We Have Met the Enemy

Seven years ago I quoted this passage from Hannah Arendt’s Origins of Totalitarianism.  Seems like it’s time to quote it again:

“A mixture of gullibility and cynicism had been an outstanding characteristic of mob mentality before it became an everyday phenomenon of masses. In an ever-changing, incomprehensible world the masses had reached the point where they would, at the same time, believe everything and nothing, think everything was possible and that nothing was true. The mixture in itself was remarkable enough, because it spelled the end of the illusion that gullibility was a weakness of unsuspecting primitive souls and cynicism the vice of superior and refined minds. Mass propaganda discovered that the audience was ready at all times to believe the worst, no matter how absurd, and did not particularly object to being deceived because it held every statement to be a lie anyhow. The totalitarian mass leaders based their propaganda on the correct psychological assumption that, under such conditions, one could make people believe the most fantastic statements one day, and trust that if the next day they were given irrefutable proof of their falsehood, they would take refuge in cynicism; instead of deserting the leaders who had lied to them, they would protest that they had known all along that the statement was a lie and would admire the leaders for their superior tactical cleverness.”

That’s very well and calmly said, though it had to help that the fascist nightmare she was writing about was over with when she wrote it. The same ideas probably need to be rephrased now in cruder and more imperative terms, especially for folks for whom the Hitlerzeit is no longer part of living memory. Trump’s transparent lies work because they have a ready audience. It’s hard to con an honest man, but not hard to con 40% of the American population. Trump may be a distorted reflection of the character of half the nation; but, to reverse an old joke of Lichtenberg’s, if an ape is looking out of the mirror, it’s not because an apostle is looking in. Trump doesn’t have supporters. He has accomplices.

Trump isn’t the truth of America, but he’s one of the truths. When people talk about the natural conservatism of the country, they’re really pointing to the deeply entrenched strains of racism and aggressive nationalism that are just as much a part of our heritage as respect for law or generosity towards other people. Conservatives haven’t won elections since Eisenhower because the people are determined to limit the size of government and bolster federalism. They’re voting white. They’re voting for bomb ‘em and take their oil.

That said, pointing out that Trump’s supporters bear the responsibility for Trump is probably not good politics. It’s probably smarter to come up with explanations for why otherwise good people might be tempted to vote for him even though most Republicans and many non-Republicans support him not because they don’t understand what he is but because they damned well do. I just figure we better get used to dealing with the dark side. It’s not going to go away even if Trump loses.

The Radical/Reactionary Popular Front

It’s easy to understand why a frustrated and angry man puts his fist through a window. We’ve all had that impulse even if we never acted on it. Understanding this bit of human-all-too-human behavior doesn’t mean we ought to recommend it, though. For example, I get it that for many Trump supporters the ineffable pleasure of giving civilization the finger outweighs the real-world cost of supporting a malevolent clown. That doesn’t make voting for Trump any the less stupid. What’s amazing to me is that many lefties of the pure soul persuasion who bewail this sort of thing in right-wingers don’t recognize that their own political behavior has a similar emotional logic. The diehard Bernie bros who refuse to support Clinton are also indulging in spite. Hard for a politician like Hillary to compete with the ecstasy of the self-destructive gesture when all she has to offer is the prospect of merely doing some good for actual human beings.

You can portray what’s going on with the Trumpsters and the political idealists as a search for transcendence, but only if you count shooting yourself in the foot as an instance of self-overcoming. Unfortunately, it’s really just a form of self-indulgence. There is a difference between the supporters of Donald Trump and the supporters of Jill Stein, of course. The former, like the Southerners who are their spiritual and often literal ancestors, have pretty much decided to be proud for evil. The later, more refined, have decided to advertise their goodness while refusing to do what is right. Both find the prospect of a grand political crackup intoxicating. This isn't the Grail quest. They're just getting themselves off.