COMPREHENDING TRUMPISM

 

“For Donald Trump, any opposition, either personal, ideological, or political is treason.” Rick Wilson, conservative consultant

Processing the actions taken by the soul-rattling, unpredictable Trump administration is a daunting task. Breaking news stories, financial information, and opinion pieces reported in the morning editions of the national press are often outdated by the end of the day. One unexpected tweet on Trump’s social media platform changes the narrative.

Trump’s lighting strikes cause headlines to move from one crisis to another. It is difficult to focus on one issue or to determine the impact. Should we be more concerned about treatment of immigrants, attacks against the President’s designated enemies, or the defunding of our major universities? Should we focus on the crashing stock market, or the firing of thousands of Federal workers in critical positions? Should we make protest signs criticizing Trump and join others on the courthouse steps? Or should we simply sit back and hope that the next election cleans up the mess?

In these extraordinary times, there are no easy answers. However, I would like to share what I have discovered to help me understand, survive and discuss Trump’s relentless, destructive march through our political system, economy, culture, and social values.

It is important to remain emotionally grounded.  It is equally important to not tune out and ignore the carnage.  My goal has been to understand issues with enough detail to reasonably discuss Trumpism with others. Ultimately, the end-game is to win over “one voter at a time.”

We must never take lightly that Trump’s core voters continue to support him. Unfortunately, an early sign of a democratic nation turning into an autocratic one is obedience from supporters who adapt impulsively to their leader’s actions. In these cases, there is no reflection on the harm caused by a new policy. Thankfully, there may be a crack in this tendency. Peggy Noonan recently wrote in the Wall Street Journal, “Donald Trump scared people he hadn’t scared before. He didn’t use to scare his policy allies— small business people, workers, retirees. He did this week. Fear dampens reflexive support.”

My first task in understanding Trumpism was to narrow down the tsunami of print, internet, and television information that washes over us each day. Much of the hard news and even the opinion pieces are repetitive. On complicated issues like tariffs or denial of federal funds to universities, it is helpful to search for panel discussions with different opinions. These wide-ranging discussions often appear in Politico, the national newspapers or on CNN.

In these panel discussions, it is common to find a valid point being made by an expert supporting the president’s actions. For me to comprehend Trumpism, I must understand and respect these arguments that disagree with my position.

It is not enough to dismiss Trump’s policies as authoritarian without learning more about the issues. For example, in the case of tariffs, it is important to know the history of invoking them, what they are intended to achieve and when they have failed. In the case of denying funds to universities, it is helpful to learn how much discretion is given to the government and what options school administrators have to contest the decision.

Once an issue is understood from all viewpoints, it is time to move on to survival and discussion of Trumpism.  Professor Timothy Synder has served as my inspiration and guide through these uncertain times. Synder’s writings place Trumpism within the context of history and offer counsel on what it all means.  

Until recently, Synder was the Richard Levin Professor of History at Yale University. He has specialized in the history of Central and Eastern Europe, the Soviet Union, and the Holocaust. His seminal book Bloodlands covered the Stalinist repression and mass murder in Ukraine.

During Trump’s first term, Synder published a book that became an important historical warning on what was to come.  The Road to Unfreedom explained the rise of authoritarianism in Russia since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union. Synder goes into great detail on how Vladamir Putin misused Russian history and built up a myth of “Russia First Inevitability” to erode democratic principles.

In many respects, the Putin roadmap, along with the infamous Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 have been repurposed by Trumpism. In only three months, through executive orders, lawsuits, and misspelled tweets, Trumpism has used authoritarian tactics to pressure judges, law firms, cultural institutions, university presidents, corporate leaders, and media barons into positions of obedience.

In 2017, Synder published another short book, On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century. It immediately became a bestseller and provided readers with a guide for surviving and discussing America’s turn toward authoritarianism.

The president is not mentioned once in the book. However, each time a new Trump policy is implemented, I turn to the “twenty lessons” to determine how similar historical actions have torn down democracy. This book is invaluable in surviving and discussing Trumpism.

What can we do to resist Trumpism’s extreme agenda?  We need to offer support to our neighbors who have come under attack through the Trump agenda. We need to stop preaching to those who agree with us on social media and get out to talk with and register new voters. Lastly, we need to become immediately invested in the midterm elections with more volunteer work and contributions than we committed to the past presidential election.

 

 

 

  

TRUMP’S HARM AGAINST AMERICA

 

“Disruption is not good for people.” Steve Ballmer, former president of Microsoft

In my lifetime, three individuals have been responsible for bringing the stock market and the world economy to its knees. The first individual had bad intentions. On September 11, 2001, Osama bin Laden unleashed terrorists who crashed two planes into the World Trade Center, killing 2996 people. The stock market fell more than 14% causing a 1.4 trillion loss in market value.

The second individual, an innocent, unknown person from China, was the first human to contract the Covid-19 virus in 2019. The ensuing pandemic had a dramatic impact on world-wide financial markets, causing investors to suffer significant losses.  Between Feb. 12 and March 23, of 2020, the Dow lost 37% of its value.

The third individual is President Donald Trump. He will forever remain infamous for the recent stock market crash and global disruptions. Trump personally triggered the sell-off by invoking a head-scratching tariff policy that caused indefensible damage to our economy. In an instant, he made our trading partners into trade adversaries, erasing decades of good will and American success.

Trump’s actions have triggered a trade war with China, essentially halting most China trade, and may spark a global recession. In the period of one week, he was able to far exceed the severity of my previous two examples. At one point, $11 trillion in stock market value was lost. This represented the largest two-day-drop in history.

Even after Trump’s backtracking on April 9, when he postponed reciprocal tariffs for 90 days, he had already caused profound harm to the American economy. The market has recovered a portion of its large loses. However, the day-to-day uncertainty in the economy and unprecedented volatility in the stock market remains. There is still no prudent tariff policy in place. 

This entire debacle was driven by Trump’s uninformed notion of how tariffs work. His mindset was emboldened by White House ideological sycophants including Peter Novarro. The truth is that Trump made up his tariff policy with no input from the business, financial or international communities. He made up the debilitating numbers for reciprocal tariffs. He made up the plan for application of the tariffs with no advanced notice to those it impacted.

The financial markets entered a dangerous cascading deep dive on April 9, causing chaotic economic dysfunction. Trump then made up the rationale for suspending the higher tariffs. Of course, he tried to claim a shallow victory. But the damage was done, and confusion remains. The president continues to subject the country to agonizing pain, fear, and chronic economic dislocations. This was all done in order to cure an economic situation that did not require his intervention.

Before the President’s actions, knowledgeable observers believed that the American economy was the most successful and admired in the world. Only months earlier, Trump had campaigned on lower prices, lower taxes, removal of impediments to business growth and his support for cryptocurrency. Republicans were looking forward to an extended period of prosperity, built on the previous administration’s low unemployment and booming stock market.

Instead, Trump’s voters were rewarded with a President determined to break the economic system and to slow growth. According to the Economist, “On April 2^nd, Trump, spurred on by his delusions, announced the biggest break in America’s trade policy in over a century – and committed the most profound, harmful, and unnecessary economic error in the modern era.” The conservative editorial board of the Wall Street Journal expressed similar concerns. “If Mr. Trump’s tariffs end up raising prices, slowing growth and increasing unemployment, Republicans who have gone along will likely break ranks, with expressions of resentment at having been pressured into supporting policies they don’t believe in…President Trump should fear the blowback from a governing strategy largely built on fear.”

While tariffs are the story driving the headlines, Trump has caused indefensible harm against America in other areas as well. First, Trump and his DOGE layoffs of Federal employees have jeopardized essential services on which Americans rely. These indiscriminate terminations threaten critical agency objectives in everything from medical research to providing memorable experiences in our National Parks. Trump’s actions have made it more difficult to keep Americans safe and healthy in our airports, in the products we purchase, and in combating contagious disease. We are learning quickly that there is nothing efficient connected with “chainsaw” mass firings. However, there are extensive losses to basic protections.

Second, universities in America are under attack. The Trump administration is pretending to punish our most revered educational institutions for their alleged compliance with or support for “antisemitism” and diversity initiatives. The real targets are academic freedom and freedom of speech which threaten Trump’s plans for autocratic rule. Universities that support – or even tolerate – protests, research, or speech that goes against the preferences of the Trump administration are investigated, and their federal funding is frozen or cut. If Trump succeeds, a cornerstone of the American educational system will be lost.

My last example of Trump’s unwarranted harm (there are many others) is to the rule of law.  Our laws, as interpreted by our courts, are sacrosanct.  Democracy works because no one is above the law. Trump’s course of revenge and retribution against former employees, lawyers, law firms and judges must be stopped if our form of government is to survive.

 

 

 

 

 

THE COUNTY CONTROLLER IS UNDER PRESSURE

 

 

In our political system, checks and balances are the mechanisms which equitably distribute power. Checks and balances prevent any one institution or individual from exercising too much independent control.

For example, at the national level, unprecedented actions taken by the Trump administration have forced the Federal courts to issue judicial rulings to “check” unconstitutional executive orders. The Republican-controlled Congress has declined to exercise its constitutional mandate as a “balance” to the executive branch. Among other shortcomings, Congress has refused to challenge unqualified individuals who have now been appointed to critical cabinet posts or to take swift action to review Trump’s tariff policy.

The checks and balances articulated in the Pennsylvania Constitution and by statute are unique to our state and local governments. However, in Washington County similar to our ongoing national crisis, these important controls are now coming under pressure.

This commentary will focus on the Washington controller’s office that provides valuable checks and balances on our local financial system. We are in danger of losing protections that help provide Washington’s citizens with a transparent, accountable government.

As mandated by state statute, a county controller's office is “responsible for overseeing the county's financial affairs, ensuring taxpayer accountability, promoting fiscal efficiency and transparency, including maintaining financial records, auditing county operations, and reporting on the county's finances.” 

In Washington, the controller’s office has always been a proactive check on other county offices and elected officials, even when all of the elected officials are from the same political party. For example, in July of 2019, the controller was Michael Namie, a Democrat. Following an audit of the Clerk of Courts Office, Namie notified the Board of Commissioners that Democrat Frank Scandale had stolen almost $100 thousand in funds from the taxpayers. Moreover, while in office, Namie never hesitated to disclose negative audit findings and to propose solutions in the Row Offices, then controlled by Democrats.

Republican Heather Sheatler is now the acting controller. She was appointed to fill the position when criminal charges were brought against the elected controller, fellow Republican April Sloane who was forced to resign.  

Shealter has brought stability to the controller’s office. She has been employed in the office for 22 years. Shealter learned the nuances of running the controller’s operations from her former boss, Michael Namie.  Her decisions demonstrate that she understands the importance in placing taxpayers and office integrity before partisan politics.

Unfortunately, red flags have appeared that endanger the controller’s office from acting independently on financial matters. The Republican primary election to determine the next controller will take place on May 20. Shealter is running in the primary against other candidates supported by the local Republican party or by the Republican commissioners.

The current trouble began in late February when commissioners Sherman and Janis directed their chief of staff and the Human Relations Department to improperly take actions to regulate and supervise personnel matters within the controller’s office. These actions included the creation of a new position of deputy controller and a demand that Shealter undergo “a Performance Improvement Plan.” Both Shealter and her solicitor saw these actions as “an election year tactic aimed at delegitimizing her and her office while the county commissioners support another candidate.” Shealter’s solicitor sent a “cease and desist” letter threatening legal action if her independence continued to be threatened.

The second red flag is more troubling. Funding improprieties by the two Republican commissioners and their staff, in connection with the March 12 Real Estate Expo, have been exposed by the controller and the facts reported in detail by this newspaper. First, the keynote speaker’s fees ($30,000) and her accommodation expenses for the Expo (first class air, Pittsburgh hotel, chauffer services) were exposed as exorbitant. Second, money was taken from the Federal funds earmarked for blight mitigation to pay for the Expo. Third, the controller discovered that “an unauthorized bank account was opened for the Expo, taken outside the proper financial protocols designed to maintain accountability over public resources.” Shealter told the Observer Reporter that “to circumvent these rules is to avoid accountability, something I simply cannot allow.” Last week, the controller approved a plan to place the account in the Treasurer’s office, subject to her review.      

These disagreements between Sherman, Janis and their staff on the one hand and the independent controller on the other should not be taken lightly. The Republican commissioners clearly have an agenda to elect a Republican controller in the May primary who will support their interests rather than the taxpayers. After all, a knowledgeable independent financial watchdog stands in the way of a Republican administration that has a history of promoting secret deals and favoring politics over good governance.

Before the primary, Republican voters will have the opportunity to study the qualifications of the controller candidates and then, to vote for financial accountability on May 20.

On the issue of checks and balances, a special shout out goes to the hard-working reporters at the Observer Reporter. Over the past year Mike Jones has reported on numerous occurrences without fear or favor, including the one above. These stories have informed the public about questionable practices initiated by the Republican commissioners. My commentaries would not be possible without reading his timely reporting.

If Washington County were to become a local news desert, without a newspaper, much would be lost, including a valuable check on elected officials.

EMPATHY: THE NEW POLITICAL LIGHTING ROD

 

 

Those trained in the humanities and social sciences (not to mention the rest of us) now have a new political topic to study and to argue about. Musk recently took a break from downsizing the government to appear on the popular Joe Rogan blog. He poured more gasoline on our political divide by stating, “The fundamental weakness of Western Civilization is empathy.” The meaning and application of empathy instantly became a new political lighting rod.

The humanities (including religion, philosophy, and history) focus on the interpretation and understanding of human expression and thought. The social sciences (including psychology, sociology, and economics) use scientific methods to study human behavior and institutions. 

These disciplines have always played a role in understanding politics; by studying the world views and personalities of political actors. Statements and actions of our government officials are frequently analyzed in an attempt to nail down the broader context of what they are thinking and how they will act.

Utterances by President Trump, Elon Musk, Republican members of the Cabinet and of Congress are continuously parsed for meaning. Previously, the words of Democrats, including Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, Kamala Harris, underwent similar treatment.

Empathy can only be studied and discussed when its definition and meaning is understood relative to similar concepts like sympathy and compassion.

 

Sympathy “focuses on feeling sorry for someone else’s situation, while remaining detached.” Here the common expression is “I am so sorry for your loss” without a clue on how the grieving person actually feels.

 Empathy “involves an intellectual identification or understanding of someone else’s feelings and experiences.” It invokes the common expression of “putting yourself in another person’s shoes.”

Compassion “combines empathy with a desire to alleviate suffering.” A compassionate person is motivated to take affirmative action to help someone who is suffering.

A simple illustration that highlights the differences would be: Seeing the homeless man shivering in the cold, I felt sympathy. Then I thought about how I would feel and empathized with his situation. Finally, with compassion, I offered my coat to keep him warm. 

Following Musk’s comments on empathy, its application came under intense scrutiny. The Co-Director of the Orthodox Christian Studies Center at Fordham University, Dr. George Demacopoulos, immediately shot back, “Has the Trump administration effectively declared war on the most significant contribution of Christianity to Western culture? Does it not realize that empathy is one of Western Civilization’s greatest strengths? Will any Christian supporter of the administration publicly criticize such an outlandish claim?”

Daryl Cameron, Associate Professor of Psychology and Senior Associate at Rock Ethics Institute wrote about the importance of empathy in Scientific American. “Many of us are asking about the role of empathy in American politics…Empathy is a strength, not a weakness. If we let ourselves become callous to other’s needs, we risk losing sight of democracy and the importance of treating each other with dignity.”

Joe Rigney is a theologian living in Russia who agrees with Musk. He has written a book, The Sin of Empathy that has gained popularity among some conservative Christians.  His thesis is that “empathy is the greatest rhetorical tool of manipulation in the 21^st century.” Rigney believes that empathy is sinful because it “compels an individual to surrender his/her mind to the emotional responses of others”. 

Rigney’s followers believe that empathy has been exploited by progressives to manipulate people into supporting causes they would otherwise reject. For example, if people respond to Trump’s foreign aid shutdown by talking about how children might suffer or die, they are exhibiting "toxic empathy.” 

In 2011, David Brooks wrote an important essay, The Limits of Empathy, for the New York Times.  After reviewing all the available literature, Brooks decided that, “People who are empathetic are more sensitive to the perspectives and sufferings of others. They are more likely to make compassionate moral judgments.”  

Greg Depow, a psychologist and fellow at the Rady School of Management, University of California responded to Musk, “I study empathy, Elon Musk gets it all wrong. From an evolutionary perspective, empathy was foundational to the formation of society. Empathy drives volunteer work and helping behaviors. It fosters connection, builds trust and reduces conflict. Broadening empathy is the driving force that has moved us from tribal bonds to religious ties, to nation states, and could eventually move us to global cooperation.”

No former president has been analyzed more than Abraham Lincoln. The political divide and violence he faced makes today’s controversies appear inconsequential. In Doris Kearns Goodwin’s epic biography of Lincoln, Team of Rivals, she makes it clear that Lincoln’s empathy for hostile members of his cabinet and for those fighting for the confederacy helped to end the Civil War and to build a lasting peace.

There are many measuring sticks with which to compare the presidencies of Barack Obama and Joe Biden with that of Donald Trump. No one would question that Obama and Biden were often empathetic in their words and deeds and that Trump is not.

The two Democrats tended to place themselves in the shoes of those suffering before speaking or rendering a decision. Trump and Musk are transactional individuals who focus on results. They view empathy as a sign of weakness.

As concerned Americans we should consider what experts in the humanities and social sciences have to say about empathy and leadership. Ultimately, we must decide whether empathy is important.

 

 

 

  

A NEW WAY FORWARD FOR DEMOCRATS

 

Republicans gleefully support the multi-pronged Trump attack on the valuable services provided by the Federal government and his disdain for the rule of law. The disarray in the Democratic party is another high point for Trump supporters. On March 10, our own Dave Ball, former local Republican party chairman, announced in his op-ed on these pages that “the Democratic Party is hurtling toward irrelevance.”

There certainly is evidence to support Ball’s assertion. The Democratic Party is disorganized and has failed to regain its bearings. Democratic strategist James Carville has lambasted fellow Democrats and suggested they “roll over and play dead.” Conversely, some progressives are calling for all-out resistance led by grass-roots activists. Moderate Democrats want the comeback to begin in communities, city halls, and statehouses.  Chuck Schumer, the minority Senate leader, faced intense backlash from his own party base after he recently sided with Republicans on the government funding vote.

At this low point for the Democratic party, it was reassuring to learn that Ezra Klein, a liberal political commentator and journalist, has written a policy-statement on a new way forward for Democrats. Klein, along with his co-author Derek Thompson, a journalist who writes for the Atlantic Magazine, have released what amounts to a political manifesto for reeling Democrats.

The book is simply titled Abundance and it presents a vision for the future of America. The thesis is that “an abundance of consumer goods distracted us from a scarcity of homes and energy and infrastructure and scientific breakthroughs.”  According to Klein, their roadmap provides “a liberal answer to the Trump-Musk Wrecking Ball.”

Thompson introduces Abundance in his blog Plain English by reminding us that “since the election, Donald Trump has presented a ‘scarcity’ state of affairs to the American people.” First, his administration claims that since we do not have a viable economy (despite high growth and low inflation), we must suffer through a period of economic hardship. Second is the idea that since America cannot afford its debt (much of it caused by Trump’s tax cuts and excessive spending during his first term), we cannot afford health care for the poor or disabled. Third, because America needs more manufacturing, (even though unemployment is at all-time lows), we must accept high tariffs and less trade. Fourth, because America does not have enough housing, we need fewer immigrants, including the industrious workers who construct most of the new housing. Lastly, because our nation has its own problems, we must place “America First” and stop offering aid to democracies around the world.

The message in Abundance is that there is indeed a scarcity of what America requires to grow and thrive. However, the Trump reasons and solutions are wrong. Gutting the federal government so that important agencies are broken and ignoring our international allies, both done to appease radical ideological MAGA goals, is not the answer.

The authors of Abundance make it clear that Democrats have contributed to the lack of abundance. Regulations promoted by Democrats to solve problems from the 1970s have prevented affordable infrastructure, housing solutions for urban density, and nuclear power for our energy needs. In a nutshell, “outdated laws meant to ensure that government considers the consequences of its actions, have now made it too difficult for government to act consequentially.”

The author’s proposed solution is novel but not complicated. Liberal Democrats must recognize and be willing to take immediate action when the government is failing and unable to clear the way for important projects. Conservative Republicans must recognize and offer support when government is needed to reach abundance.

Examples from the book will help explain the abundance problem. Across America, important projects to build housing get vetoed by a host of entrenched local interests that invoke outdated regulations and zoning laws. Because of regulations, it costs twice as much to build a mile of subway in America as it does in Japan and six times what it costs in Portugal. In the past fifty years, the inflation adjusted cost to build a mile of interstate highway has tripled.

The authors tell a story of what can be done to circumvent the inevitable delays and logjams. On June 11, 2023, a gasoline truck overturned and exploded on I-95, collapsing a bridge that closed an important section of the northeast highway system. Our newly elected Pennsylvania Governor, Josh Shapiro, staked his political career on a quick solution. Regulations were set-aside to permit work at night in the rain, and the bidding process to choose contractors was waived. Against all odds, the bridge was rebuilt and traffic resumed in twelve days.

Both Klein and Thompson recognize the important tradeoffs that come when government is redesigned for dynamic action. It might be necessary to revise zoning, safety and other rules to achieve results. However, they believe that government stagnation resulting in failure to address the scarcities facing Americans is a national emergency.

Now is not the time to take a wrecking ball to government. It is the time to take some calculated risks that will accelerate progress on housing, energy, health care, and infrastructure. Democrats should now advocate for a government that is designed to locate and remove unnecessary bottlenecks.

 I cannot say whether the solutions outlined in this book are possible in today’s political climate. I do know they are worth considering as a new way forward for a wounded Democratic party and divided nation.