Violent Vainglory: Double the Trouble

Donald Trump’s Reelection

White and black bird flying during daytime — Photo by Mitul Gajera on Unsplash

On November 4, 2024, one day before last year’s elections in the United States, my wife, Joyce Recker, drove to London, Ontario. She and I had already mailed in our early ballots. Overwhelmed by a premonition about Donald Trump’s impending victory, Joyce needed to be in Canada when the results rolled in. And she wanted to begin the search for suitable housing there if the election results led us to move.

By the time Joyce returned to Grand Rapids on November 7, Trump had been reelected President, and his party had gained control of both houses of Congress. As described by my blog post on November 11, 2024, we were in despair. Moving to Canada had become a serious option. Now, one year later, that’s where we live and are dual citizens, with no plans ever to move back to the country of our birth.

The week before Trump’s reelection I published a blog post titled Double Trouble: Narcissism, Fascism and Donald Trump. It completed an intermittent year-long series that diagnosed American politics and warned against the siren call of authoritarian populism: blog posts on the crisis in democracy; religious fundamentalism and politicized religion; evangelical Trumpism and white Christian racism; fascist politics and genuine patriotism; and right-wing attacks on the administrative state and the threats of a new imperial presidency.

One Year Later

Today it’s clear that the presidency of Donald Trump is indeed double trouble. Moreover, the ruthless speed with which his administration has shattered America’s constitutional democracy and introduced militarized tyranny doubles Trump’s double trouble, his combination of malignant narcissism and committed fascism. For not only has lawless destruction become standard procedure but also empty glorification of the “great leader” has replaced both diplomacy and dialogue in international and domestic politics.

A construction crew demolishing the East Wing of the White House — Photo obtained via *The Washington Post*

The scope of such violence and vainglory is vast, and Trump’s demolishing the elegant East Wing of the White House to make way for a bombastic ballroom is, as MSNBC has said, a perfect metaphor for this. Jamelle Bouie’s recent column in The New York Times gives a succinct overview: “In 2024, the Americans who decided the election voted for lower prices and a lower cost of living. What they got instead were soldiers on the streets, masked agents leading violent immigration raids, arbitrary tariffs, new conflicts abroad, dictatorial aspirations, endless chaos and a president more interested in taking a wrecking ball to the White House to build his garish ballroom than delivering anything of value to the public. At this moment, in fact, the government has been shut down for more than a month, the House of Representatives has not been in session since the middle of September, and Trump is still talking about defying multiple court orders to restore food assistance to hungry families, even though his own administration announced that it would partially comply. Both Trump and his administration are less interested in helping ordinary Americans than they are in fulfilling their idiosyncratic program of austerity, pain and deprivation. They are all stick, no carrot.”

Republican Albatross?

Large white and black bird with yellow head standing near dark gray fledgling — Short-tailed albatross. Photo from Jlfutari at English Wikipedia, via Wikimedia Commons

Bouie argues that Democratic gains in Tuesday’s elections show Americans are fed up with Trump, who has become an enormous albatross around Republican necks. While I agree the election results are hopeful signs and wish I could share Bouie’s optimism, I don’t. Very few Republican leaders have challenged Trumpist lawlessness, even though Jeff Flake, former Republican senator from Arizona, claims the “great GOP migration” away from “disastrous MAGA orthodoxy” has begun. Despite recent “No Kings” protests, an effective movement of resistance in civil society has not emerged. And by the time of next year’s midterms, free and fair elections might well be a thing of the past.

Nor am I assured by the Times editorial board’s claim that the United States is “still not close to being a true autocracy, in the mold of Russia or China.” When you examine the “12 markers of democratic erosion” they’ve so intelligently compiled and realize how little prevents further erosion, you see that irreversible damage has already been done: free speech stifled, political opponents persecuted, the legislature bypassed, the military used for domestic control, the courts defied, national pseudo-emergencies declared, marginalized groups vilified, information and news media manipulated, universities attacked, a personality cult created, political power used for personal profit, and election laws manipulated. We cannot count on politics as usual to turn the tide.

Self-Destruction

Man sawing off the branch he is sitting on — Illustration by Frits Ahlefeldt, Museum of Psychology ‍

What we can count on, however, is that violence and vainglory eventually self-destruct, no matter how much illegitimate power a political regime amasses. There are two reasons for this. First, regimes that amass illegitimate power create their own internal enemies. There will always be insiders whose oxen have been gored or names besmirched and who turn against their supposed leaders.

Second, political violence and vainglory are just that: they are violent and vain. For they violate the purpose of political power and turn politics into an empty show. The purpose of political power, in my view, is to free people from oppression and pursue public justice for all. Vainglorious violence does just the opposite. It secures unwarranted privileges for a few and screws everyone else. Eventually most people will see just how oppressive and unjust the Trump regime has become. What will happen then is an open question.

Rise Up

I hope to say more about the purpose of politics in a subsequent post. In the meantime, I encourage my readers to do what they can to prepare for the day when vainglorious violence ends. Each of us must follow our own paths in these matters. I, for example, find blogging and public speaking to be the best personal fit. That, and singing every week in choirs that celebrate community and goodness.

A white bird flying over a body of water — Photo by Roshan Ravi on Unsplash

But let me leave you with a song to inspire your own resistance, in whatever form this takes. The song comes from a Canadian group that was popular when I was a young professor in Edmonton, Alberta during the early 1980s. I know this dates me. Yet I still love the creativity and exuberance of “Rise Up” by the Parachute Club. Maybe you do too. Here’s the link.

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