I wrote the first four paragraphs on Facebook on August 3, 2016.
Trump’s Nihilism
The Trump campaign reminds me that a central element of fascism and its appeal is the embrace of nihilism. One way to understand nihilism is as the denial that there is any meaning or truth or purpose beyond our will. Nihilism both describes the “philosophy” of Trump’s political practice—it’s utter disregard for any norms of conduct and any standards of argument and evidence—and his appeal to the people in America who have seem to lost their sense of purpose and connection to one another or ideals beyond themselves.
Trump’s pursuit of power for its own sake answers to that loss of purpose as does his willingness to create chaos. As Nietzsche put it, “man would rather will nothingness than not will.” Trump’s readiness to break up NATO; his lack of concern about causing a collapse in the global economy; his willingness to create chaos in the Republican Party; and his insouciance about creating a constitutional crisis by denying Hillary Clinton any legitimacy, all testify to his desire to create discord and destruction simply as a way of demonstrating his power.
Trump’s aims are utterly contrary to our ideals; and his political practice is deeply and profoundly disturbed. I’m hopeful that the vast majority of Americans, including those who have yet to come to their sense, will reject him.
(Please share. I may be exaggerating how dangerous this moment is. But let’s do everything now to make sure the worst doesn’t come to pass rather than regretting doing so later.)
Post-script December 21, 2019
How to defeat it
Sadly, everything I wrote over three years ago has been confirmed by Trump’s actions as president and the impact he has had on the Republican Party.
We have seen Trump violate the constitution at every turn—benefiting from foreign leaders in ways that make a mockery of the emoluments clause; obstructing the investigation of the connection his campaign and Russia (which may not have been contrary to the law but was nonetheless corrupt); violating bipartisan US foreign policy to bribe the president of Ukraine to launch an investigation of the Bidens for no other reason than to help him win reelection; and refusing to allow his subordinates and aides to testify in the investigation of his misbehavior.
We have seen Trump embrace an indecent anti-immigration policy that separates children from their parents, repeatedly violates our asylum laws, deport immigrants who have served our country in war, and enforce our laws in ways that are both bigoted and strike fear in the hearts of hard working members of our communities.
We have seen Trump subtly and not so subtly encourage the forces of white supremacy, bigoty, and anti-Semitism.
We have seen Trump repeatedly side with dictators from Putin to Erdogan to Kim and against both our allies in NATO and the agencies of our government charged with securing us against foreign threats.
We have seen Trump lie incessantly about matters big and small.
We have seen him embrace neo-fascists and white supremacists, and impugn the motives of his critics in the most awful, derogatory way.
We have seen him use the power of his presidency to reward businesses and labor unions that stand with him and punish those who oppose him without any regard to the common good.
And we have seen use his popularity with a minority of American in the Republican Party to bend that party’s office holders to his will and whims, in effect, making them stand up for Trump in ways no different than Stalin and Saddam did.
The pursuit of power is the only goal and only measure of success for them and for everyone else who comes in Trump’s orbit. Nihilism has rotted out the core of the Republican Party and threatens to do so in our country as a whole.
And their pursuit of power and that alone is naked and thus even more corrupting for that. Consider what two of the most corrupt of Trump’s gang said recently when asked if they were concerned that working with him has ruined their reputation. Attorney General Bill Barr answered, “Everyone dies and I…don’t believe in the Homeric idea that.. immortality comes by…having odes sung about you over the centuries.” And Rudy Giuliani said, “I’m afraid it will be on my gravestone. “Rudy Giuliani: He Lied for Trump.” Somehow, I don’t think that will be it. But if it is, so what do I care? I’ll be dead.”
Those two statements might not mean much in our already degraded time. But to anyone familiar with the thought of the Founders, they are striking and appalling. Some of the Founders, including George Washington, were Deists who did not believe in an after-life but did believe that good and decent humans were rewarded by the only kind of immortality open to us, to be remembered well when we are gone. And others were Christians for whom reward in the afterlife in both this, and more importantly, the next world was possible. It would never occur to either group to say “what do I care?” about their post-mortem reputation.
Barr and Giuliani are Christians who have over the years given many speeches to Republican audiences about the decline of morality and religion in our lives. And now they stand with the nihilistic president who worships only power.
Despite every temptation, we can’t do the same. We can’t believe that it is only power—not truth, not morality, not our ideals—that matter in this life. We can’t pursue power for its own sake and attempt to mobilize people in support of us by promising them only power. And we can’t do that for two reasons.
First, because the world we want to create is one guided by reason and morality. It is a world in which people are committed to using argument and evidence to discover the truth and in which propaganda is forced to answer to reality. And it is one in which the worth of a human being is not based on the power he holds but is intrinsic to his or her being. We want to create a world in which everyone, no matter the circumstances in which they were born, their race, or gender, has an opportunity to make the best use of their talents and abilities and has a full share of influence over our common life. It is a world in which the idea that all human beings are created equal and have equal rights is fully vindicated. We will never create a world if we don’t stand up for and insist on adherence to truth and the moral ideals that can and should animate it. We need political power to create such a world but not power alone is insufficient. We need power in the service of truth and our ideals.
And, second because truth and morality are the main source of our own power. There is no question that human beings can be corrupted. We see that every day in our politics. But we human beings are corruptible only because we are capable of being better than that. We are capable of distinguishing between propaganda and lies. We are capable of living honorable lives. We are capable of putting our ideals above our self-interest. We are capable of being moved not by fear or hatred but by love—love of our ideals and love of the people who will be raised up when those ideals become reality.
Whether you believe that God or nature gave us the power of love and the capacity to discern the truth and grasp a moral ideal that is above our self-interest, we must keep insisting that we have that capacity and that truth and our ideals thus have a power of their own. For is only by coming together in support of truth and morality that we will have the power to defeat Trump’s nihilism.