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I have written on this topic before, but I want to revisit it. It has to do with trust. While different societies are founded on different principles, there is one thing that is a universal, foundational requirement for any society (or group of any kind) to function: trust.
We act out of a sense of trust thousands of times each day. The food we eat has passed through dozens (perhaps hundreds) of hands, any one of which could have poisoned it. We trust they have not and we eat it without much thought. We drive down the road almost head-on at mortal speeds, trusting that the person coming towards us will stay on their side of the thin yellow line. We place our money in banks trusting that it will be there when we go to retrieve it. We walk down the street trusting that our fellow citizens will not do us harm. We go to our doctors, trusting that they will make choices to help us get better. We take pills we had nothing to do with manufacturing, trusting they are what they are described to be.
We trust so much, we are largely ignorant of how much we are engaging in that exercise. That is why we react so strongly when our basic trust is violated. When the bottle of tylenol is laced with arsenic. When the terrorist puts a bomb next to a raceway. When the financier snags us in a ponzi scheme. When the spouse cheats or the nurse decides to kill the patient.
This is the greatest danger posed by a man like Donald Trump. Mr Trump has a history of seeing trust and honor systems as systems to be exploited for personal gain. He has done so throughout his professional career. His primary motivating force is “what’s in it for me.” Power, money, and accolades are his measure of success, and he will drive through any obstacle to get to them. If you deny him any of these, revenge is his go-to response, and he will tear down any obstacle to get it. The vital role of trust is lost on him; trust is simply another system to exploit.
So he has torn apart trust in our electoral system, because it is not giving him the “wins” he so craves. It doesn’t matter to him that democracy depends on the electorate trusting that elections in America are free and fair. It doesn’t matter to him that every investigation has shown that they actually ARE free and fair. They are not producing what he wants, so tear them down. Constantly repeat the mantra that “the election was stolen,” despite all the evidence to the contrary. Some people will believe it.
He has torn apart trust in our media outlets (though he is certainly not alone in that process). It doesn’t matter to him that an informed electorate is a critical part of any democracy, and that a free press is the fourth estate of any democracy. It is the watchdog that reports on things we, the electorate, cannot hope to dig out. Without it, the only news we get is what the leaders WANT us to get. But that’s the point isn’t it. Trump doesn’t care about truth. He explicitly told us that, if he hears a story he doesn’t like, he just labels it “fake news.” The qualifying characteristic is “Trump does not like the story,” not “it isn’t true.”
He is now busy tearing down trust in our judicial system, one of the three major branches of our system of government. Our judicial system is rooted in the concept of fairness, speedy trial, jury of peers, and other elements that are the envy of many parts of the world. However, Trump is facing multiple indictments, so the entire system is “corrupt” and “unfair” and everyone involved in a case against him is “out to get him.” If he wins the cases, he wins. If he loses, the game is rigged. This is his go-to mantra for everything.
He has undermined the very role of truth in our society. Both he and his children have said, verbally and in various writings, that deception is a valid strategy for getting what you want. He understands that a lie repeated often enough becomes truth for some segment of the electorate, and he uses this tactic relentlessly.
Most importantly, he has essentially destroyed trust in one another. We are no longer a country of Americans with differing views striving to find a middle ground. We are now enemies to be vanquished, with a country that needs to be “taken back.” Compromise and collaboration are dirty words and attempting to engage in either means you are “working with the enemy.”
If there is one overriding characteristic of Mr. Trump that convinces me he does not deserve the Oval Office (and never did), this is it. Our country depends on trust and honor systems. Giving the Oval Office to a man who sees such systems as things to be exploited is not only folly, it is dangerous. Doing so a second time, when there is no question of a second term and Mr. Trump has been clear that he will have no “naysayers” (defined as people who do not agree with him) in his administration is doubly dangerous.
Please give serious thought before pulling that lever for Mr. Trump in November. That decision, if you make it, is very likely to have grave consequences for this country.
We act out of a sense of trust thousands of times each day. The food we eat has passed through dozens (perhaps hundreds) of hands, any one of which could have poisoned it. We trust they have not and we eat it without much thought. We drive down the road almost head-on at mortal speeds, trusting that the person coming towards us will stay on their side of the thin yellow line. We place our money in banks trusting that it will be there when we go to retrieve it. We walk down the street trusting that our fellow citizens will not do us harm. We go to our doctors, trusting that they will make choices to help us get better. We take pills we had nothing to do with manufacturing, trusting they are what they are described to be.
We trust so much, we are largely ignorant of how much we are engaging in that exercise. That is why we react so strongly when our basic trust is violated. When the bottle of tylenol is laced with arsenic. When the terrorist puts a bomb next to a raceway. When the financier snags us in a ponzi scheme. When the spouse cheats or the nurse decides to kill the patient.
This is the greatest danger posed by a man like Donald Trump. Mr Trump has a history of seeing trust and honor systems as systems to be exploited for personal gain. He has done so throughout his professional career. His primary motivating force is “what’s in it for me.” Power, money, and accolades are his measure of success, and he will drive through any obstacle to get to them. If you deny him any of these, revenge is his go-to response, and he will tear down any obstacle to get it. The vital role of trust is lost on him; trust is simply another system to exploit.
So he has torn apart trust in our electoral system, because it is not giving him the “wins” he so craves. It doesn’t matter to him that democracy depends on the electorate trusting that elections in America are free and fair. It doesn’t matter to him that every investigation has shown that they actually ARE free and fair. They are not producing what he wants, so tear them down. Constantly repeat the mantra that “the election was stolen,” despite all the evidence to the contrary. Some people will believe it.
He has torn apart trust in our media outlets (though he is certainly not alone in that process). It doesn’t matter to him that an informed electorate is a critical part of any democracy, and that a free press is the fourth estate of any democracy. It is the watchdog that reports on things we, the electorate, cannot hope to dig out. Without it, the only news we get is what the leaders WANT us to get. But that’s the point isn’t it. Trump doesn’t care about truth. He explicitly told us that, if he hears a story he doesn’t like, he just labels it “fake news.” The qualifying characteristic is “Trump does not like the story,” not “it isn’t true.”
He is now busy tearing down trust in our judicial system, one of the three major branches of our system of government. Our judicial system is rooted in the concept of fairness, speedy trial, jury of peers, and other elements that are the envy of many parts of the world. However, Trump is facing multiple indictments, so the entire system is “corrupt” and “unfair” and everyone involved in a case against him is “out to get him.” If he wins the cases, he wins. If he loses, the game is rigged. This is his go-to mantra for everything.
He has undermined the very role of truth in our society. Both he and his children have said, verbally and in various writings, that deception is a valid strategy for getting what you want. He understands that a lie repeated often enough becomes truth for some segment of the electorate, and he uses this tactic relentlessly.
Most importantly, he has essentially destroyed trust in one another. We are no longer a country of Americans with differing views striving to find a middle ground. We are now enemies to be vanquished, with a country that needs to be “taken back.” Compromise and collaboration are dirty words and attempting to engage in either means you are “working with the enemy.”
If there is one overriding characteristic of Mr. Trump that convinces me he does not deserve the Oval Office (and never did), this is it. Our country depends on trust and honor systems. Giving the Oval Office to a man who sees such systems as things to be exploited is not only folly, it is dangerous. Doing so a second time, when there is no question of a second term and Mr. Trump has been clear that he will have no “naysayers” (defined as people who do not agree with him) in his administration is doubly dangerous.
Please give serious thought before pulling that lever for Mr. Trump in November. That decision, if you make it, is very likely to have grave consequences for this country.
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