Image by Donovan Reeves.
The rise of Donald Trump has been met with a large chorus of voices that proclaim him to be profoundly un-American, from the ‘Russiagate’ days following his 2016 victory that tried to paint him as a foreign agent (or, at best, a stooge in some Russian conspiracy to subvert the integrity of the United States) to the plethora of current pearl-clutching that presents Trump and Trumpism as some great, un-American, anomaly. A profound deviation from domestic political traditions. The range of these claims is impressive, with everyone from Mike Pence and Arnold Schwarzenegger to Joe Biden, John Stewart, and The Nation magazine calling Trump ‘un-American’ and often attempting to claim that his political tenor is reflective of foreign influences (most recently, to Cultural Revolution era Mao).
The truth of the matter is that Donald Trump is likely the most American president in the history of the United States. He’s even more American than his critics in ascribing unpleasant domestic political developments to the corrupting effects of foreign forces. He did not simply compare Barak Obama to some ‘foreign’ influence, he claimed that Obama himself was smuggled in from Africa and not a ‘real’ American. He did not simply say that the United States has too much crime and violence, he ascribed this to immigrants and other un-American presences that have corrupted what was once a ‘great’ society. Suppose one American tendency (to be fair, Americans are not alone in this) is to blame anything they find distasteful on foreign contaminations. In that case, Trump is a stellar example of this all-American trait.
Donald Trump embodies the American ethos. He has had a button installed in Oval Office for ordering Diet Coke. Is there anything more American than that? He eats his steaks well done (the most common preference within the United States) and often with ketchup. He participates in the theatrics of ‘professional’ wrestling, a ‘sport’ that even the most dedicated fans know to be staged and yet delight in pretending otherwise. In the words of Don King, ‘only in America’. He loves fast food and prefers McDonald’s or KFC above all else. Moreover, he is a stellar example of good old-fashioned American hucksterism. Expertly fictionalized by Mark Twain and Herman Melville and embodied by many from P.T. Barnum to Andy Warhol and beyond, the art of American hucksterism (half-lies, cheap publicity, fast money) has been mastered by Trump. Quick to sell you some frozen steaks on a gold-plated serving tray, Trump brand ‘Swiss’ watches, online classes on how to make it in real estate, grown-in-Virginia Trump wine, self-branded crypto-currency, or a can’t-fail plan to make America great again, the temerity and scale of Trump’s fast-talking and shameless self-aggrandizement and hawking is beyond even Melville’s imagination.
Perhaps even more a testament to Trump’s Americanness is how close he is to an ideal American politician, as outlined in James Madison’s Federalist Paper #51. Madison is famous for his argument (Federalist Paper #10) that democracy is dangerous because there is no limit to the power of the majority. A majority could easily oppress and tyrannize some minority. He opined that a republican regime would greatly reduce the possibility of a ‘tyranny of the majority’.
Ordinary citizens would choose the best of their community (recall that in the Constitution there is a minimum of 30,000 residents, about the size of New York City at that time, from which to choose one member for the House of Representatives, a number large enough so that at least a few extra-ordinary could be found) to represent them in state legislatures and in the House of Representatives. In turn, these elected representatives would choose the best of themselves to go on to even higher offices (Senate, President, etc.) and thus individuals in those positions would be the best of the best. Not motivated by self-interest or careless in their actions, they would be much more unlikely than the average person to make decisions that would infringe on the rights and freedoms of the few or the many. This argument was not new and there was nothing particularly American about it. You could find similar sentiments going back at least as far as Plato; here, Madison is being completely traditional in arguing that government should be in the hands of the extraordinary few.
A few months after writing #10, Madison would go on to make his first truly radical and innovative break with more European theories. Bernard Mandeville had published his immensely important The Fable of the Bees: Or, Private Vices, Public Benefits in 1714. In that work Mandeville argued that greedy, self-interested behavior (although perhaps a vice for the individual) resulted in what was most beneficial for the community as a whole. Each bee greedily working for as much pollen as possible might result in a short and hectic lifespan but the result is a maximization of honey production and an increase in the well-being of the hive. This position, taken up by Adam Smith and many others, solidified the modern notion that in economic life greed was good; to be self-interested was right and proper.
However, this morality of self-interest was limited to the marketplace. In politics, the character of the statesperson was of a different order altogether and the self-interested business person was not a model for what a statesperson should be. The political leader, as even Max Weber would argue well over a century after Madison, should be unmotivated by vanity or the quest for money and power. However, in Federalist Paper #51, Madison made exactly the opposite argument. He went beyond Mandeville’s position to argue that in politics as well, greedy self-interested behavior was the best for everyone. By everyone trying to get more for themselves, politicians in each branch of government and each level of government in a federated system would act as a check on each other, as he phrased it “Ambition must be made to counteract ambition”. Thus, we no longer presumed that public officials should be wise and temperate and motivated by the quest for truth and liberty. Any average self-interested person would be perfect for such a position and the unabashed quest for more power by each part of the government would temper that of every other part of the government. The end result was a great balance of power that would greatly reduce the possibility that the liberty and freedoms of the citizens could be encroached upon by the government. Self-interest was the only thing that could counter self-interest, only passion could counter passion.
Accordingly, Donald Trump is the living embodiment of the American politician that Madison imagines. Completely average, plebian even, in his values and tastes, all he wants is more. A perfect check on any encroachment on executive power from the judiciary or legislative or from state governments. If there is anything that is out of step with Madison’s vision, it could be that other government officials are not greedy enough. Not trying to grab more power for themselves and surrendering too quickly to Trump’s tactics. For Madison, we need more Trumps, not fewer. One may be quite critical of Trump the person as well as his politics but to argue against them as un-American is laughable and misguided.
Donald Trump is completely home-grown, as American as baseball, hotdogs, and apple pie. Trump is what the United States produces, he’s the type of person that our schools, cultural institutions, and workplaces are increasingly churning out. Those of us who are critical of Trump, who find his style vulgar and political sensibilities disgusting should be more honest as to what the problem is. People like Trump are a dime a dozen. Students today take college classes on how to self-brand and market themselves, instructed to be ruthless in selling themselves (or their research) and, ideally, to do it in the time it takes to ride the elevator. Hucksterism and the centrality of self-interests are given. Social media rewards ‘influencers’ and puts a premium on being able to present a fictionalized version of their lives and to convincingly pretend to enjoy the products that their sponsors instruct them to peddle. J.D. Vance has ridden a fictionalized narrative about his family background and an always willing disposition to do the bidding of those above him to vice president’s office. Warren Buffett and Bill Gates are venerated for never being content with having enough wealth or power; there is no limit to accumulation. Similarly, Elon Musk, the Nazi saluting wealthiest person in the world, is celebrated for his indifference to others and taken as a role model for many budding moguls in our schools of business and engineering. It is time that we stop thinking of Trump as some sinister foreign influence and refocus our attention to the crassness of the society that is producing him and millions more like him.
