|
I
|
n his blithe assertions that he can solve any problem just by the
sheer might and glory of his presence, Donald Trump is no aberration. He’s the
logical culmination of this trend. Really, how is curing diabetes with
cinnamon, or building your own solar panels in your garage, any different from
building a big, beautiful border wall and making Mexico pay for it? They may
differ in scale, but all these ideas trade off the fantasy that there are easy,
one-size-fits-all solutions to big, complex problems.
The Republican establishment has worked hard for a generation to
foster this way of thinking, teaching their voters to scorn complexity and
distrust expertise. Whether it’s ending teen pregnancy and STDs by just telling
kids not to have sex, or ending crime and violence by bringing back prayer in
schools, or curing poverty by pushing poor people into marriage, or unleashing
massive economic growth simply by cutting taxes on the super-rich—all these
ideas are conventionally respectable, but they partake of the same mode of
magical, unicausal thinking. In exploiting this mindset, Trump is merely
walking through a door that generations of GOP leaders have left wide open.—Adam
Lee
[“How the Right-Wing Scam Economy Created Donald Trump,” Daylight Atheism, 23 March 2016]
