Trump Is Destroying America

Donald Trump claims to want to unite America. In reality he is further dividing an already torn society. His trademark: Fear.

Societal order is threatened; the USA is in danger of losing itself. That is not, however, due to actions of terrorists or immigrants. The problem is above all conservatives who conduct politics with fear and distrust and deepen their ideological graves. By any means necessary they want to protect their worldview, which they see as threatened. Law and order are the means by which everything can be made right.

Danger to them is anything that is different, that does not correspond to the conservative way of thinking, anything that causes fear: Terrorism, immigrants, a too powerful government, their own neighbors who may not look like them or love like them. The list has become longer and longer over the years, feeding their growing paranoia and isolation. Fear has many faces, but a conservative face often only has one: White, religious, conservative. Upstanding, these citizens often like to call themselves.

Obviously not every Republican in the USA is a latent racist and right-wing populist. That was revealed in the primary campaign, in which to their dismay in the end only Donald Trump was left standing as Republican presidential candidate. Many Republicans have become more tolerant toward issues of religion and equality; they don’t demonize government and high taxes like they did in the ‘80s. But that has perhaps galvanized even more radical Republicans. Their hero is Donald Trump.

The billionaire presents himself as the best and wiliest salesman in a country that has in the meantime let itself be blinded by gold, glamour, and celebrity under the overall illusion of success. But Trump is not only selling superficial success. Above all he is selling fear. His nomination convention in Cleveland follows this ideology. “Make America Great Again,” his campaign slogan, is the program’s common theme. Ironically, it was actually appropriated from Ronald Reagan, who used it for his presidential campaign in 1980.

They opened with the most important theme: “Make America Safe Again.” Restore order. But what kind of order? Trump’s logic only follows one kind of order: his own. Trump is not a conservative idealist, not a preacher like Ted Cruz. He is only a pitchman who understands the latest craze: Walls, security, border checkpoints. He is applauded by those who desire a return to normalcy: a job that lasts a lifetime, a house, a car, and enough savings so that their kids can go to college. Biographies that no longer exist, however, for the white middle class in Ohio, Kansas, or North Carolina. Anger makes people especially vulnerable to clever salesmen.

The Country Needs a New Dis-Order

From there, the convention shifted to “Make America Work Again” and “Make America First Again.” The promise to create jobs and to finally bring America back to the forefront once again. But in the eyes of those who are courted by Trump, only they themselves should profit. Community, diversity, sharing what one has – that’s all meaningless to Trump. Which leads to Trump’s biggest lie of the convention in Cleveland, the motto of tomorrow’s conclusion of the convention, whereby Trump is finally crowned the Republican nominee: Make America One. To unite America again. A cute slogan after so many deaths that have made the country mournful over the past few weeks: Orlando, Baton Rouge, Dallas. Places that are associated with racism, violence, and weapons that have left deep wounds. Wounds that had been patched with so many Band-Aids. Now the blood has begun to flow again and threatens that order.

Trump will not restore order. He will not unite the country. Trump sells his product with a slogan from the 1980s. Then President Reagan lowered taxes, raised military spending, and amassed a huge pile of debt. America needs a new order, one that is socially diverse, tolerant, open, and stands up against violence and racism – a new dis-order.

Donald Trump would be the wrong president for a country that is currently self-destructing. However, its culture has always shown the power to reinvent itself again and again. But for that it needs a political leader who actually acts when he preaches and promises unity. Trump will not do that. Under a President Trump there will be more racism, more social injustice, more isolation, and less community and multiplicity. Donald Trump is the actual threat for America.