Trump -- A Big Hunka, Hunka Mortality Salient Hatred

"You know, they have a word – it’s sort of became old-fashioned – it’s called a nationalist. And I say, really, we’re not supposed to use that word. You know what I am? I’m a nationalist, okay? I’m a nationalist. Nationalist. Nothing wrong. Use that word. Use that word."

-- Donald Trump, 2018

We Americans hear every day about the threat of socialism. The opposition often blames liberal Democrats for supporting a socialistic agenda. And, in fact, many support a swing toward a political system which advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange owned or regulated by the community as a whole. A recent Gallup survey (2019) found that more than four in 10 Americans believe that socialism would be good for the country.

Of course, statistics vary. The Gallup findings stand in stark contrast to another survey published earlier that same month by Monmouth University which found that 57 percent of the population believed that socialism was not compatible with American values. It also revealed that 42 percent of Americans had a negative opinion of socialism, while 10 percent viewed it positively.

The far right abhors Democratic Socialism and policies associated with it, such as the Green New Deal, "Medicare for All," and federal government-guaranteed jobs for all Americans, among others. The right believes it is akin to historic socialism in other countries in which government has control over all or most of the economy leading to poverty and oppression on an enormous scale.

Is Democratic Socialism the real, present threat to the welfare of Americans? I do not believe so. The obvious threat to democracy is Donald Trump, a narcissistic president who incites violence to get his way. Trump advocates division through his hate speech and xenophobic policies. He is the true enemy of diverse and liberal democracy. He is a self-professed nationalist … a nationalist lily white in his deepest being.

A study of Donald Trump’s rise to power and the recent increase in reported hate crimes revealed a so-called “Trump Effect.” Building on existing literature on the causes of hate crimes, the study found Trump’s inflammatory rhetoric throughout the political campaign and his subsequent election as President of the United States caused hate crimes to increase. The research also discovered that Trump's actions validated this rhetoric in the eyes of perpetrators and fueled a hate crime surge.

(Griffin Sims Edwards and Stephen Rushin. “The Effect of President Trump's Election on Hate Crimes.” University of Alabama Department of Marketing and Loyola University School of Law. January 14, 2018.)

Another study reported by The Washington Post and using data from the Anti-Defamation League found counties that hosted political rallies with Donald Trump as the headliner in 2016 saw a 226 percent increase in hate crimes over comparable counties that did not host such a rally in subsequent months. The authors suggest that this effect can be explained through a plethora of faux hate crimes are at best unrealistic. In fact, this charge is frequently used as a political tool to dismiss concerns about hate crimes. Research shows it is far more likely that hate crime statistics are considerably lower because of underreporting.

The study concludes it is hard to discount a “Trump effect” when a considerable number of these reported hate crimes reference Trump. According to the ADL's 2016 data, these incidents included vandalism, intimidation and assault.

(Valerie Martinez-Ebers and Ayal Feinber. University of North Texas. 

Anti-Defamation League. 2019.)

Some contend the media ensures that prominent members of the left never have to account for what they say, and maybe this explains why many of Trump’s supporters continue to back him so strongly. Still, the Republican party has done little to curb Trump’s tendencies.

The Southern Poverty Law Center reports it is the fourth straight year of hate group growth – a 30 percent increase coinciding with Trump's campaign and presidency. That follows three consecutive years of decline near the end of President Obama's administration. The number of hate groups operating across America rose to a record high – 1,020 – in 2018 as President Trump continued to fan the flames of white resentment over immigration and the country’s changing demographics.

Trump has energized black nationalist hate groups — typically antisemitic and anti-LGBT organizations. the great majority of hate groups are those that despise racial, ethnic or religious minorities and they, unlike black nationalist groups, have a firm foothold in the mainstream.

“This increasing racial polarization is an important element of America’s growing partisan divide, House Republicans elected in 2018 represent districts that are more white, less affluent and less well-educated than the national average, as well as more evangelical, rural and blue-collar. The Democratic coalition centers on minorities, young people and college-educated white voters – a growing demographic alliance that is seen as pushing the multicultural worldview that enrages white supremacists and roils their fears of 'white genocide.'”

(Heidi Beirich, Southern Poverty Law Center. February 20, 2019.)

Despite statistics that report crime rates among undocumented workers are lower than those among American citizens, Trump and his group rail against crime committed by illegal aliens. Sociologist Rene Flores says, "There's a clear implication that the Trump administration's rhetoric on immigrant criminality is driving these beliefs – which, again, are not based on reality."

Flores reports another stereotype – that undocumented residents are taking advantage of such programs as welfare, Medicaid, or food stamps – is largely confined to Republicans. "Among Democrats, receiving government benefits reduces perceived illegality," she writes. "(This) is indeed accurate, as undocumented immigrants are excluded from receiving most government benefits."

Denial of the Trump Effect is spurred by claims of “fake news,” yet reports of Trump's bigotry go back to at least decades to 1973. He has a “long record of negative comments on issues involving African Americans as well as Mexicans, Hispanics more broadly, Native Americans, Muslims, Jews, immigrants, women, and people with disabilities.”

(David A. Graham, Adrienne Green, et al. “ An Oral History of Trump’s Bigotry.” 

The Atlantic. June 2019.)

As an incurable narcissist, Trump believes his hatred enhances his self esteem and makes him a more opponent formidable. His fear mongering and fiery rhetoric is designed to heighten emotions, alter beliefs, and strengthen partisan support. His followers see this denigration as fearless conduct; however, his unrestrained and aggressive behavior makes him a dangerous commander-in-chief.

Psychologists understand Trump's mortality salience (the awareness by an individual that his or her death is inevitable) derives from the terror management theory, which proposes that mortality salience causes existential anxiety that may be buffered by an individual's cultural worldview and/or sense of self-esteem. Thus, mortality salience increases tribalism and aggression toward out-group members.

An revealing recent study, presented in 2016 at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association showed that when individuals were made to think about death, their support for Donald Trump increased, regardless of their party affiliation and whether or not they had an overall negative attitude towards Trump. This awareness of mortality has the potential to create existential terror and anxiety that can be debilitating. Not only do death reminders increase nationalism, they influence actual voting habits in favor of more conservative presidential candidates. Fear and loathing – Trump tactics.

(MS; Rosenblatt, Greenberg, Solomon, Pyszczynski, & Lyon, 1989)

“Mentally unwell old man hugs American flag;rants about 'socialism' and 'baby killers.'"

– Description of Trump's speech at CPAC, 2018

What themes will Trump use once again to try to win the White House in 2020? No doubt they will be as follows: Death, murder, fear of "socialism," empty patriotism, superficial nationalism, and disturbing hints of violence. Simply put, he will again frighten white people into supporting the agenda. It is pure “weaponized existential terror.”

As political staff writer Chauncey Devega puts it ... 

“For Trump and the Republican Party this takes the form of manipulating their white voters' fears of the 'browning of America' as well as parallel white anxieties about 'reverse racism' and a fallacious belief that white Americans being 'oppressed' or discriminated against in 'their own country."

(Chauncey Devega. “Donald Trump's 2020 re-election strategy: Scaring white people with threats of violence.” Salon. March 07, 2019.)

“Nobody's done more for Christians or evangelicals or, frankly,religion than I have.”

– Donald Trump

Oh, and don't forget Trump's unlikely appeal to evangelicals as God's “chosen one” due largely to his views on Israel, abortion, and good old American firearms. Morality? Oh, I guess that is overlooked with a Christian eye toward forgiveness. Sixty-one percent of evangelicals say the US is headed in the right direction, according to a 2018 poll by the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI). What direction? I believe the evidence shows a path of further hatred and fear.

Ozymandias

By Percy Bysshe Shelley  

I met a traveller from an antique land,
Who said—“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. . . . Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;
And on the pedestal, these words appear:
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.”