Bullying and Trumpian Simplicity: Their Appeal in a Complex World
From Trump’s White House we get racism, xenophobia, conspiracy theories, a debt-fueled economy, uncountable lies, and, as the topper, a chaotic pandemic response with deliberately misleading assertions and American deaths now marching toward a quarter million by election day. When that sort of performance engenders support, even admiration, one can’t help but wonder what’s happening. How can better than 40% of US voters want an encore? Sure, white supremacists like the dog whistles they hear, the anti-immigration crowd wants a wall, and the pro-fetus people, who apparently don’t give a shit about the life of the living — go ahead, take away health care and ignore climate change — want conservative judges. We also have the fearful who require weapons of war to protect themselves and the selfish who prefer handing their tax bill to our children. But do those groups get you to 40%? If not, who else supports our dear President Con, and why?
Perhaps Charlie Chaplin and Thoreau can help us. In 1936, Chaplin played his Little Tramp character in the film, Modern Times. As Chaplin biographer Jeffrey Vance wrote, “The Tramp’s travails in Modern Times and the comedic mayhem that ensues should provide strength and comfort to all who feel like helpless cogs in a world beyond control.” The issue Chaplin highlighted was not new. Thoreau, commenting on “civilized life” from Walden Pond — ninety years before Modern Times — encouraged people to simplify, to reduce life’s complexity and speed.
In the years since the Little Tramp struggled with the assembly line’s increasing speed, life has continued to accelerate and gain complexity. Any urge people have for simplicity has been overwhelmed by the siren song of never-ending “advances.” Our homes and vehicles, along with how we communicate, shop, bank, learn, and work have all morphed and acquired ever more complexity. That complexity, swirling at the pace of modern life, is augmented with the risk of, and occasional punch from, job loss, natural disasters, accidents, and criminals. Advertisers and advisors add further agitation by telling us what to buy and how to live. What Thoreau described as “quiet desperation” has become more serious. Chaos ensued in the factory after the Little Tramp went berserk. Is US society following in the footsteps of Chaplin’s character? Have the complexity and associated constraints we’ve created made society unstable?
For people grasping for something — for anything — that would give them some semblance of control, how might they react to Trump? The man who lies, bullies, ignores experts, and flouts laws seems to have the appearance of a savior to many. Supporters not locked in by racist, xenophobic, pro-fetus, pro-gun, or anti-tax viewpoints are apparently attracted by how he ignores both laws and the norms of civil interaction. They’re not fans in spite of his behavior, but because of it. Perhaps their passion arises from a hope he can take them back to a saner and simpler time, freed from the constraints and complexity of the present.
When life overwhelms, and we seem to control neither steering nor brakes, how do we react? If we take road-rage as emblematic of an acute episode of the malady, it seems rationality gets sidetracked. People lash out. The same thing has occurred with “mask” confrontations, where store employees get berated for requesting customers be considerate of others and put on a mask. No reasonable person, no one who is generally rational and considerate, would go crazy over simply being asked to put on a mask. A bad reaction indicates other demands on a person’s attention must have pushed them to their tolerance limit. Unfortunately, such reactions have been commonplace. It seems the strain of present day life, arising from the complexity and constraints we’ve accumulated, has become a critical societal issue.
For those with the chronic form of the problem, Trump has become a role model for reasserting control. Unfortunately, while demeaning others and creating conflict may give the afflicted some temporary relief, society suffers. To insult, to ignore mask guidelines, and to carry guns to protests where tensions are already high are conducive to anarchy, not civility.
Besides being a bully, Trump also provides something else — a fantasy world of alternative facts. In that world, anything contrary to Trump’s view is labeled fake news, logic and consistency are in hiding, and complexity is banished in favor of what might be called Trumpian Simplicity (i.e., lacking consistency or coherence). Unlike your typical leader, Trump truly seems incapable of coherently thinking about anything in a complex, nuanced, or interconnected way. For those not tethered by rationality, and aching to break free of constraints and escape complexity, Trump is their guy. They can view the complex and nuanced with disdain, label it liberal bullshit, and be confident Trump won’t excrete any in their path.
Trumpian Simplicity may provide a comfortable refuge, but it’s dangerous when issues require serious study or thoughtful planning. Consider the pandemic, western forest fires, and climate change. None have simple solutions, except in Trump’s mind. On the pandemic, Trump told a group of governors in February of 2020 that “with the heat, as the heat comes in, typically that will go away in April.” With forest fires, the solution is rake leaves, cut fire breaks, and clear out fallen trees before “well, they just explode.” On the subject of climate change, Trump stated to California officials, “It will start getting cooler. Just you watch.” There you have it — three complex issues, all readily resolved via Trumpian Simplicity!
Our world and the Little Tramp’s factory have their parallels, but unless you’re making a movie and looking for laughs, going berserk and creating chaos is not useful. We must work together to understand and fix our issues, including that of excessive complexity and constraints. Quite obviously, bullying and Trumpian Simplicity have a strong appeal to many in today’s world. In governing, however, as the past four years have shown, they lead to chaos. The Trumpian approach is not just useless, it is an immense obstacle to responsibly addressing serious issues. Trump and his enablers must be rejected, and rejected soundly, on November 3. If we don’t, the chaos will just keep compounding.
