My Take | Why I like Donald Trump, or at least don’t hate him
- The once and probably future US president is so honest about his dishonesties and shenanigans that whatever you can accuse him of, hypocrisy is not one of them, unlike all his political opponents
While reading Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno, I came across this nifty quote that crystallises what I like about Donald Trump. It also helps explain why America, except in its own mind, has little moral authority and prestige left around the world other than the fear it provokes by its sheer naked power and ability to unleash apocalyptic violence.
This is from the first chapter of Dialectic of Enlightenment: “As naturally as the ruled always took the morality imposed upon them more seriously than did the rulers themselves, the deceived masses are today captivated by the myth of success even more than the successful are. Immovably, they insist on the very ideology which enslaves them. The misplaced love of the common people for the wrong which is done to them is a greater force than the cunning of the authorities.”
People always say Frankfurt critical theory is obtuse and difficult to understand, but I think Trump would have no trouble appreciating it.
Trump never takes religion, morality, rules, norms and the law seriously, and he tells you as much. But not only that, he thinks you should follow him if you can. Don’t be a sucker! is what he is really saying.
That was what he told his audience from his first presidential debate in 2016 onwards, and many little people took to him. The system is rigged, he said, I know it because I exploit it to my advantage and get very rich. Moreover, you should too.
Well, those in positions of power and privilege are not supposed – nay, are forbidden – to admit it, even though everyone sort of knows already. But to have a criminal admitting that yes, we are all crooks, that at least makes him an honest criminal.