Trump Is A Perfect Package of Shallow Demagoguery, Ignorance, and Entertainment.
By: Sakshi Kharbanda
Tags: Politics, Debate, Democracy, Donald Trump, Government

The superficial projection of relatively enhanced civil conduct by Donald Trump last night was probably his last attempt to make himself more likable. A very demagogue-ish thing to do indeed, strategically designed to distract the audience of his flaws. He has been consistently and habitually dishonest about things, so I put little stocks and time in demystifying that projection.

Trump deploys deductive reasoning for almost every argument. There is a central theory that he swears by, and everything is molded to fit that theory. This way, it ceases to look like a fruitful debate after a point and becomes a blinkered way of projecting oneself as the right candidate. It is an excellent tactic to keep the audience confused about what’s happening or distract them from making out the cause and effect of things. Also, it takes the attention off the other candidate and what he wants to convey.

Donald Trump represented a calm, managed self and claimed that he is the best ever born after Abraham Lincoln to do good for people of color. Well, that was his impaired portrayal of love for himself and the display of utter non-sensical and unreasonable certainty about everything under the sun. However, this time, unarguably, there was less disruptive behavior than last time. Still, he is very far from redeeming his phony claims if challenged and acknowledging that America has rather seen high inequality and unemployment rates. Instead of elaborating on plans to address it, he simply blamed Nancy Pelosi for it. It is simultaneously childish and dumb.

Another trait of Donald Trump and other demagogues is that they believe that their “triumph is predestined.” These lines by Patricia Roberts-Miller in Demagoguery and Democracy sum up why white supremacists fall for Donald Trump, because to them, “one way to demonstrate loyalty is to say things that are completely overstated and absurd; in such circumstances, a person who says obviously false and absurd things but who seems to be really one of us is exactly the person we need.”[1]

Donald Trump is their creation. As the French philosopher, Joseph de Maistre very rightly observed, “every country has the government it deserves.”

Democracy is necessary but is not sufficient. It’s just the first step in setting things straight. It’s not the end of the learning curve for the civilized world. What we also need to develop is moral clarity. Trump is a product of democracy, and when the majority of people choose wrong, there is a need to check the moral compass of the society and, if need be, reset that again.

Like democracy, resistance is not sufficient; what we need is to challenge each other to do better. Americans experienced political narcissism under Trump, which severely further damaged democracy. Democracy shall be made with trust, respect, and equality. We, the people, need to reshape it if it’s going in the wrong direction — if it’s constructed with stressors such as race, religion, or inequality.

Democracy is all about collaborative fact-finding, debating, and forging a consensus. It requires differentiating public opinion from popular sentiments. Democratic deliberation is very hard, and on the other hand, demagoguery is, kind of, self-satisfying, giving you an illusion of victory. Democracy is about discussion and dialogues with an open mind, with the possibility of being wrong. Demagoguery contrastingly is claiming never to be wrong, rather always ‘being great.’

[1] ROBERTS-MILLER, P. A. T. R. I. C. I. A. (2020). DEMAGOGUERY AND DEMOCRACY. Place of publication not identified: EXPERIMENT LLC

Liu, E. (2019). Become America: Civic sermons on love, responsibility, and democracy.

Califano, J. A. (2019). Our damaged democracy: We the people must act. ROBERTS-MILLER, P. A. T. R. I. C. I. A. (2020). DEMAGOGUERY AND DEMOCRACY. Place of publication not identified: EXPERIMENT LLC