trading partners, the consequence of which was
to force members of the European Union to
strike trade deals with the Mercosur block and Canada to strike a trade deal with China – in order to diversify and protect trade not to mention ensure access to critical resources.
Each act weakened the economic and military might of America, creating a gap which our
adversaries are all too willing to fill. And each, by threatening our very existence and the strength of our alliances, reveals the tyrant to be an existential threat to all. He is truly insane: and demonstrably, he cannot and should not lead the free world.
Thus, it must be said what most men of common sense know, and on what you and I of immigrant families have staked our future: great civilizations are neither made nor sustained solely on the desires of a madman. Instead, they are built on education, innovation, competition, adaptation, and respect. And here again, today’s tyrant fails to meet the standards required of a great leader. A great leader, even if uneducated, would not dismantle institutions of higher learning or attack intellectuals but would instead promote greater access to education and increase support of individuals desiring to help others learn and grow. A great leader, even if uncultured, would not decide what cultures or civilizations are worth saving or attack institutions that support those endeavors but would instead advance personal freedom and the understanding that comes from engaging multiple perspectives to forge a collective world view in benefit of all. A great leader, even if not an expert in science, would not turn his back on scientific advances made but would instead promote those advances that have obviously saved countless lives or promise means through which we might well save our collective global environment, the place we call home.
These are things great leaders due on behalf of
their people, upon whose shoulders their
position rests: they do not engage in tens of thousands of lies, they do not promote themselves for international prizes or name agency buildings, cultural institutions, and battle ships after themselves. Those again are the marks of a madman, who forces his thinking and will upon a people: a man who defines truth and metes out punishment based upon happenstance; a man who decides what is culturally appropriate and silences the voices who might have different ideas or appeal to history in defense of such; a man who independently abolishes international treaties negotiated for the benefit of both parties, if not all of humanity; a man who arbitrarily imposes tariffs to punish countries and leaders who reject his ideas, policies, and approaches; a man who decides how foreign affairs will be conducted, and who will be regarded as a friend or enemy. Such a man is without character, an empty shell which can neither be filled nor find fulfillment no matter how much wealth or power he accumulates.
IV
A Heightened Danger
This creates a heightened danger, because when the ego is no longer constrained by
institutional checks and balances it becomes
boundless. Emotional needs demanding
Left unchecked, the tyrant’s extreme irrationalism forms around a personalized logic run wild over which there is no effective external oversight or accountability – only a generalized acquiescence that results in people normalizing the abnormal to become total. And that is what differentiates this new form of government – defined as a logocracy14 – from fascism, state authoritarianism, or Nazism.15
14