Donald Trump
the American Fuehrer, The New George Lincoln Rockwell of our Time
“A lie can travel halfway around the world while truth is putting on its shoes.”
Haddon Spurgen (1834-1892) a quote often attributed to Mark Twain
Introduction
Fear can be a paralyzing stimulus. Just witness the public’s recent reaction following the attacks in Paris, Mali, Lebanon, Beirut, and the Sinai Desert by ISIS and Al Qaida.
But there are really three types of fear: (1) an immediate threat like a lion or tiger, who eyes one as a tasty morsel, (2) an imminent threat that is right around the corner—but yet unseen (like a tsunami heading toward the coast), and (3) an irrational fear generated within the individual by emotion and imagination that has no real basis in fact.
While generally psychiatrically-induced fears often relate to internal stimuli based on early childhood experiences, irrational fears in an adult can often come from stimuli in the environment, not necessarily based on any form of individual pathology. Currently, we have political demagogues and media engaging in fear mongering on television or on the campaign trail of speeches, town hall meetings, and fundraising events. So what is a demagogue?
In this day and age a demagogue is a political leader who uses popular prejudices, and false claims and promises, in order to gain power. He or she is a leader who seeks support by appealing to popular desires and prejudices rather than by using rational thought. He or she is a rabble-rouser and an agitator. Facts and data are anathema to this type of leader.
Normally during an election cycle, candidates for office often paint a bleak picture (the country is heading to hell in a hand-basket theme or scenario) in order to curry favor with the voting public. This kind of particular way of persuading people on the surface is not all that unusual.
But candidates for the 2016 presidential election are doing more than that. The pitch and tone of today’s political speeches, and jockeying for favor, smacks of exploiting the public to the greatest degree possible through fear and haranguing (in this election cycle I’d characterize it as childish ranting masquerading as adult rhetoric) against the current party opposition presidential candidates. The Democrat candidates for president appear to hang closer to facts, data, and proposed programs or policy positions in many areas of public interest. There seems to be a higher degree of civility in the way they have conducted themselves, minimizing any character assassinations or glib rhetoric. However, Republican candidates have operated more consistently with promoting character assassination as their primary modus operandi of campaigning.
Leading the Republican pack in fear mongering is Donald Trump along with many of his other candidate compatriots. The barrage and onslaught of insults, innuendoes, and demagogic diatribes in every speech has set a new standard in manipulation of the public.
Trump’s approach to getting attention for his campaign is to play to the prejudices and fears of the public, often without one scintilla of evidence on a topic, much less a proper recitation of facts to support his position on any issue.
His type of pandering is stubborn and supports a program that disrespects all foreigners. Correspondingly, it has also supported an unintelligible disrespect in general of all minorities (particularly Hispanics), hate for Islamic groups and individuals (the idea to keep track of American citizens who happen to follow the religion of Islam. What next, a President Trump rounding them up and placing them in internment camps?).
Trump has said we did not intern any American Germans in World War II. Not true! I refer my cyberspace audience to, “The Train to Chrystal City,” by Jan Jarboe Russel, and “ Undue Process—The Untold Story of America’s German Alien Internees,” by Arnold Krammer, and lastly,” Enemies: World War II Alien Internment,” by John Christgau.). And, his answer to disagreeing with his other Republican rival candidates is not to refute their ideas in an intelligent way, but rather he prefers to show them all sorts of respect by name-calling them as having no energy, weak, stupid and “loooosers.” Another interesting fact: Donald Trump’s early family shows they were German immigrants or refugees. It is important to understand what exactly he is doing in his campaign rhetoric. Let me say that he is engaging constantly through the logical fallacy of argumentum ad hominem.
Here is precisely what an ad Hominem argument is all about.
ad hominem
An ad hominem, short for argumentum ad hominem, is an attack on an argument made by attacking the character (character assassination), motive, or other attribute of the person making the argument, rather than attacking the argument directly.
All of us are guilty at some time in our lives of doing this. Just realize that it is a fallacy of reasoning, a short cut to thinking things through in a careful and thoughtful manner.
The fallacy of ad Hominem is that it does not attack the reasoning underlying another person’s argument or position with facts and data. Value judgments seem to displace logic and thoughtful analysis with ad Hominem arguments. Listen next time to any political speech, democrats or Republicans, and see if you can detect this type of fallacious argument. Unfortunately, Donald Trump and the other Republicans make an almost daily use of this fallacious type of argument.
That’s what makes the American public so vulnerable to manipulation by political entities from any political party. The underlying motivation for doing so is to exploit the public’s irrational fear(s) for their own benefit.
A Quick History Lesson from the 1960s
For those of you who are too young to remember George Lincoln Rockwell, here is a brief description:
George Lincoln Rockwell founded the American Nazi Party in 1958. He was a major figure in the neo-Nazi movement in the United States, and his beliefs and writings have continued to be influential among white nationalists and neo-Nazis. His hatred of minorities and Jews reflected his values and other members of the American Nazi Party.
There is a very chilling likeness between Donald Trump and George Lincoln Rockwell. Trump’s public statements and disdain for political correctness, and the beliefs and quotes of the infamous George Lincoln Rockwell, are very similar in content and nature.
By the way, political correctness is a good thing, not a bad thing. Why, because it shows respect for the majority of currently held laws and norms in society. The underlying basis for liking or disliking either political correctness or incorrectness, are values an individual possesses. The vast majority of Americans possess values very consistent with political correctness. I believe Donald Trump promotes non-conformity (disdain for political correctness) only when it promotes or serves him.
The political differences one sees in society can always be traced back to the values one holds. Most values reflect our ideals; other statements of value reflect a past that was riddled with destructive actions against forming a country with inclusive values. An historical example of destructive nonexclusive values was the lynching and murder of hundreds if not thousands of blacks in the south following Reconstruction.
Comparison of Donald Trump with George Lincoln Rockwell
The following is a comparison between Donald Trump and the attitudes of the late Neo-Nazi George Lincoln Rockwell. First, read the following quotes of George Lincoln Rockwell. Then make your own decision as to whether the comparison is a perfect match with Trump.
I will say that Donald Trump is not an evil person. By comparison, George Lincoln Rockwell was an evil person. In 1967 I spend one year at Sonoma State University. At the time, Rockwell was making $2,000 a week on the public speaking circuit. He gave a speech at the University. To the credit of students at Sonoma State University, six foot six pipe-smoking Rockwell was not well received at the school.
George Lincoln Rockwell’s Personal Quotes
- We must put an end to both economic freeloading and economic exploitation in America. There must be no place for parasites that draw their sustenance from society without giving anything in return.
- I don’t believe in democracy. In the second place, neither did our white forefathers. I believe, as they did, in a republican authoritarian republic with a limited electorate — just like the one the writers of our Constitution meant this country to be. When these white Christian patriots sat down to write the Declaration of Independence, there were no black citizens for them to worry about.
- A leopard doesn’t change his spots just because you bring him in from the jungle and try to housebreak him and turn him into a pet. He may learn to sheathe his claws in order to beg a few scraps off the dinner table, and you may teach him to be a beast of burden, but it doesn’t pay to forget that he’ll always be what he was born: a wild animal.
- We must never again let America be led into a fratricidal war like the last two world wars, for the sake of alien, minority interests.
- Being prepared to die is one of the great secrets of living.
Given his last quote, I hope he was prepared to die. He was assassinated at the age of 49 by one of his henchmen (John Patler—who had become alienated from the man who was known as “The American Fuehrer or American Hitler”). Patler was excommunicated by Rockwell because he was accused of putting Marxist propaganda into the American Nazi Party’s newsletter, Stormtrooper.
The Beliefs and Values of Donald Trump
A Slap at America’s Veterans
One of the most disgusting things Donald Trump did was to take a slap at veterans. Donald Trump, who never served his country and was a dropout from military school in his youth, had the unmitigated gall to malign former prisoner-of-war Navy veteran, Senator John McCain of Arizona, a Republican, who endured five years of torture and abuse at the hands of the North Vietnamese at the Hanoi Hilton.
Torture
Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump said Monday he not only would bring back waterboarding, the controversial interrogation technique discontinued by the Obama administration (that originated in the Bush Administration), but also would “approve more than that,” even if such tactics prove ineffective. This suggests an underlying sadistic impulse in Trump’s personality.
Donald’s attitude toward Blacks and Hispanics
Donald Trump is respected for his business acumen, but his political commentary leaves much to be desired. He is also accused by political opponents of being a racist and tends to make remarks that confirm, rather than refute, these allegations.
Donald Trump’s attitude toward the Black Lives Matter Movement
The Black Lives Matter Movement is “trouble.” Trump mocks Democratic candidates like Martin O’Malley for apologizing to members of the protest movement against police brutality, and casts himself as a pro-law enforcement candidate. “I think they’re looking for trouble,” he once said of the activist group. He also tweeted a controversial graphic purporting to show that African Americans kill whites and blacks at a far higher rates than do whites or police officers. However, the graphic cites a fictitious “Crime Statistics Bureau” for its numbers, and has been widely debunked using real FBI data. Fabricating false data shows the extent that Donald Trump is an unmitigated liar.
Donald Trump’s attitude toward Women
Donald Trump is unquestionably a misogynist. The disparaging remarks he has said about Megan Kelly, Rosie O’Donnell, Cher, Ariana Huffington, and Angelina Jolie is proof that he is one.
Donald Trump—attitudes toward people of the Islamic faith.
On November 19, 2015 a leading Muslim civil rights group pushed back on Thursday against what it considers inflammatory language from Republican presidential candidates, and condemning Ben Carson’s comparison of Syrian refugees to rabid dogs as well as Donald J. Trump’s support for requiring special identification for American followers of Islam.
Lawmakers and candidates have been wrestling with how to address a growing terrorism threat and an influx of refugees fleeing Syria. In recent days the debate has turned increasingly partisan and in some cases, heated.
Mr. Trump was asked this Thanksgiving week in an interview with Yahoo News if he would consider requiring Muslims to register in a database or giving them a form of special identification that noted their religion. Not ruling that out, he said: “We’re going to have to look at a lot of things very closely. We’re going to have to look at the mosques.”
Remarks by Mr. Carson, the retired neurosurgeon who, like Mr. Trump, has been leading several polls of Republican candidates, inflamed the situation. Addressing the issue of Syrian refugees on Thursday, he said that people who were against welcoming them to the United States were using their heads.
“If there is a rabid dog running around your neighborhood, you’re probably not going to assume something good about that dog, “Mr. Carson said in calling for stricter measures to screen refugees. And you’re probably going to put your children out of the way.”
The Council on American-Islamic Relations condemned the remarks by the two candidates, saying that they had worsened an already “toxic environment.”
“By mainstreaming Islamophobia and unconstitutional policies, Donald Trump and Ben Carson are contributing to an already toxic environment that may be difficult to correct once their political ambitions have been satisfied,” said Robert McCaw, the Council’s government affairs manager. “Such extremist rhetoric is unbecoming of anyone who seeks our nation’s highest office and must be strongly repudiated by leaders from across the political spectrum.”
This was not the first time that Mr. Carson and Mr. Trump have angered Muslims this election cycle. Mr. Trump has expressed a willingness to close mosques where violence is being promoted, and Mr. Carson has said that he does not think a Muslim should be President of the United States.
Final Comments
Donald Trump, who has never held public office, is considered an entertainer who wants the keys to his kingdom (White House). If the American public wants to put him in the White House, so be it. Letting him anywhere near the White House where he gains access to the red phone and the codes to our own destruction is nothing less than pure insanity. The American people can’t be that naïve to elect Donald Trump, or can they?
Given his use of ad Hominem arguments to insult both Republicans and Democrats, do you really think he could ever get any legislation passed that would benefit the American people? You think gridlock is bad now; think again. Anything Donald Trump proposed would be shot down faster than a Russian jet over Turkey.
In less than 120 days following his inauguration, both parties in Congress will find a way to impeach him. But, more importantly such a provocateur possesses beliefs and values that run counter to the vast majority of Americans. He also imitates the belief system of a George Lincoln Rockwell, who was a notorious degenerate of the worst order. But Republicans and others still have a chance to remedy the situation and save their own political party from disaster and utter self-destruction.
The election is a year away and they still have many choices. I’m not a Republican and never will be, although I liked many moderate Republicans in local California elections back in the 1960s. But one candidate I think is right for the Republican Party. A better choice and diametrically opposite to Trump is Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. He has a genuine fine intellect, and more importantly, he is a decent human being. I also think John Kasich would make a very good running mate for Graham.
However, as I’ve said before in my last Blog Hispanics, blacks, educated whites and the vast majority of the Millennial Generation are going to vote for the democratic choice in 2016. Given Trump’s recent comments and disparaging remarks on people who are overweight, or disabled, he has just guaranteed he will lose their vote as well.
My final comment is this. The United States has a long history of electing qualified exceptional people to the White House whether they were Republicans or Democrats, liberal or conservative. All presidents of the past had their strengths and personal weaknesses. If one is human, one will always have flaws of some kind. Both Roosevelts (Teddy and Franklin) had their flaws, but nonetheless were two of our greatest presidents. Kennedy was forward looking; a pioneer who set the stage that would propel our space program well into the future, able to send astronauts to the moon six years after his untimely death.
Is Donald Trump more interested in himself than you? You bet he is! I generally like wealthy individuals and super-achievers; they can and do contribute a great deal beyond themselves. Unfortunately, there is in this country such a thing as “rich trash.”
Is Donald Trump a Neo-Nazi like George Lincoln Rockwell? In many ways he is. This is because he thinks like George Lincoln Rockwell with many non-inclusive statements. In spewing hatred for all who not white, Trump reveals an extremist right wing radical view. His comments, beliefs and values are patently un-American and have no place in a liberal democracy like the United States.
Trump supporters often say they like him because he is candid and won’t adhere to political correctness. The value of being audaciously candid and not being politically correct is in the eyes of the beholder. Such support becomes dis-service to the country once Donald Trump is put under a microscope of public scrutiny. To his supporters I say this: Look deeper into Donald Trump beyond his candid rhetoric. I guarantee you won’t like what you see.
Supporting a truly offensive extremely bigoted candidate for President of the United States does not auger well for the American people. In essence it disgraces the memory of former great presidents and minimizes their importance to our country. A true, a patriotic American is one who values life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for all Americans. It is one who believes in the Bill of Rights and the concept of equal justice for all. Also, being unhappy with congressional gridlock is no excuse to vote for a man who ultimately will make a fool out of you if you vote for him. Like I said, there are plenty of other choices out there.
I am reminded of a quote by the famous humorist and entertainer, Will Rogers. He was once quoted as saying, “I never met a man I didn’t like.” Well, Will Rogers never met Donald Trump!
I strongly suggest you consider other candidates for President before our country becomes the laughing stock of the nation, if not the world.
The Reasoned Society 