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"Baby Bad: TRUMP'S FINAL FACE IS THAT OF INFANTILISM"
If we were to imagine history as a electrocardiogram measuring
heart rate over time, the heart beat falling on 2016 along with Trump, ISIS and
Brexit would measure as a major systolic thump, one that sent ripples through
every avenue of public discussion and deeply tailored - and for the most part,
hardened - our collective world-view. Reports by finance ministers, business
leaders and civilians indicate a sense of gloom at best, crisis at worst. Taking
the cardiac analogy further, Trump may represent a major arterial blood clot, a
cystic fat narrowing our communal capillaries or (perhaps most aptly) a
medically archaic form of angried blood, one that elevates the heart rate and
sends it thumping through the 21st century with hysterical, irregular rhythm. And
after Trump was officially inaugurated as the Republican nominee, his act went
from merely irregular to officially unhinged.
Trump began an ill-advised feud with the parents of Humayun
Khan, a US soldier killed in 2004, attacked Paul Ryan, Speaker of the House of
Representative and a Republican, advocated a potential "strike first"
nuclear strategy, called on Putin and the Russian secret service to
mount an intelligence attack on Hillary Clinton, called on gun-advocates to do
"something" about Clinton, predicted the November election
would be rigged, proposed a ban on all immigration from countries
"compromised by terrorism" and suggested that the onus was on women
harassed in the work place to simply move on to another job. None of this was
out of character, and the media reacted with fury and outrage - and massive air
time - as always. There was one difference though: this time, Trump's poll numbers
didn't soar - they dropped.
Why the change? From the tone of some editorials - in the
wake of Michael Moore's "5 Reasons While Trump Will Win", followed
headlines like "Why Trump Will Win" and "Social Media Patters
Show Trump Is Looking At A Landslide Victory". The media and public had begun
to take seriously the theory that Trump was all but unstoppable. His basic
formula of outrageous insult, backed up with fantastic lies, seemed to be
winning him every confrontation in every state he set his eyes on. But now his
poll numbers were dropping in spectacular fashion and he'd begun to poll badly
in key swing-states. The prevailing worry
had been that Trump was channelling some primal energy in the American people,
or was the bulkhead of a historical inevitability that would throw us all back
into the dark ages - a repressive, racist state, an aggressive and
protectionist foreign policy, the breakdown of international trade - or worse:
total nuclear war.
Events domestically and overseas seemed to form a chorus
around this narrative: Brexit, ISIS attacks in Paris, civilians shooting police
officers in the US.; these events seemed to herald an epoch-breaking collapse
in society and the world order, one that could dignify Trump's apocalyptic
claims.
Then, as abruptly as it started, we declared Trump dead -
"imploded", "self-immolating", on a "post-convention
bender", "Unable To Control Self". Once again, Trump shocked his
audience by continuing to act exactly as he had done all along. This time, it
caught up with him. The tag that stuck to Trump - after businessman, celebrity,
clown, narcissist and even fascist had all failed to pin him down - was "child".
Whether this represents a communal realisation and
dismissal, or just the latest line of attack by our legions of journalists, is
hard to know. But abruptly, focus has shifted from Trump as the new face of
American fascism, to Trump as a kind of mad, overgrown infant - more
incompetent than evil. Trump's campaign advisers began leaking bizarre and
amusing anecdotes of Trump's complete unmanageability: Trump spends all his
free time watching television, getting angry at his own coverage and reacting.
Any critique of Trump has to be prefaced by "lavish praise - as if dealing
with a child". An RNC member said he had to routinely "talk Trump
down from a ledge". The head manager of Trump's campaign, Paul Manafort,
resigned. In addition to his poll slump, Trump now began to suffer a flood of defections
from the GOP establishment. Rep. Richard Hanna called Trump "unfit to
serve", and promised to vote for Clinton at the general election.
Republican fundraiser Meg Whitman also said she would vote for Hillary, and
would even fund-raise for her.
The more optimistic of us may want to think that perhaps we
collectively came to our senses. After a period of group confusion - like a
herd stunned by the appearance of a strange animal - where we failed to identify
Trump for what he was, a selfish, strange and maybe pitiable man, our critical
faculties finally caught up with the obvious. We stopped being amazed at Donald
Trump's feats of interpersonal savagery, dishonesty and vulgarity, and began to
reject him.
The more pessimistic of us may instead see that Trump, a
very weird prophet for a very messed up America, was rejected by an electoral
system that has consistently ensured that nobody who is not (excuse the double
negative) of a certain class and character can take the Presidency. We should
note that the major defections from the GOP came not in the face of Trump's
racism or nuclear proclivities, but upon realising that he probably doesn't
have the personal ability to win the election. If Trump - a person so
thoroughly obsessed with his own talent and brilliance - could see that implied
criticism, it would hurt him most of all.
OLIVER JONES is the author of Trump: The Rhetoric (Eyewear, 2016). He has a degree in PPE from Oxford, and is a musician and poet as well as a political writer.
Editor's note: it remains to be seen if Trump is coming back, with a more restrained (relatively) Presidential tone this past week...
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