Trump’s 2020 Election Strategy: Intensify the Culture War

A component of the president’s 2020 re-election strategy that appears to be rising in prominence is intensifying the partisan polarization and distrust that has been tearing American society apart. The rhetoric he unleashed in last several days has been positively ferocious. The president truly is making a run dragging America into some form of an anti-democratic authoritarian plutocracy.

While speaking at Mount Rushmore on July 4, the president made these comments about his political opposition:

“One of their political weapons is “Cancel Culture” — driving people from their jobs, shaming dissenters, and demanding total submission from anyone who disagrees. This is the very definition of totalitarianism, and it is completely alien to our culture and our values, and it has absolutely no place in the United States of America. This attack on our liberty, our magnificent liberty, must be stopped, and it will be stopped very quickly. We will expose this dangerous movement, protect our nation’s children, end this radical assault, and preserve our beloved American way of life.  

In our schools, our newsrooms, even our corporate boardrooms, there is a new far-left fascism that demands absolute allegiance. If you do not speak its language, perform its rituals, recite its mantras, and follow its commandments, then you will be censored, banished, blacklisted, persecuted, and punished. It’s not going to happen to us.  

Make no mistake: this left-wing cultural revolution is designed to overthrow the American Revolution. In so doing, they would destroy the very civilization that rescued billions from poverty, disease, violence, and hunger, and that lifted humanity to new heights of achievement, discovery, and progress. 

To make this possible, they are determined to tear down every statue, symbol, and memory of our national heritage.”

As usual, when the president accuses his opposition of various bad intentions and actions, he is talking about himself. The president’s trait of projecting is now quite consistent. The lies and exaggerations aside, what he has done or wants to do is what he falsely accuses the left of. The deadly dangerous thing here is that most of his supporters (~96% ?) believe essentially all of his false allegations.

He unleashed similar attacks from the White House on July 5:

“This great heritage belongs to citizens of every background and of every walk of life. No matter our race, color, religion, or creed, we are one America, and we put America first. We will not allow anyone to divide our citizens by race or background. We will not allow them to foment hate, discord, and distrust. We will hold fast and true to the sacred loyalties that link us all as neighbors, as Americans, and as patriots. 

In every age, there have always been those who seek to lie about the past in order to gain power in the present. Those that are lying about our history, those who want us to be ashamed of who we are, are not interested in justice or in healing. Their goal is demolition. Our goal is not to destroy the greatest structure on Earth, what we have built: The United States of America. To build a future where every family is safe, where every child is surrounded by love, where every community has equal opportunity, and every citizen enjoys great and everlasting dignity.

Let me also say a word to those in the media who falsely and consistently label their opponents as racists, who condemn patriotic citizens who offer a clear and truthful defense of American unity. That’s what our people are doing. We want a clear and faithful defense of American history and we want unity.

When you level these false charges, you not only slander me, you not only slander the American people, but you slander generations of heroes who gave their lives for America. You slander people much braver and much more principled than you. You are slandering the young men who raised the flag at Iwo Jima, and those who perished fighting for freedom in the Civil War. You slander them. You are dishonoring their great legacy and their memory by insisting that they fought for racism and they fought for oppression. They didn’t fight for those things; they fought for the exact opposite. We will not let the legacy of these heroes be tarnished by you. 

The more you lie, the more you slander, the more you try to demean and divide, the more we will work hard to tell the truth. And we will win. The more you lie and demean and collude, the more credibility you lose. We want to bring the country together, and a free and open media will make this task a very easy one. Our country will be united. After all, what do we want? We want a strong military, great education, housing, low taxes, law and order. We want safety, we want equal justice, we want religious liberty, we want faith and family, and living in a great communities and happy communities and safe communities. And we want great jobs and we want to be respected by the rest of the world; not taken advantage of by the rest of the world, which has gone on for decade after decade. We should all want the same thing. How can it be any different than those things?”

Taken together, the attack portions of those two speeches seem to lay out a strategy of vilifying political opposition and the mainstream media to the point of being evil, while reinforcing the false reality and divisive lies the president will rely on going forward. What is amazing in both speeches is (1) the almost complete lack of fact-based reality they convey, and (2) the belief in that false reality that millions of adult Americans see. The president rails against “a new far-left fascism,” while promoting what is in fact an intolerant far-right fascism.

The danger to democracy and the rule of law are quite clear. If the president is re-elected, this country could become an autocratic kleptocracy led by a chronic liar who is a mentally deranged demagogue and tyrant wannabe.