The Power of Division

Donald Trump derives his power from the division of society. The migrants making their way through Mexico are also being used by him to spread fear.

Donald Trump’s appeals for peace didn’t last 24 hours. For just a moment after the deadly attack by a white right-wing extremist on people at a synagogue in Pittsburgh and in the face of the 12 letter bombs that a Trump fanatic sent to 11 of the president’s political opponents, Trump called on Americans to come together. For just a brief moment, he spoke like a head of state should.

But the role of reconciler isn’t him and doesn’t suit him. So once again, he immediately did what he likes doing most and what he doesn’t need to feign: ferment and divide. He rushed into the election ring and lashed out furiously as usual – against his critics, against the liberal media he hates and against the Democratic opposition. He accused the latter, between the lines at least, of surreptitiously delighting in the letter bombs and exploiting the fact that the alleged perpetrator is a Republican and a Trump supporter.

In a week’s time, all 435 members of the House of Representatives and 35 of the 100 Senators will be up for election. But this election is not just about which party, Republicans or Democrats, will win the House of Representatives and the Senate. There is much more at stake on Nov. 6: the civility of the political class and American society. In short, the future of this deeply divided nation.

The United States has always been disunited. Its citizens have quarreled to the death and at enormous sacrifice, for example: about independence from Britain, the foundations of the Constitution, the abolition of slavery, racial equality, the number and origin of immigrants and the many wars.

Family Silence

But somehow America has always come back together again nevertheless; for one thing, because the parties and most politicians, and above all the governing president in the White House, knew how to build bridges.

But the varnish on society is thin; cohesion is becoming increasingly fragile. Republicans and Democrats, liberals and conservatives, left and right have fewer and fewer points of contact. They live in separate worlds and prefer to live where they will encounter as many like-minded people in their neighborhood as possible. Most Americans have less and less understanding, tolerance and patience for people with different opinions. And the majority say they would have a big problem if their children married someone from a family of a different political persuasion.

Polarization reached private life long ago. After Trump’s election, for example, some families banned politics during the Thanksgiving holiday. There was to be no talk of politics with relatives over the turkey as the fear of fatal rift was too great.

This dramatic deterioration is due not just, but in large part, to Trump. The 45th president is America’s baiter-in-chief. It needs to be stated clearly here: Trump is an agitator, a destroyer, he simply has a bad character.

Trump’s Hate Gets Him Votes

How else to explain how he contemptuously made fun of an alleged rape victim in public? How he expressed overt support for a Republican congressman who body-slammed a journalist from the British newspaper, The Guardian, and was punished for it? Or how he calls the critical media “enemies?”

With his hate, Trump is knowingly and willingly pushing ahead with the division of society. He derives his power from this division, it provides him with votes, he bases his power on it.

The several thousand Central American refugees and migrants trekking toward the United States therefore suit him and offer him new grounds for hate-filled tirades and conspiracy theories.

Trump claims without any proof that left-wing puppet masters and financiers close to the Venezuelan president are behind this so-called caravan. And he warns – again without proof – that many criminals and even some terrorists from the Middle East are coming to the U.S. with the refugees and migrants. He plans to send 800 soldiers to the Mexican border for protection.

A “Caravan” as an Election Gift

During the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump stirred up fear of immigrants — and became president. Nearly 63 million Americans voted for him in that election. The most detailed study of these voters and their motives is by Emily Ekins, director of polling at the libertarian think tank Cato.

She used a sophisticated system to interview 8,000 Trump voters and concluded that those who voted for Trump by and large fall into five groups: “Staunch Conservatives,” who are essentially die-hard, long-standing Republicans; “Free Marketeers;” “Anti-Elites;” the “Disengaged,” who are not associated with any specific group; and the “Preservationists,” who want to protect the white, Christian heritage of America. According to Ekins, this last group in many Midwestern states tipped the balance of power and propelled Trump to victory.

As different as these five groups and their biographies, typologies and motivations are, Ekins concludes that almost all of them are connected by one worry: fear of the demographic and cultural transformation of America. In contrast to initial conjecture after Trump’s election, his supporters are not primarily afraid of economic decline, but above all that white people will become a minority in their own country.

Identity trumps the economy – the finding that fears about identity outweigh economic arguments still applies – and Trump is an expert at using these for his own gain. That’s why the “caravan” from Central America is an election gift for him.