Former President Trump has been called many things in the last four years. Many, many things. As we pointed out in Trump Eats Baby for Breakfast, the hyperbole regarding President Trump reached and continues to be a deafening crescendo. With all of the negativity regarding Trump, some may find it surprising then that a Politico reporter recently opined that Trump’s base is “getting stronger”. We here at The Objective Observer however do not find this surprising at all. To understand why, keep reading.
The short answer, of course, is the hyperbole. As pointed out in Trump Eats Baby for Breakfast, much of the American populous got the impression over the last four years that it didn’t matter what President Trump said or did, the media and pundits were going to blast him for it regardless. If Trump had helped an elderly nun to cross the street, the media would have claimed he was trying to intentionally throw her under a bus. At every turn, the worst possible motivations were assigned to President Trump’s actions and presented as the unequivocal truth when, in fact, little or no evidence was provided as proof of those motivations. This amounted to, in effect, putting words into President Trump’s mouth.
There are very real dangers to the levels of hyperbole surrounding Trump. But, before we get to those dangers, let’s take a look at all of the mean, nasty things that President Trump has been accused of being and contrast that with what an objective individual might conclude. To this end, we will analyze the following claims:
- Trump is a Russian sympathizer
- Trump is mentally ill
- Trump is anti-Semitic
- Trump is a racist
- Trump is a white supremacist
- Trump is evil
- Trump is stupid
- Trump hates Muslims
- Trump is a misogynist
- Trump is a seditionist
First, before we get started, let’s make one thing perfectly clear. We here at The Objective Observer are no Trump apologists. Fact is, we generally think that Trump is, well, he…he kind of comes across as a complete asshole. That being said, none of us here have ever met the man in person. So, while there is the possibility that Trump is not a complete and utter arrogant ass, he most definitely comes across that way. But, just because an individual comes across as a self-absorbed narcissistic asshole does not immediately mean that person is necessarily a horrible person or entirely incorrect on every single issue. One has to be objective about these sort of things after all.
Trump is a Russian sympathizer
OK, the hyperbole on this one is well documented and we won’t spend much time belaboring the obvious. Democrats claimed that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia to steal the election from perennial loser, Hillary Clinton. Democrats and the media were 100% certain of this fact and told anyone and everyone they could for years. Hell, it seemed like you couldn’t even get off a bus in New York City without being beaten, stripped naked and berated with evidence of Trump’s collusion with Russia.
Juxtapose the hyperbole with reality. Reality is that after multiple investigations, millions of dollars, entire herds of Democratic lawyers there just wasn’t any evidence to support this false narrative. And, turns out, the Trump administration was actually tough on Russia. Even NP freaking R admits this.
Trump is mentally ill
This one crops up quite a bit in the media as well as Washington D.C. Nancy Pelosi and others have, on multiple occasions, suggested that the 25th amendment to the Constitution should be used to remove Trump from office because he is “mentally unfit”, “mentally ill”, or just plain “crazy”.
But, if we take one small step back from the precipice of blind hatred, an objective observer finds no real evidence of true mental illness or a mental unfitness to perform the duties of President. Sure, his behavior may not fit neatly into our Presidential stereotypes but it’s not like the guy is a cannibal or dropping nukes on people or indiscriminately starting wars for no reason or showing obvious signs of schizophrenia or bulimic or overtly OCD or abuses alcohol or has some irrational fear of spiders or something. There’s just no factual evidence for any real mental illness or disorder, it is all just hyperbole and people’s opinions.
Trump is anti-Semitic
The hyperbole is that Trump is “Hitler”. We aren’t making this up. This comparison has been made over and over and over again. This has been coupled with less strongly worded accusations of anti-Semitism. Basically what the hyperbole is saying is that Trump is so anti-Semitic that he would be willing to exterminate 6 million Jews if given the opportunity.
OK, of all the things that Trump gets called, we here at The Objective Observer have never been able to quite grasp this one. It’s so far outside the bounds of credulity that it is simply beyond us. Has Trump demonstrated an insensitivity to Jewish stereotypes? Absolutely and without question. Does that make him Hitler or just old? Probably just old. But somehow an insensitivity to Jewish tropes gets blown out of proportion to where the guy is Hitler? That’s just ridiculous.
First, let’s just be clear, comparing Trump to Hitler minimalizes the Holocaust. People who do that are called Holocaust minimizers, like King Biden. King Biden compared Trump to Joseph Goebbels for example and frequently made reference to Trump and “Nazis” and even comparisons with Hitler. Do we really think King Biden is a Holocaust minimizer and denier? Not really. We are just using unfair hyperbole to prove the point here. Shit like that works both ways.
To any objective observer Trump is clearly not anti-Semitic. Trump was a friend to Benjamin Netanyahu and all of Israel. Trump moved the United States embassy to Jerusalem, recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, recognized Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights, got tough on Iran, brokered middle east peace deals and, well, the list is long. To any objective observer, these are not the actions of an anti-Semite. They just aren’t. And we are not the only ones that see it, more Jewish people voted for Trump than any Republican in over 30 years.
Trump is a racist
OK, this one primarily seems to stem from Trump’s border wall. The hyperbole here is that Trump is a complete racist bigot that hates Hispanics. We are not making this up, there is an entire Wikipedia page dedicated to this subject of Trump and racism. That article alone is too long to detail all the ways in which Trump has been branded a racist, we do not need to, or have the space to, belabor all the times this hyperbole has been repeated in the media and among law makers in Washington D.C.
So what about reality? Reality is that presidents have been building walls for decades, including Obama! Turns out, there are legitimate reasons for countries to protect their borders. Also, more Hispanics voted for Trump in 2020 than in 2016. Trump actually reversed a decade of declining Hispanic support for Republicans. So, here again, reality does not match hyperbole. Without question, Trump said some stupid, insensitive shit about Hispanics. But, again, the hyperbole takes this and makes it ridiculous. If Trump was truly as much of a racist bigot as the hyperbole suggests, then Hispanics should have fled in droves. They didn’t.
Trump is a white supremacist
This one is similar to Trump being an anti-Semite and racist but we particularly want to explore this one in terms of black Americans. The hyperbole labels Trump as a card carrying member of the KKK. Fascist, Nazi, Hitler, white supremacist, it has been repeated so often in the media it is now commonplace.
Here again we see that Trump has said some dumbass, insensitive shit when it comes to black Americans. Some of it may even rise to the level of demonstrating some prejudice towards blacks. We here at The Objective Observer find his familiar way of addressing groups like the Proud Boys and his courting of far right groups for votes particularly distasteful. But does that make him a “white supremacist” or just a politician? Probably just a politician. Politicians suck, what are you going to do? Trump is clearly not a white supremacist, as in hang black Americans from trees and burn crosses in their yards. That’s just going too far for anyone being objective about the matter. Fact is, Trump did quite a bit to help blacks in America from criminal justice reform to funding historically black colleges, to opportunity zones, etc. We are not saying that Trump is any Abraham Lincoln but the actions he took are not those of a “white supremacist”. Apparently, blacks agree as they voted for Trump in record numbers.
Trump is evil
This is another hyperbolic claim that is levied against Trump again and again.
Again, demonstrate the factual evidence for this. Trump is being lumped in with truly evil people like Pol Pot, Nero, Hitler, Stalin, the Kim dynasty, Mao Zedong, Genghis Kahn, Ivan the Terrible, Idi Amin and Himmler? Truly evil people that brutally murdered tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands and millions of people? Be reasonable.
Trump is stupid
Yet more hyperbole that is repeated over and over. Even Snopes has had to debunk this claim.
Again, evidence people. Show us an IQ test or something. To any reasonably objective individual, Trump’s success in business and the very fact that he could actually get elected President seem to fly in the face of any legitimacy being given to the hype that Trump is a complete moron.
Trump hates Muslims
This one mainly stems from Trump’s travel bans and gets repeated ad nauseam.
Reality is that there exist in this world terrorists who hold radical Islamic ideologies, like the ones that attacked on 9/11. Americans would be prudent to take measures to prevent further attacks. One could objectively view the travel bans from this perspective without jumping to the conclusion that Trump is an Islamophobic bigot. Maybe he is, maybe he isn’t, but apparently a good number of Muslims don’t think so as Trump got more Muslim support, not less, in 2020.
Trump is a misogynist
Yeah, OK, this one is a given. Next.
Trump is a seditionist
The hyperbole here is that Trump planned the January 6th, 2021 riot at the Capitol in a bid to usurp the Presidency of the United States.
OK, an alternative, objective, rational perspective might be that Trump bitched a lot about an election he lost, took things a little too far and shit happened. Look, any objective individual understands there were “issues” with the most recent Presidential election. And bitching about these issues is nothing new. Gore still claims the election was “stolen”. Hillary still claims the election was “stolen”. So, big freaking deal that Trump thinks that the election was “stolen”. Sure, he was more vocal about being pissed off but somehow this gets turned into intentionally trying to destroy America’s institutions of democracy? Sorry, we don’t buy it. If Trump is a seditionist then every single person that participated in the whole Russia hoax thing is a seditionist. And every single person that worked on Gore’s attempt to overturn the election is also a seditionist. Again, the hyperbole here goes far beyond any rational or objective thought process.
Conclusion
OK, this has been one hell of a long article so there had better be a pay off to all of this, right? What has been the point of all of this analysis regarding the hyperbole versus looking at things objectively and dispassionately? Well, the point of all of this is that hyperbole is dangerous and it is dangerous in two very specific ways.
First, extreme hyperbole radicalizes people. There is no question that if you feel that the new “Hitler” is coming to take you away to a concentration camp, it can radicalize you to violently object. There can be little question of this radicalization on the left. The extreme hyperbole may have been intended to produce voter turnout, just like how Trump courted the far right, but given the last year of riots and violence there is a solid argument to be made that the extreme hyperbole regarding Trump was a major factor in radicalizing Americans and incenting those Americans to violence. There is also no question that the extreme hyperbole helped or was the major reason for the divisive state of America today. That’s not a good thing.
Second, extreme hyperbole creates distrust. When fair minded Americans hear extreme hyperbole and it doesn’t match up with what they are seeing with their own eyes, they start to question things, get suspicious and begin to distrust the sources of that hyperbole. So, when that hyperbole is coming from the media and government leaders in Washington D.C., well, now that extreme hyperbole is, in effect, destroying trust in the free press and faith in our institutions of government. These same individuals then also start to feel empathy for the target of that hyperbole and begin to view that person as something of a martyr. This is why why Trump’s base is digging in and getting stronger. None of this is rocket science people. So if Trump comes back even stronger in 2024, Democrats only have their own outrageous hyperbole to blame.
So, bottom line, what we are saying is that all of you liberal, Stalinist commies that do nothing but rape small children, drink their blood, murder old people and promote white genocide all day, just knock it off with all of the extreme hyperbole already…
The Objective Observer 