Trump's Victory and Politics

 

Trump’s Victory and Politics

Peter Schultz

 

                  A comment on understanding the reaction to Trump’s victory and especially its intensity.

 

                  I heard recently from a friend that “Nixon sabotaged himself,” and, eventually, I thought: “Isn’t that comforting!” It means that politics is self-correcting, where the guilty convict themselves. It also means that, as some have said, the arc of history bends toward justice. In other words, the political may be affirmed because it self-corrects toward justice. Hence, Trump’s victory enrages many because it seems to be a political aberration so great that it must be attributable to the evils in the world, such as sexism and racism.

 

                  But what if the political isn’t self-correcting or tending toward justice? What if, in fact, while the political has intrinsic characteristics, those tendencies bend toward dominance, and not toward justice? That is, whether just or unjust, the political tends toward dominance, toward repression and imperialism. Insofar as this is so, then the political arena favors those who the dominant ones, regardless of whether they seek justice or injustice. Thus, by embracing or affirming the political, Trump’s enemies, ironically, undermine themselves in their battle with him. Battling Trump in the political arena plays to his strengths, enraging his enemies by making them feel powerless.

 

                  But so long as his enemies indulge their rage politically, Trump will likely prevail. Because politics so often involves vicious circles, the vicious, like Trump, are often the most adept and the strongest politically.