Fear and Opportunism – The Twin Tools of Tyrants

When I hear the absurd and infantile utterances of Trump, and look in dismay at his mean-spirited policies, I find myself perplexed at how reasonable human beings can find him anything but pathetic and dangerous.  Narcissism, vindictiveness, idiotic rants, bombast, threats, absurd levels of self-praise – who could possibly want to serve under such a man?

But the sad truth is that human frailty enables tyrants.  Politicians that might otherwise be outraged by Trump and oppose him live in fear of his animus.  Their own lust for power makes them powerless before him. Their craven pandering to him and his MAGA mobs is partly motivated by fear and partly by opportunism.  Sadly, conscience plays no role at all. 

 

Some of Trump’s cabinet and advisors are true believers and are as damaged as he is – Stephen Miller, Kristi Noem, Pam Bondi, Kash Patel, Robert Kennedy, Tulsi Gabbard come to mind.  But there are others who in their previous lives seemed to have some semblance of dignity and good faith but now are full-throated advocates of the Trumpian dystopia – here Marco Rubio comes to mind.  Marco desperately wanted power and fame, and he has it for a moment, but he will go down in history permanently tarnished as a Trump lackey.

 

JD Vance has been a shameless opportunist from the start, so his evolution into an almost demonic mini-Trump is not surprising.  The video of him berating Zelensky in the oval office will serve for all time as evidence of how hunger for power can create a monster.

 

The broligarchs – Musk, Zuckerberg, Bezos, Thiel, Andreessen,  and the like – also fall into the crass opportunism category, with AI, crypto and pretensions of hyper-masculinity and libertarianism serving as their animating impulses.  They were never admirable characters, but their craven kowtowing to Trump is final proof of how low their massive egos and sense of entitlement have brought them. 

The cast of the fearful and the opportunistic is also populated by law firms, universities, media empires and other businesses.  Fear and opportunism go hand in hand.  There is the fear that Trump will withhold government funding or have his pet Attorney General Pam Bondi initiate lawsuits, but also the opportunism that believes that capitulating to all of Trump's petty demands will result in more business, more influence, a closer proximity to power.

 

The Trump parade of the fearful and the opportunistic is a nightmarish real-life production of the Emperor Has No Clothes.  Since few of the powerful in the USA seem willing to scream out the obvious truth, we look to our erstwhile allies – the Canadians, Brits, Germans, French, Danish, Norwegian, etc. – to take up the banner of good will and sanity and have the courage to confront and stand firm before the Trumpian onslaught.  And we pray that their resolve and reason will be rewarded by a massive rejection of Trump and his enablers in the midterms.

When Your Country is a Pariah

Growing up as a middle-class American I felt very fortunate.  The USA was the wealthiest and most powerful nation on earth.  I was proud of its history and felt that we were a force for good in the world.  

As I grew older my understanding of both our history and our role in the world became more nuanced.  As a child of the 60’s and a possible soldier in the Vietnam War, I began to question the wisdom of some of our foreign policy decisions – the Vietnam War, proxy wars in Latin America, CIA misdeeds.  During a college year in Europe, I found myself both defending my country and acknowledging its mistakes.  

 

As an adult and a longtime very serious student of history, I recognized the complex nature of America’s role first as a counterbalance to the USSR during the cold war, and then later as the lone super power promoting globalization and intermittently attempting to police the myriad conflicts that arose between minor powers, all while protecting our interests.

 

Nations do not have the same moral impetus as individuals.  A nation is bound to serve its own interests before performing any altruistic acts.  But in the long run, every nation is more likely to have a better future if it acts in accord with the interests of other nations.

 

American presidents have immense power as the leaders of the most powerful nation.  In my view, none of them have been extraordinary in my lifetime.  But until Donald Trump was elected, I believe they made sincere efforts to manage the complex issues that the world faces with motives of long-term peace and prosperity for the whole world.  Certainly, many mistakes were made, and the typical human foibles of arrogance and simplistic analysis produced some very sad results – the Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq wars being the best example.  

 

But the man who now inhabits the White House is a totally different character.  He is quite simply a horribly damaged human being who by a quirk of fate is in a position to destroy eighty years of progress in working toward international law, cooperation and respect.  His imperialistic swagger and breathtaking narcissism would seem comical (and formerly did) if he were not at the helm of this incredibly powerful nation.  

 

The rest of the world fears the military and economic consequences of not placating this megalomaniac, so we see an almost surrealistic pretense of normality.  But this is not normal and we are on the fast path to dire circumstances if something doesn’t happen to check him.

 

So, what does one do if one’s country has become a pariah?  Do you go to protests?  Do you send donations to organizations that have at least a minute chance to place legal obstacles in his path?  Do you move to another country?  Do you plead with the people you know who have voted to elect this monster to come to their senses?

 

There is still hope I believe.  I know that at least half the country is horrified by what is happening.  The question is whether there will be enough momentum to elect a congress that will have the courage to stand up to Trump in midterms elections in 10 months.  And the most sobering question is whether that will already be be too late.