Trump, The Great And Terrible
Our 'Wicked' week concludes.
President Joe Biden just hit a new low in his approval rating — 61 percent of Americans polled disapprove of his performance while just 39 percent approve. Meanwhile, Biden’s predecessor and successor Donald Trump is returning to the White House with his highest approval yet. According to a recent Emerson College poll, Trump enjoys 54 percent approval from voters. He never broke 50 percent approval during his first term, but he wasn’t yet a convicted felon who attempted a coup. This is what happens when you apply yourself.
“The bottom line is this: If eight years ago Americans people were lukewarm on Donald Trump, at this particular point, they’re giving him much more of the benefit of the doubt,” CNN’s Harry Enten said. “A lot more Americans are in love with this transition. This much more meets the historical norms where normally presidents get that boost coming out of their victory and what we’re seeing here is Donald Trump’s presidential transition is getting a thumbs up and, dare I say, two thumbs up from the American people.”
Trump’s transition has involved assembling a Legion of Doom Cabinet that includes Robert Kennedy Jr., Pete Hegseth, and Tulsi Gabbard (two sexual predators and a Russian asset — one of my least favorite wacky ‘80s films.) Voters don’t seem to care, perhaps because Democrats have taken a politically savvy “lie down and die” approach to Trump’s victory.
Trump, the political wizard
Donald Trump won the 2024 election thanks to a relentless barrage of lies amplified on social media and sane-washed in the mainstream press. I’m reminded of the scene from the Wicked musical (and upcoming film sequel) when Elphaba confronts the Wizard of Oz, a huckster showman who’s somehow become a cult leader. She accuses him of lying to the public, and he responds glibly, “Only verbally.”
“But they were the lies they wanted to hear,” he insists.
All fascism is rooted in lies that people want to hear. They’ll willingly embrace lies about a group they already fear and distrust. As the Wizard tells Elphaba and Glinda, “You’ve got to give the people what they want.”
The Wizard’s lies are hardly benign. He’s willingly smeared Elphaba, an innocent young woman who trusted him, as the “Wicked Witch of the West,” an enemy of the state. His lies fueled the oppression of a minority group, Animals — who once spoke and lived freely until he had them silenced and caged. They are no longer Animals but instead simply “animals.” There’s no evidence that he has any personal grudge against Animals. He lacked the power or insight to resolve Oz’s legitimate problems, so he used Animals as a convenient scapegoat. “The best way to bring people together is to give them a really good enemy,” the Wizard explains, already excluding the oppressed from the people he claims he’s uniting. Yale philosopher Jason Stanley observed that “fascist politics is about identifying enemies, appealing to the in-group (usually the majority group), and smashing truth and replacing it with power.”
Wicked reveals that anti-Animal sentiment started during a period of widespread deprivation known as the Great Drought. Republicans took advantage of pandemic-era inflation and overall discontent during Biden’s administration. They had no solutions. Instead, they further stoked resentment against the most vulnerable members of society. They sought to erase history, especially anything from the past that documented their current nefarious actions.
Republicans further stoked resentment against transgender Americans. A party that defended and rallied behind a confirmed sexual predator perversely argued that trans women were the true threat to women. Trump absurdly claimed that public school teachers were performing ad hoc gender assignment surgeries on children without parental consent.
Trump repeated the misogynistic slander that women were executing their own babies after birth. He lied about foreign criminal gangs literally “conquering” U.S. cities. He lied about Haitian migrants in Ohio eating pets. People who believe his most absurd, easily debunked, lies are primed to believe anything, including that simple water is somehow fatal to a powerful witch.
The Wizard tells Elphaba that “the most celebrated are the rehabilitated.” Trump is a convicted felon and an adjudicated rapist. He was under felony indictment in multiple jurisdictions for stealing classified documents and attempting to overturn the 2020 election. However, the 77 million Americans who believed his lies have helped him erase this truth. The New York judge in Trump’s election interference case has indefinitely postponed his sentencing. Special counsel Jack Smith announced on Monday that he’s dropping both his 2020 election interference case and the classified documents case — not because Trump produced the one-arm man but because the Department of Justice apparently considers sitting presidents above the law. Attorney General Merrick Garland could’ve stood by the overwhelming evidence and forced Trump to either pardon himself or fire Smith. Instead, Garland prematurely surrendered. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will attend Trump’s second inauguration, even though he ghosted Biden’s. This will only further enable Trump’s unearned rehabilitation.
“I never saw myself as a Solomon or Socrates,” the Wizard confesses. “I knew who I was: One of your dime a dozen mediocrities.” Trump seemingly lacks the Wizard’s self-awareness. Trump believes the great and terrible image he projects and will actively punish anyone who challenges it. Yet, rather than preparing for battle, the mainstream media and elected officials are stocking up on white flags.
From Frank Morgan in The Wizard Oz to Joel Grey in the Wicked musical and now Jeff Goldblum in the film, the Wizard boasts a superficial charm and affability that Trump lacks. During “Wonderful,” the Wizard almost wins over Elphaba and the audience until the true depths of his evil are uncovered. Trump doesn’t bother hiding his cruelty. He sells it, and Americans gobbled it up like Thanksgiving dinner.
When the Wizard is finally exposed as a fraud, he leaves Oz in disgrace. However, Trump is here to stay, and there’s nothing wonderful about his lies.
turmp has broken the 50% approval barrier?? Yes, Americans are stupid. As for Biden's approval caving, it could be because the Dems who worked their asses off, first for him, then for Harris, are ticked off that he's normalizing trump by welcoming him to the WH, being at his inauguration, and treating him like a real president. Biden doesn't have to send a mob to the Capitol, nor should he, but he doesn't have to be a pushover for trump.
A clever comparison, although nothing compares to Trump and nothing compares to Americans who want the Soma of an imaginary history mixed with the meth of primal hate. These past ten years have shown that they were meant for each other. Trump could not have succeeded anywhere else - he’s not smart enough to outwit truly Machiavellian rivals or his personal Iago. And MAGA Americans require more insult-comic entertainment than the typical despot could provide them.