Donald Trump isn’t yet in office, but some critics are acting like he’s already done himself in. They point to Tuesday’s press conference, in which he said absolutely insane things. He plans to rename the Gulf of Mexico. He might annex Canada by “economic force.” Just crazy.
Critics suggest behavior like this will lead to his demise.
“Trump cannot help himself,” the Lincoln Project’s Rick Wilson told Salon Monday. “He’s an agent of chaos who has to inject himself into every story, whether it’s helpful or not. He nearly derailed the budget to cause a shutdown and weakened [Speaker Mike] Johnson even more. He empowered [Elon] Musk and is now upset he’s stealing the spotlight … As always, I remain hopeful the American people will see the terrible consequences and push back to correct his oversteps."
But Trump’s chaos isn’t a liability.
It’s how Trump is going to prevent his supporters from feeling the consequences of their choices. Liberals and Democrats believe those people fucked around when they voted for him. Now they’ll find out.
They won’t.
There is going to be so much chaos coming out of the Trump White House that most people, not just his supporters, will not be able to see “the terrible consequences,” as Wilson puts it. If they cannot see them, they will not push back to “correct his oversteps.” Indeed, the entire concept of “oversteps” will be rather meaningless amid such chaos.
Trump won’t implode on his own.
Fight or surrender.
He won’t do the work for us.
Liberals – and I would suggest white liberals especially – still don’t quite understand the appeal of Donald Trump. I think that’s because they believe in personal accountability for themselves and for others.
They believe that individuals make choices, and that they and only they are responsible for them. If individuals make bad choices, for instance, by voting for a scammer like Donald Trump in the belief that he won’t scam them, well, they fucked around. Now they’ll find out.
But the point of Trump is impunity – for the law and custom, for values, decency and the bonds of trust, and for the forces of progress that are trying to make society better at the expense of the status quo.
The point is “liberating” oneself from cause and effect — to take power but reject responsibility. It’s creating one set of rules for you and another set for me, so that in the end, my mediocrity can defeat your excellence. It’s making merit about who you are, not what you do.
This isn’t news to those of us who pay attention to Black politics. Black intellectuals have said for years that Trump’s true appeal is rooted in the fact that most white Americans don’t want to play by the rules of society if those social codes allow Black people to get ahead of them. They don’t want to work harder. They don’t want to compete more. Competing more for what’s “rightfully” theirs – jobs, entitlements – is unfair. They want a referee, as it were, who calls plays in their favor.
Trump “liberates” them from cause and effect. With him in the White House, they can cheat, but never be called out for cheating. They can lie, but never be called out for lying. Those who would call them out are themselves said to be the “real” cheaters, the “real” liars. Lying and cheating by white people, under Trump, are elevated to a public virtue. White people are once more a “free people.” America is great again.
White liberals believe in personal accountability for themselves and for others. The people who most respond to Trump don’t. They will never feel the consequences of their choices, because the point of Trump is breaking the moral link between power and responsibility. He doesn’t have to lead. He doesn’t have to govern. Just being in charge is enough.
Which brings me back to Trump’s chaos.
Chaos is the result of the broken link between cause and effect. It’s the result of the “liberation” from accountability for choices made. Trump says whatever he wants, whenever he wants, for whatever reason, and it won’t matter to him and his supporters. If it does, it’s to the extent that it’s a power gesture, as if to restate that he and they are “free.”
Chaos is not the weakness that critics like Rick Wilson seem to believe it is. For one thing, it’s practical. It provides cover for when Trump and the GOP loot the public till. For another, it’s strategic. The sheer volume of it can rearrange our sense of equalibrium. How much of blowback can there be in response to Trump’s tariffs if at the same time he’s war-drumming his way to Canada? Very little, I’d say. Who’s going to listen to the suffering when everyone’s listening to Trump?
Most people – anyway, most pundits – believe that in politics every action has an equal and opposite reaction. That’s why Rick Wilson is confident that Trump will “overstep.” That’s why he’s hopeful that the American people will see “the terrible consequences” and correct him.
I don’t know why we should be that confident.
Trump won’t do the work for us.
Fight or surrender.
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