a change for the better. The message you send mattes too. After the election, it isn’t just the personal view of a candidate, who might be a lunatic, it is the view of the most important and influential person of the world. He represents the most powerful nation of the world. Polls have shown that many people (maybe most) consider the president’s message more credible than opposing views that are supported by facts. And many politicians and their followers, around the world feel supported by the American president in their false views. This is especially dangerous because in this view the common people are surrounded by hostile people and groups that threaten their safety and their well-being.

It’s not hard to imagine what dangerous effects the message of the president could have. People who see the Muslims as the enemy of our life-style may find just the legitimation they need to go and act on this view …. Was it a coincidence that a Canadian citizen, who called himself a fan of Donald Trump, attacked a Muslim community shortly after Trumps election and his messages about the travel ban? Or gave the president him the last bit of legitimization he needed to go and act on his views and fears? By sending the message that the political system is preventing him from protecting the American people against foreign enemies he declares the system and its representatives as collaborators of the enemy. Imagine what could happen if the system would keep on opposing Mr. Trumps false views and perhaps unconstitutional acts while Mr. Trump keeps on sending this same message he has been sending until now. Couldn’t people find a legitimation in that to violently attack the system?

In my opinion the message of Mr. Trump is very dangerous because it feeds the fears and hostile views among people and you don’t need a lot of fantasy to imagine where this can lead to: increasing fear, hatred and violence among people in the U.S. and around the world and against the legal and political system, if not worse. Thus, his message threatens the safety of citizens and the stability of the society, in other words it may ignite chaos, especially in our western societies.

For me it’s hard to believe that Mr. Trump is not aware of the danger of his message and that he is sending it unintentionally. If that’s the case he would be crazy. In other words, then he is a mad guy. If he is aware of this danger, and he is intentional in his message, then he is a bad guy. In both cases, he is a real threat.