One would be perfectly justified in blaming Donald Trump for the outrageous things he does—or the tremendous amount of good he could do but won’t. But these are, for Trump and his ilk, just the bright shiny objects they dangle to lure the attention of an undisciplined media and of gullible folks with lots of rage and short attention spans.
The least-appreciated failing of this near-total failure of a president is not his behavior, his policies—more like childish impulses—his corruption, his pathological lying, his lack of civility, nor even his outrageous immorality. Everyone knows these faults.
No, Donald Trump’s most under-condemned failure as a leader is how little he’s expected—of himself, of others, of us, the citizens of this great and good nation.
LIVING DOWN TO EXPECTATION
Healthy, functioning social entities, be they nations, communities, businesses or families, ask something of their constituents. Sometimes a lot.
They ask folks to balance their personal freedoms and wants with the welfare of the group. They needn’t see eye to eye on everything, but they do agree on a constructive, civil process for resolving those differences.
In a democracy it’s just assumed that citizens make small sacrifices for the common good. We pay taxes; we share our time, talents and resources; we abide by laws ensuring no one causes harm or takes more than their share of common resources; we look after our less-fortunate fellow citizens.
And during periods of extreme challenge or crisis— like wars, natural disasters, economic collapse or a super-ambitious national initiative like our War on Poverty or the Space Race, great nations—the ones that come through the crisis stronger and wiser—are those which ask their citizens to rise to, and grow with, the challenge.
On the other hand, failed nations, from Angola to Russia to Venezuela, and their paranoid, iron-fisted dictators—for many of which Donald Trump can barely conceal his admiration— expect nothing approaching a higher order of thinking from their subjects. Just hard labor to feed the insatiable corruption. And, of course, often on pain of humiliation, ruin or death, their loyalty. Sound familiar?
Go ahead and show your utter contempt for
common decency by coughing and sneezing
on anyone you damn well please.
INDULGING FOLKS’ WORST INSTINCTS
So here we are. It’s 2020 and the United States of America is facing an unprecedented “perfect storm” of catastrophe: a global pandemic; a firestorm of rage and grief over long-smoldering racial injustice; the looming cataclysm of global warming; and a chilling, brazen assault by oligarchs and disciples of chaos on the bedrock of our democracy.
And what of any virtue at all has Donald S. Trump asked of the American people? Absolutely nothing, especially from his base. Nothing more, that is, than what he sees as the status quo. Just keep doing your own thing. Don’t listen to—hell, just go ahead and beat the shit out of—those crying out for justice.
Don’t give an inch on your, or your employer’s, “right” to continue fouling the air, water and soil. Don’t worry if people’s constitutional rights are the price we have to pay for "law and order." Don’t even pretend to stifle your meanest, basest instincts to demonize those you deem a threat to your perceived entitlement.
And, for God’s sake, don’t listen to the scientists or public health experts about this COVID-19 “hoax.” In fact, go right ahead and show your utter contempt for common decency by coughing and sneezing on anyone you damn well please. Those few (hundred thousand) frail old folks were dying soon anyway; small price to pay so Billy Bob can go party hearty in Sturgis.
Do whatever you want…oh, unless you disagree with me or refuse to kiss my ass, says Donald Trump. If you fail that, well then, you’re yesterday’s news. You’re fired.
Instead of an expectation, Trump has given
his base what Barak Obama wouldn’t give
them: permission.
BORN TO BE BOORISH
It’s not simply failing to expect the best of Americans; it’s insisting on their worst. And, sure enough, hundreds of thousands of folks this charlatan has somehow managed to hypnotize dutifully line up, sporting their "Don't tread on me!" flags and MAGA caps, eager to comply. After all, this is what they love about the man.
Instead of an expectation, Trump’s given them something they’d been praying for during the entire unbearable eight-year “reign” of Barak Obama. Something that college-boy, holier-than-thou, liberal elite (oh, and uppity black man) with the impudence to expect Americans to act like adults wouldn’t give them: permission.
The reality-show president is playing to folks who are already so aggrieved, so afraid of evolving, that many literally see him as a gift from God. Trump's one rude, ignorant, corrupt, self-obsessed little man who’s finally given them his okay to be as shallow and hostile as they really are.
He’s legitimized their fantasy that it’s their God-given right not to grow intellectually, socially or spiritually. And to distrust anyone who does.
I don’t know which came first, Trump’s
inability to ask for anything resembling
higher-order thinking from his followers,
or their inability to give it.
LOYALTY TRUMPS ALL
Say what you will about Donald Trump and his disastrous personal shortcomings. The man could have, despite those considerable handicaps, been a decent president—could, indeed, have helped make America at least not worse again.
He could have, as the nearly-as-dull-witted ex-pro wrestler Jesse Venture once did when he found himself governor of Minnesota, at least surrounded himself with smart, capable people. But for Trump, too threatened by anyone’s pretending to know anything he doesn’t, there’s simply no help.
Nope, he doesn’t dare expect intelligence, competence, aspiration, creativity, challenge, sacrifice. None of those positive, constructive qualities. Not from those who support him politically, and certainly not from anyone who works for him. He doesn’t even expect basic human decency.
All Donald expects is what every petty tyrant expects: blind allegiance— not even to the country, but to him. I don’t know which came first, his inability to ask for anything resembling higher-order thinking from his followers, or their inability to give it.
Their portrayal of their enemy as a bunch of pretentious, snot-nosed, holier-than-though little brats is ironic, for it’s exactly those traits that have been exposed in them during their little MAGA tantrum these past few years.
And, for folks who so vehemently reject expectation of any kind, it begs the question, “How’s that goin’ for ya?” With the economy? With our country’s standing in the world? With crime rates? With the condition of our air, water and land? With natural disasters? The list is long and the answers chillingly mass-delusional.
TO ASK OR TO ASK NOT
Throughout this whole moral, constitutional crisis—it feels like a street fight between the sordid underbelly of America and its noble soul—I keep hearing echoes of John F. Kennedy’s famous entreaty: Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.
And I’m wishing, praying, for a couple of great leaders who, come January, 2021, might articulate that kind of aspiration. Might rekindle the spark of kindness, generosity and hope I’m convinced still smolders deep inside every true American.
