A good dose of humility and courage is needed to face this Trumpian golden age of narcissism and nationalism

Dear DM168 reader,

Donald Trump is back with a vengeance. At his inauguration as the 47th US president on Monday, 20 January 2025, he made it clear to all Americans who felt hard done by the political elite and the irritating agents of wokeness that he will herald a golden age for America.

And as their elected action man, he means business. He is going for the “deep state actors” — the civil servants, intelligence agents and politicians who he believes almost put him in jail.

He is going for illegal immigrants who he claims are criminals and mentally ill. He is going for the Chinese who he inaccurately claims are operating the Panama Canal.

He is going to make America great again by ending wars and putting America first. 

If Trump succeeds in contributing to restoring global peace that would truly be something. But, I am not a fan of any kind of chest-beating nationalism. I’m with Albert Einstein who said nationalism was an “infantile disease”, the “measles of mankind”.  “As a citizen of Germany,” he wrote in 1947, “I saw how excessive nationalism can spread like a disease, bringing tragedy to millions.” 

I get worried when leaders of countries espouse blustering rhetoric like Trump did at his inauguration, saying: “America will reclaim its rightful place as the greatest, most powerful, most respected nation on earth, inspiring the awe and admiration of the entire world… We will be the envy of every nation.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WEC6Fl-JAw

Why would you want to on the one hand stir up envy — one of those seven deadly sins  along with lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath and pride? And on the other hand when the people of the world come clambering through the border gates and across the ocean, salivating at the glittering promise of your so-called enviable country, you turn your wrath on them. 

We live in a country book-ended by two kinds of nationalism. The first thirty years of my life were ruled by Afrikaner nationalism, and the second thirty years by African nationalism. Both promised golden ages for some of the people, and look where that got us? Separate development. Deaths in detention. States of emergency. The dompas. Border wars. Aids denialism. Xenophobia. State Capture by state and private actors. Marikana. Stilfontein. Nationalism is often about stirring up mass national pride to benefit a powerful few, ensuring they are far, far more equal than the many.

The most dizzying height of Trump’s Make America Great Again nationalism is his promise to “pursue our manifest destiny into the stars, launching American astronauts to plant the Stars and Stripes on the planet Mars”. This is the grand dream of Elon Musk. Former South African. Now 100% patriotic American. The richest man in the world. Benefactor of Trump. The man with a  space colonisation vision totally disconnected from the struggling reality of the average American citizen. For whom attaining affordable healthcare and medication would make so much more sense than sticking an American flag on Mars. Ask the Claims Adjustor Luigi Mangione. And the throngs of Americans ripped off by the health insurance industry, who supported him.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DH8OKdXAj6A

Musk triumphantly danced on the inauguration stage, saying to the Trump supporters with a Nazi-like salute after thumping his chest: “It is thanks to you that the fate of civilisation is assured.”

What kind of civilisation will be assured by American astronauts putting the Stars and Stripes on Mars? What civilisation will be bequeathed to future generations by Musk and the Tech bros, the wealthiest men in the world who are arguably responsible for doing more to dumb down and divide our civilisation with polarising opinion and viral disinformation than anyone in history? What kind of civilisation  will we send into space if it only draws from the exceptionalist, colonising extractive pursuits of the rich and powerful and ignores the wondrous diversity of our human culture? That part of our culture that emphasises respect for nature,  care, love and compassion for our fellow humans? 

In words that are uncannily reminiscent of the retributory tone of our former president Jacob Zuma against former Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, Trump also used his speech to fight back against “the vicious, violent and unfair weaponisation of the Justice Department”. Trump is the first former or sitting US president to be a convicted felon — he was convicted of paying hush money to a porn star after a jury found him guilty. 

The Financial Times’ chief foreign affairs commentator, Gideon Rachman, explained that popular support for political leaders like Trump and Zuma grows when “voters feel thwarted, rather than empowered, by the political system”, that they are willing to “jettison liberal democratic values in favour of a strongman who promises to get things done”.

Rachman quoted an opinion poll that found that two-thirds of Democrats and 80% of Republicans believe the US government serves itself and the powerful ahead of ordinary people. Large majorities distrust both Congress and the media. 

Similarly, research by the Human Sciences Research Council in 2023 showed that  57% of South Africans were dissatisfied with our democracy, saying they would not vote because of their disillusionment. 

This disillusionment led to the rise of Zuma’s MK party, the decline of the ANC below 50% and the formation of the compromise coalition of the Government of National Unity. It’s cumbersome but our politicians have been forced to work together for all who live here. 

In the US, despite the fact that they are the elite, the Republicans and President Trump have triumphed. No compromise needed. The Trump new brooms have a clean sweep. 

My sincere wish for our fellow humans in the US is that the Trumpian victors pay some heed to the plea made to the 47th president of the US  by 65-year-old grandmother, Episcopal Bishop Mariann Budde, at the national prayer service at the Washington National Cathedral on Tuesday this week:

https://youtu.be/gNfrbAztlcs?t=46.

 “In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now. There are gay, lesbian and transgender children in Democratic, Republican and independent families, some who fear for their lives.

“I ask you to have mercy, Mr President, on those in our communities whose children fear that their parents will be taken away.”

Trump’s reaction to Budde’s plea was that she was “a radical left hard-line Trump hater” and that she should apologise.

In an interview with NPR, the Bishop responded to Trump’s admonition with her gentle voice of reason, the kind of voice every one of us in polarised societies so desperately need.

“First of all, I don’t hate the president, and I pray for him. And I don’t agree with some of his views of the country and the way the decisions he makes, but I certainly don’t hate him.

“What do I regret? I regret that… it actually confirmed the very thing that I was speaking of earlier, which is our tendency to jump to outrage and not speak to one another with respect. But, no, I won’t apologise.”

Empathy, humility and courage over hubris. That’s  one way to end all wars. Thanks, Bishop Mariann Budde. May peace and  the courage to care be with us all on this rapidly warming rocky ball that we call home. A home most of us are not likely to leave for Mars any time soon. 

Yours in defence of civility in our civilisation,

Heather

In this week’s DM168, Victoria O’Regan and Peter Fabricius break down what Trump’s executive orders mean for our country and the many life-saving projects that may be scuppered by his decisions.

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