What I hate about Trump

One chapter you will agree with – from the e-book "Call Me Toxic – I get Trump" on Amazon

But first, what you won’t find on this list:

All the racism and sexism and moral failings the Democrats are so fond pointing out are not on the list.

All of that may be true, but it’s also clearly campaign rhetoric that has no impact on actual policy – it is how both parties today use emotions instead of politics to manipulate us.

But even leaving all the shocking bad-boy stuff out, there is still plenty to hate about Trump.

1. He is old

It’s not the years I worry about. Nor am I worried that he will go dement in office (as I was not particularly worried about that with Biden or with Reagan back in the day), though certainly a more vigorous president would be preferrable.

In fact, Trump’s age might turn out to be an advantage – you tend to get milder and wiser with age, and you care more about your legacy than about power and being right.

It’s the Trump era that is old. I yearn for something fresh.

Trump represents an era I don’t like and want to put behind me – an era of extreme polarization, partisanship and division. An era of screaming and yelling, of me-too-ing and what-about-ing and look-at-me-ing.

If there is any realistic comparison between Trump and Hitler, it’s the stress on the negative: His “politics of grievance,” as the Democrats like to say, his finger-pointing, his doom-saying, his smallness and meanness.

Dear lord, how I want it all to be over.

2. I don’t like isolationism

He calls himself a “nationalist,” but he seems to mean ”isolationist” in the American conservative tradition.

Nationalism, especially on the left, and isolationism are the norm here in Germany, too, though they don’t use those words to describe it and probably don’t know how deep it goes.

I look to Germany and I can see where nationalism and isolationism lead:

Now Germany is an entirely materialistic nation wholly concerned with itself and unwilling to take on anything but the minimum of responsibility internationally. Since the end of World War II, German politics have been very much about their own advantages, making money and not getting involved in the world out there. 

As a result, Germany does not take the lead in the EU and depends almost entirely on America for its military protection – and for defending the Ukraine, which is actually the EU’s problem.

I believe America, as the world’s richest country with the greatest military, has a responsibility to defend democracy and modern humanistic values in the world, or the world will rapidly descend into totalitarianism – as is already happening.

This is a chapter out of “Call Me Toxic – I Get Trump,” in which I explain in detail what I think about the current situation – including Trump and Harris, election issues, January 6 and Hitler and all that, but also the Democrats and wokeness and the deterioration of American values – oh yes, and also how and why I voted. The book is available on Amazon. I wrote it because I knew the only way to explain myself was if I can talk for a while without anyone interrupting. If you want to yell at me, send me an e-mail, comment, whatever – you have to read the book first. (German: Beschimpt mich – ich verstehe Trump)

3. I don’t like the “Southern strategy”

A lot of the accusations of racisms against Trump come from his flirting with the extreme right, going as far as to meet with Neo-Nazis and not robustly condemning racism in all forms.

This has a long tradition among conservative politicians in America. If you don’t know it, it’s called the “Southern strategy.”

It is the conservative version of identity politics and historically runs parallel to leftist identity politics:

Both came to prominence in the 60’s when the Civil Rights movement finally reversed the truly evil Jim Crow laws. This was probably the greatest political achievement since slavery was banned, and it is what has led to almost as many blacks belonging to the middle class today as whites, percentagewise.

But it left the whites in the South worse off (now they had to compete with blacks), fearful of the future and of their status, and resentful.

It’s the conservative version of identity politics:

At the same time the Democrats began claiming to be the champions of identity groups like blacks, women and minorities in general, conservatives like Nixon, Reagan and Bush aligned themselves with identity-wise with southern whites and (mainly Southern) Christians.

It was all very subtle.

Nixon stressed a lot of “law and order” and Reagan talked about “welfare queens” abusing the system. Though these comments were not explicitly directed against any race, their people in the South got the hint: crime and welfare dependence were notably high among blacks.  

You can argue that Trump is using, but the Southern strategy, but not actually acting on it. He implemented no anti-black laws, and indeed, blacks famously did better under Trump than under Obama.

But even flirting with this kind of fascism supporting racism and resentment. It is cynical and despicable and unworthy of any presidential candidate.

4. He is a populist and a demagogue

At last, we have another reference to Hitler (I was getting worried!) – Hitler, too was a populist and a demagogue, as were Mussolini, Lenin and Stalin, and so are Putin and Orban, and so were McCarthy and Bernie Sanders and, here in Germany, the leaders of the AfD.

The Democrats like to point out that that’s the company he keeps, and they are right.

Ironically, he is a demagogue even when he doesn’t have to be.

He was right on illegal immigration – at witnessed by the Democrats adapting his border policies. The same goes for other things he was right on, from Wokeism to protectionism (at least he appears to be right on that) to international policies.

All he has to do is say that he was right – there’s no need to throw mud.

Plenty of populists have done little damage when they got into power, and it’s true that Trump, in his first term, didn’t turn into the “American Hitler” we all thought he would be.

But I cannot trust in anything he says, I cannot judge his inner motivation or intent, and I can’t overcome an underlying fear of what he might do if he gets into office.

I do not like populists and demagogues.

5. He is an embarrassment

In practical terms, Trump in his first term was an average conservative president.

He did a lot of good and he did some things I don’t agree with, but from a policy perspective his presidency was not much different from Bush’s (without the wars).

What made it different was his behavior.

There might be some advantages to his bullying and bluffing – other countries were afraid of him, just as Americans were – but that’s not what I want in a president and the leader of the free world.

I want is a statesman.

That was the main reason I loved Obama so much. George W. Bush was so clumsy and chauvinistic, while Obama was a statesman. It was such a relief.

Of course, Kamala Harris is no stateswoman either. In terms of pure buffoonery, she might be worse than Trump.

It’s true that I have a special place in my heart for fools, frauds, blusterers and bluffers, rule-breakers and nose-thumbers, for carpetbaggers and snake oil salesmen, all of which have a proud place in the American cultural landscape – but they should not be representing the country.

6. He is a mirror of our society today

Everything that Trump is and does – the superficiality, the childish reasoning, the blame-making and name-calling, the insulting and sulking, the lying and the posing, the smallness, the self-centeredness, the fake morality, the fake façade, the fake everything – all that is a perfect and horrifying reflection of our society today.

When I open the New York Times I see mainly misinformation about the left’s political enemies and  fawning puff pieces about celebrities and expensive vacation destinations.

When I listen to the left – my original political heimat – I hear dishonestly, a betrayal of their own values, political opportunism and infantile moral reasoning, all in the service of lust for power.

I’m a big fan of Star Wars and the Marvel universe – but I know these are products made mainly children. What does it say about a society in which children’s adventure tales are the height of cultural creation?

I’m tired of the limitless consumerism and materialism, of the superficiality and hypocrisy masquerading as political correctness.

And I’m tired of morality being reduced to an equation simple enough for children to understand:

Non-white = good, white = evil.

When university students in all earnestness protest in support of a dictatorship-government that keeps its people in ignorance and poverty, is dedicated almost exclusively to murdering an entire race and actively fights against democracy and humanist values … then we adults have failed.

Superficial, greedy and dumb, that’s who we have become.

Trump didn’t force us to be that way, but he mirrors it, he is a symbol of it, he shoves it in our faces, and that hurts.

That’s what I hate about Trump.

But don’t worry, I hate things about Harris, just as I like things about them both too.

I will get to that shortly.