After the American Century
Hans Christian Andersen wrote a prophetic story about a king who thought he was acquiring magical clothing that was of superior quality. In fact, he had been fooled into thinking the clothing existed, when in fact he was "putting on" nothing at all. Two men who claimed to be weavers had pretended to make magical garments that were so fine that only intelligent people could see them. The King wanted such clothing, for he would not only appear splendid but he would be able to discover which subjects were fools. No one would admit that they could not see the new garments, because they would then reveal they were stupid. And so, the entire city praised the non-existent garments. The King strutted before his court and his subjects, convinced that he cut an impressive figure. Until a child said the obvious thing, that the King was stark naked.
I used to think that Hans Christian Andersen exaggerated, for surely it would not be possible for an entire society to pretend their monarch was beautifully dressed when he was buck naked. But the spectacle of Mr. Trump in the White House has shown that this fable is grounded in a deep insight into human nature.
Any child can see that Trump is not in his right mind. When he speaks, he rambles. He claims that there is an insurrection in the United States and sends troops to places there the crime rate is low, while ignoring other places where it is high. He orders the death of people in small boats in the open waters of the sea, claiming without a shred of evidence that these people are terrorists or drug runners. He has a large navy and air force, and these boats could be captured without killing anyone, but he bombs them instead. He continually makes statements at odds with irrefutable facts, and then orders out the National Guard. He posts strange videos from the White House depicting magical beds that will cure anyone who lies in them or demeaning political opponents. He appears to be out of his mind. If anyone else said and did these things they would be sent for psychiatric examination or put on trial for murdering people on the high seas.
Instead, news reporters, government officials, foreign heads of state, and legions of follows treat Mr. Trump as if he were sane. He clearly is not, but the United States seems as a whole to be deranged. The man suffers from vast illusions of grandeur. He claims he ought to get to the Noble Peace Prize, yet he commits murder, arrests citizens without a warrant, slanders judges, and does his deranged best to intimidate opponents.
During the first Trump administration, the Washington Post kept a list of the lies Trump told, and it eventually contained more than 25,000 items. Now those lies are still being repeated with new absudities added daily, to the point that half the public is convinced of supposed conspiracies and non-existent dangers. They have become as deranged as their leader.
As a result, the nation has reached a state of national paralysis. The government is in lockdown and the Republicans will not even call the House of Representatives into session. They have abdicated their role in the political system. Representative national government has ceased to function, leaving a vacuum to be filled with the lunacy of a madman and his entourage at the White Asylum, where a new ballroom is being built.
Anderson ends his tale this way:
‘But he hasn’t got anything on,’ all his people finally cried out. This gave the emperor the shivers, for he sensed they were right, but he reasoned: ‘Now I’ll have to stick the procession out.’ And the chamberlains walked on bearing the train that wasn’t there. (trans. John Irons)
