Trump, the Antichrist, grand narratives, and illusions
It is, perhaps, a sign of our chaotic times that I wasn't surprised to read a Wired article this morning about numerous MAGA supporters wondering whether Donald Trump is actually the Antichrist. I'd laugh if the state of the world wasn't so perilous right now. I'm quite sure the potential global catastrophe we face is pushing my already high blood pressure to risky levels.
Lets look at Trump, the most buffoonish of figures, through the lens of religious narrative for a moment. If a person was ever going to be the opposite of the Jesus figure, it's Trump - a pathological selfish liar - a thin-skinned grifter - a man so stupid, he continues to tell himself and everyone else that he's actually a genius. If he was just another moronic average Joe on the street corner, you might pity him. But this dangerous fuck - this infantile scumbag - has access to the nuclear codes and a powerful military force.
The mythology of nations
Every country maintains a mythology ~ stories about foundation, about values that drive its people, about cultural and socio-economic goals that align with grand objectives and religious tales. These things form a kind of cultural bedrock upon which communities are formed. One might believe in the so-called American Dream or the idea that America is so mighty that it can influence events in far-flung parts of the world without consequence. The story of American exceptionalism is strong - the idea that the nation aspires to glorious goals and is exceptional technologically, militarily, economically, culturally, and politically. Such a nation feels justified in exporting democracy abroad and projecting both soft and hard power to influence allies and enemies. Citizens thereby feel empowered and starry-eyed about possibility. They are filled with the kind of hope that tends to obliterate the reality of their own poverty filled lives. These stories also legitimise bloody conflicts to reinforce hegemonic power. The justification is made that bloodshed is necessary because some group somewhere threatens American order, world order, and American supremacy.
These stories are consensually constructed and maintained mythologies that drive human history with momentum equal to their scale and believability. One might truly believe in the power of the individual, possessed by the demon of industry and innovation, toiling away until lifted up by what seems an inevitable goldrush of money and glory. But stories are also illusions. They are two-sided - both empowering and dispossessing. Those that have riches maintain the illusion for fear of losing their wealth and social status, and those who have little are so disempowered that they have no voice. The largest contingent, those in the middle, tend to aspire to the golden dream, fulfilling their function in society as active maintainers of the mythology because they believe it.
Even here in Australia, we've always maintained comfortable mythologies that appease the majority. Whilst a more moderate and less religious culture generally, the Aussie Dream revolves around hard work, rugged individualism, mateship, and egalitarianism. For many Australians, the class system is something that only happens in other countries. The reality is, of course, that powerful interests siphon wealth and influence into their own pockets weekly, and have the ear of politicians. The corrosive factor is familiar: the world viewed through the economic lens, where everything and everyone is divided into consumers and producers - nothing more.
Existential threat?
Does Trump's chaotic and disordered administration represent a challenge to the mythology of American exceptionalism? An imbecilic man who grew up with everything and wants ever more has plunged the world into disarray. And all for what? Vanity? Ego? Filling his personal abyss? Or is it worse? Is it a mentally ill cadre of dangerous groupies, loyalists, power fantasists, and religious fundamentalists driving hard to their goal of bringing about the apocalypse? Are we facing an existential threat? Their fantasy of doing God's will and entering heaven in exchange for earthly destruction? Smart science graduates these people are not.
For those who talk tough about nuclear arsenals and nuclear strikes, I can only say this: none of us should want even a single nuclear strike anywhere on this fragile planet ever. If you believe that dropping the atomic bomb on Japan seemed OK and people still live there now, I can tell you with certainty - the nuclear warheads of today are far more powerful and destructive. Even a single strike would wipe out ecosystems and kill millions either instantly within the blast zone or through radiation poisoning. Just a few more strikes will kill untold millions more, and more than this will devastate all life on earth. And there are dangerous leaders out there who have access to nuclear codes.
We should never ever create systems that allow people like this anywhere near power and influence. Nor should we ever tolerate the casual platforming of misinformation and the voices of profiteering online stars who tell us soporific fairy-tales about power, manhood, and dominance just so they can gain more followers, more power, and more money.
On that point, I have no sympathy whatsoever for anyone who has seen fit to platform misinformation in service of their bank accounts and the political career of Donald Trump. As much as I understand the kind of socio-economic positioning, ignorance, greed, status anxiety, and opportunism that leads someone to favour a person like Trump, I have zero time for their sob stories and possible regrets. I can only hope that a lot of formerly apathetic people learn very quickly the importance and responsibility attached to civic life. But I won't hold my breath.
The grim entertainer
I have friends who had an opinion on Trump's first term. They viewed him as a fun agent of chaos, an entertainer, and a refreshing change from the stiff political classes who typically hold office. Some people have told me they think Trump needs to go but they agree with some of his policies - usually the kind of America-first programs that promise easy fixes to complex problems. To them, I can only say that even a stopped clock is right two times a day. And Trump is as stopped a clock as any other moronic authoritarian who would destroy the world to feather their own filthy nest.
So, Trump as an Antichrist figure is about as hysterical a characterisation as I'd expect from a political base that doesn't understand politics, certainly doesn't understand the importance of global politics and diplomacy, is uninterested in anything but having their tiny voice heard in a broken system that has systematically silenced it, and is now trying desperately to make sense of the chaos their man has wrought upon their cherished nation. For them, perhaps, the simple story of the Antichrist makes sense because it's filled with both the mythological battle between good and evil and the dread of destruction that their black and white view of the world finds appealing. For the rest, Trump remains the same self-serving, profiteering vomit-sack we saw on The Apprentice, only this time the darkest sections of his diseased personality are thrashing about vainly because Death is atop his shoulder and not even a criminal billionaire can escape it. And he fucking has access to the nuclear codes.
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