Regarding Trump and Trumpism and the Power of the Strong Man

by Richard Upchurch, Aug. 31, 2024- Trump and Trumpism seem something very remarkable in the large picture of American politics. We have seen the fanatical zeal he is able to elicit, and does elicit, to a widely varying extent among about half of our fellow citizens--- a wild devotion that produced the mass action of Jan. 6, '21. It is not his policy proposals or judicial appointments, carefully propounded to entice traditionalists and conservatives, that have to concern those of us who want to keep our constitution, but rather it is the absolute and unquestionable political power he has achieved in so short a time, and the total transformation of the Republican Party, such that his thumb down can end immediately what had been a long and productive career. A power that has transformed senators formerly of at least middling integrity into fawning sycophants lest they be primaried out of their offices by an electorate who seem totally carried away by the personal charisma of this man. In world history this is no novel phenomenon. 

We saw something like it in Europe a century ago. We saw what the power of the Strong Man and the neediness of the masses for the kind of leadership he seemed to offer could produce. We may want to think such things could not happen here. But I'm afraid such things could. And even a small chance such things might happen here is far too big a chance to take.

 seems a master of using the modern media---media of new and extraordinary power and pervasiveness--- to persuade, and of tailoring his message so that for many, including people like me who hold to some traditionalist or conservative views, he seems to be making us an offer we can't refuse. 

What is dangerous, it seems to me, is his apparent intent to challenge any institution or authority that lies in his personal way, and even more dangerous, the willingness, even the fervent desire, of such a high percentage of the electorate to follow him, even when challenge means defiance of the law. To challenge the validity of the electoral system, framed so carefully and with such profound wisdom and accurate foresight as it was by the founders, and to challenge the validity of the judiciary including many judges he had himself appointed, and to challenge the constitutional transfer of power, as Trump clearly did by allowing his followers to disrupt traditional congressional ceremony of the transfer of power, and to be followed or at least approved by so many of the pubic---these certainly express a kind of strength, but not strength in supporting the Constitution. 

If our Constitution, our congress and our judiciary were indeed corrupt and in need of being changed, we might need to be revolutionaries, as our Declaration lays out so vividly that we should be if such were the case. But I do not see any evidence whatsoever to support Trump's rebellion against our electoral, judicial and legislative systems. I don't see any evidence, not even the least bit, that his rebellious gestures and rhetoric are an any way justifiable. It now seems fairly clear to me that Trump is indeed a leader of strength and charisma, alright, but that he uses his strength and charisma not to support the Constitution but rather to support his own personal appetite for power. Scariest of all is the great numbers of citizen voters who seem to want to follow him, and give him what he wants.

Richard Upchurch is a scholar and a philosopher who lives in Nashville. The above essay is from a Facebook post. To see the full thread of this discussion including comments justifying Trumpism from some Trump supporters and replies from Richard and other Trump critics, follow this link.

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