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Yes, Trump Is a Con Man and a Threat to Democracy. Do You Think Previous Presidents Weren’t?
Published 4/21/2024
For eight years we’ve been subjected to the continual buzz of Donald Trump’s crimes, lies, racism, misogyny, narcissistic behavior, and overall megalomania. No doubt, Trump does represent a threat to democratic norms and values. As many have noted, his rise to power represents a distillation of late-stage capitalist ideology- what should have been a wake up call to US citizens that the mask is coming off, and the ugly truths hidden underneath become visible to all.
Trump is, in a sense, the unique personification of a declining technological empire: bloated and out of shape, TV-addled and twitter-brained with no sense of humor, a swindler and an authoritarian, with enough money and power to indulge in any form of bodily or intellectual endeavor or project, yet seemingly deriving no joy from basically any activity. A human blob of resentment, his only pleasures seem to revolve around punching down on those below him in our social hierarchy, and making passive income through his real estate empire.
Although Trump’s stupidity, arrogance, and criminality seem to know no bounds, the fact remains that he is simply the symptom of a rotten social fabric. When money, power, and fame converge in culture and politics to allow the…
