I watched the last half of the Trump/Biden “debate” and, of course, the reactions of pundits that followed. The Trump plan was obvious: stay away from policy questions and fill the space with so many accusations that Biden will lose his concentration in his attempt to refute the barrage of falsehoods and fabricated, denigrating claims.
I remembered
occasions when so much stimulation was coming at me at once that I could no
longer coolly gather and coordinate my thoughts. That’s what happened to Joe
Biden. That phenomenon isn’t age specific.
On critical
questions posed by the moderators, Biden made coherent policy statements. Trump,
meanwhile, avoided the questions, for instance, of childcare policy, border
control specifics and—most telling of all—whether he would honour the will of
the people in the next presidential election, filling his allotted time with “You
are the worst president in the history of the USA” and other meaningless and
unsupported accusations.
The “You’re
weak and I’m strong” theme was implicit in Trump’s strategy, supported by, of
course, claims rich in chutzpah and devoid of evidence, “If I’d been president,
Russia would never have attacked Ukraine,” for instance.
What supporters
of Trump undoubtedly saw was their man beating the s**t out of the enemy’s man.
The parallels to the rise of Mussolini, Hitler, and more recently, Putin, are obvious
to students of history. (Take a few minutes to ponder a short film
by Yale University’s Philosophy Professor Jason Stanley at https://www.bing.com/videos/riverview/relatedvideo?q=youtube+fascism&mid=A7ACBFBB9835BB9E13C6A7ACBFBB9835BB9E13C6&FORM=VIRE)
In Hitler’s
rise, the enemies created through propaganda were Communism, Jews, disabled and
mentally challenged individuals (the Minderwertiger, those of minimum worth) and LGBTQ+ persons. Gradually, Trump and the “Oligarchy”
of wealthy and powerful Americans that support him have been able to convince a
massive number of what were soft-core conservatives into the belief that their
neighbours who are the “Woke,” the “Leftists” are plotting to harm them, destroy the nation.
Fascism
needs enemies; how else can it cast itself as people’s only protection?
It's not
surprising that here in Canada, consideration of Justin Trudeau’s Prime
Ministership should be reopened after many witnessed the humiliation of Joe Biden.
We, too, seem to have learned that nothing succeeds as well in an election
campaign as the humiliation of opposing parties’ leaders. We, too, are in
danger of abandoning our ethical, moral guidelines for crass expediency and a need
to be with “the winners.”
Democracy takes work; let’s all make sure we’re engaged in its protection.
(Feel free to copy and share with credit to G.G. Epp. Reply if you wish to gg.epp41@gmail.com)
