Jul 27th 2024

Trump is a Symptom of Our Epistemic and Moral Decay

by Sam Ben-Meir


Sam Ben-Meir is an assistant adjunct professor of philosophy at City University of New York, College of Technology.



One could easily rehearse Trump’s litany of disgraceful and illegal actions – actions which jeopardized the fundamental bedrock of this nation as a democratic republic and forever stained the office of the presidency. Yet, regardless of the folly of political violence, the attempt on Trump’s life was futile inasmuch as ridding America, and the world, of Trump, would by no means rid us of Trumpism, which was and remains a symptom, and not the root cause, of this country’s moral and epistemic decline. How else could so many millions of Americans support this man? No one can claim that they do not know what he stands for (insofar as he stands for anything other than himself) or what his intentions are: he has made it very clear that his second administration will be not only authoritarian, but fascist in rhetoric and deed.

Donald Trump and his allies have made no secret of their intentions to centralize ever more power in the executive office if he is re-elected in 2025; and to oversee “a sweeping expansion of presidential power over the machinery of government… reshaping the structure of the executive branch to concentrate far greater authority directly in his hands.” The New York Times report quotes Russell T. Vought, who ran the Office of Management and Budget in the Trump White House and now runs the Center for Renewing America, as saying: “What we’re trying to do is identify the pockets of independence and seize them.”

The legal theory behind this centralization of power in the Oval Office is essentially “a maximalist version of the so-called unitary executive theory,” which is in turn based on a certain interpretation of Article 2 of the Constitution. Trump publicly declared: "I have an Article 2 where I have the right to do whatever I want as president." One can only conclude that a great  many of Americans have lost faith in the idea of America and want to see our current form of government ultimately dismantled and replaced by a quasi-fascist dictatorship. That is the real tragedy: that we’ve embraced the symbol of our disease as if it were the cure.

What I intend to do in the following will strike some as an odd form of analysis. It will seem unfamiliar because my approach will be philosophical in nature. The empirical case against Trump could not be more apparent. The philosophical one is not as easily accessed, but once it is grasped it becomes incontrovertible and no less devastating than reeling off his offenses, which are many. Trump is demonstrative proof that America is facing head on its moral and epistemic downfall. To fully appreciate this however requires a bit of explanation because I am using these terms in a very precise sense. By epistemic decay I mean that we have forgotten, or willfully discarded the nature of truth: truth is no longer a concept to be taken seriously; there are only various perspectives each determined by particular interests, but there is no such thing as a truth in the sense of a universal production which is indifferent to differences of interest, perspective, identity, and so on.

It is no coincidence that we see the good and the true both struggling to remain relevant, to remain a part of our social and political discourse. Where one is in jeopardy the other is sure to be endangered as well. And this is because they share something in common which is absolutely fundamental. Namely the nature of universality – or to put it somewhat differently, the genetic fallacy applies equally to both. What do I mean by the genetic fallacy? The origin (genesis) of a proposition tells us nothing about its truth value. That is, when it comes to truth the genetic fallacy simply reminds us that one cannot determine the truth of a statement, proposition or claim by determining its origin, regardless of whether that origin is internal or external. The truth of an enunciation is independent of the enunciator.

As the philosopher Alain Badiou observes, “A statement is true not because it has been pronounced by a priest, a king, a prophet, or a god. It is true because there is proof of its truth… The subject of the enunciation ought not be a guarantor of the truth of a statement.” Truth does not care if you are rich or poor, native or immigrant, king or slave: we all stand equal before the truth and as human beings we are all equally capable of participating in its universality. This is the first principle that Trump would have us trash. Trump would have us believe that whatever he says should be accepted simply because it came from his mouth – hence, he can shamelessly utter thousands of lies, spew any number of falsehoods and tirelessly unload his idiotic rubbish. It makes no difference because it came from the president. And so, he must also deny his rival’s legitimacy or by extension the same consideration would apply. It is not an accident that Trump’s following has a cultish mentality: there is a slavish devotion to whatever he says no matter how absurd or dehumanizing. The question of proof is irrelevant: if he said it then that is proof enough.

There you have the genetic fallacy in its epistemic form. What is notable is that the genetic fallacy also applies to the morality of an action. That is, you cannot say whether an action is right or wrong, morally permissible or impermissible, simply by knowing who the actor was. This is less often recognized but upon a little reflection it becomes equally obvious. Even an awful person is capable of a good deed, and even the best among us can fall. (This is, I take it, one of the fundamental teachings of Christ – when he says, for example, that he came for transgressors: “I have not come to call the righteous but sinners.”) Indeed, it is often the most virtuous who fall the hardest (as Shakespeare knew all too well). It is our virtues more often than our vices that lead us astray, for the simple reason that they create hubris. But notice, Trump is no less guilty of the genetic fallacy as it pertains to morality as well; inasmuch as he claims that his actions are above the law. Or as Nixon put it: “When the president does it, that means that it is not illegal.” As The Atlantic recently stated, the Supreme Court has now “codified Nixon’s infamous statement.”

Trump’s case for immunity ultimately presupposes the fallacious and extremely dangerous idea that the validity of an action can be determined by who performed it. And he applies this negatively to entire groups of people as well: illegal immigrants are thieves and rapists, etc. Their actions must be reprehensible because of who they are. But that is simply wrong, and we know it. The genetic fallacy applies to the Good as well. Trump’s actions, both as president and as a private citizen, have been morally reprehensible, and to grant him immunity because of the office he formally held sets a terrible precedent as numerous legal scholars and jurists have observed.

What we are seeing is a nation in decline having openly embraced a dangerous moral and epistemic relativism, which is philosophically unsustainable, and logically unsound. It is also bringing this country to the brink of collapse as a nation committed, at least in principle, to equality before the law, the inherent worth of every human being as such (for no human being is or can be excluded a priori from the universality of the true and the good). Trump’s fascist, authoritarian rhetoric is not merely for popular consumption – it is not him catering to his extreme base, but a horrifying reflection of ourselves, of what we are becoming: that is, a country which will write off certain people as “vermin” not because of what they’ve done but simply because of where they come from or who they are. A country which will embrace the words of a quasi-despot as truth even when they fly in the face of what is before our very eyes. There is no lie which is beneath Trump, no statement however ridiculous which could make him blush for shame.

Finally, we should point out that the genetic fallacy has one more area of application: namely, beauty. We cannot judge whether a work of art, for example, is beautiful simply by knowing who produced it. The aesthetic merit of a work of art is not nor can it be decided by simply knowing who the artist was. And in principle, a great of work of art can come from anybody. It’s worth noting that Trump also represents the loss of our sense of beauty. Obviously neither he nor any of his followers have any notion of the beauty of truth (since they disown the very concept of truth itself); or moral beauty – say, the beauty of giving shelter to the homeless, or refuge to the stateless. But even when it comes to sheer physical or sensuous beauty Trump has proven himself time and again to be as crude as they come. Hence, his predilection for beauty contests and porn stars. He is the very epitome of philistinism. And he is serving to transform this country precisely into a country of philistines, with no appreciation of the eternal philosophical trinity: the True, the Beautiful and the Good – those three aspects of universality which more than serve as symbols of one another but are indeed three facets of the philosopher’s stone, as it were.

In his decision not to lead the Democratic party and seek a second term in office, President Biden did what is precisely unthinkable coming from Trump – that is, he put the good of the people before his own interests. Trump could not even adhere to the peaceful transfer of power when he had lost the election: that is, he preferred to burn down our democracy rather that forsake his private interests. Biden’s decision not to run – and so renounce power for the good of all – has universal merit and (regardless of the outcome of the election) it will always have value as an example of what true statesmanship looks like, what it means to act from the standpoint of universality. And, for that very reason, it is not without a certain beauty of its own.

If this country disowns truth, goodness and beauty by reinstalling Trump into the executive office, it will have disowned the very things that give life its universal meaning and significance. We will have fallen into a pit of lies, full of ugliness and evil. To conclude then, there is a realm of universality in which we can all participate as rational, embodied beings. It is this universality that gives meaning to an otherwise insignificant mammalian species hurtling through space on a speck of dust in an inconceivably vast and indifferent cosmos. Trump is a symptom that we are losing touch with those very things which make human life genuinely significant and valuable, those things which are of timeless and universal value – to wit, the True, the Beautiful and the Good.



Sam Ben-Meir is an assistant adjunct professor of philosophy at City University of New York, College of Technology.

 

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Nov 24th 2024
Extracts: "We all think, speak, and write within certain intellectual frameworks that we largely take for granted. But, eventually, the passage of time renders familiar categories and ideas obsolete. For example, who still talks about the “Soviet Union” today, apart from historians?" ------- "Trump won decisively despite his contempt for democratic institutions, his efforts to overturn the 2020 election, and his subsequent 34-count felony conviction. Though voters know about his chaotic approach to governance, his habitual mendacity, and his sinister immigration policies, he won every swing state. Even with full knowledge of who Trump is, more Americans voted for him than for Kamala Harris. We must not mince words: liberal democracy in the US has suffered a lethal blow. It will be under increasing pressure on both sides of the Atlantic, and there is no guarantee that it will survive. After all, can there be any future for the liberal West without the US as its leader? I believe the answer is no." ----- "If Europe fails to come together at this moment of tumultuous change, it will not get a second chance. Its only option is to become a military power capable of protecting its interests and securing peace and order on the world stage. The alternative is fragmentation, impotence, and irrelevance."
Nov 24th 2024
EXTRACTS: "When the US presidential election was called for Donald Trump, the yield on ten-year US government bonds increased from 4.3% to 4.4%, and the 30-year-bond yield rose from 4.5% to 4.6%, with both remaining at those levels ten days later." ----- " Clearly, investors expect the next Trump administration to produce higher government budget deficits and more debt. It is not difficult to see why. During Trump’s first term in office, he added $8 trillion to the national debt – all previous presidents combined had accumulated $20 trillion – despite having promised to run budget surpluses so large that they would eliminate the national debt within two terms." ----- "Supporters often say that a businessman like Trump or Musk will know how to put America’s fiscal house in order. But the smart money says they have no idea what they are doing."
Nov 13th 2024
EXTRACT: "For 2,300 years, at least since Plato’s Republic, philosophers have known how demagogues and aspiring tyrants win democratic elections. The process is straightforward, and we have now just watched it play out." ........ "As Jean-Jacques Rousseau argued, democracy is at its most vulnerable when inequality in a society has become entrenched and grown too glaring." ..... "From everything Trump has said and done during this campaign and in his first term, we can expect Plato to be vindicated once again. The Republican Party’s domination of all branches of government would render the US a one-party state. The future may offer occasional opportunities for others to vie for power, but whatever political contests lie ahead most likely will not qualify as free and fair elections."
Nov 3rd 2024
EXTRACT: "The likelihood of escalation in the coming weeks and months means that there will be economic and financial risks to manage. A large-enough Israeli strike on Iran could severely disrupt energy production and exports from the Gulf. If Iran gets desperate, it could try to mine the Gulf and block the Strait of Hormuz, while also striking Saudi oil facilities. In this scenario, the world would experience stagflationary shocks similar to those that followed the 1973 Yom Kippur War and the 1979 Iranian revolution."
Oct 9th 2024
EXTRACT: "The continuing cycles of violence can easily spiral out of control, precipitating a wider war involving nuclear powers. Moreover, Netanyahu’s goal of 'total victory' against an ideological movement cannot be achieved by military means alone." ..... "So long as both sides seek to inflict maximum damage on the other to right past wrongs, the violence will not end. Netanyahu may think that total victory is in sight, now that Hezbollah is badly damaged and Gaza reduced to rubble, but that is an illusion. All he has done is create more enemies who will want to restore their honor by killing in a war without end."
Oct 9th 2024
EXTRACTS: "Nasrallah was on a mission to destroy Israel. It was a mantle he had taken up from countless other Arab leaders, from Haj Amin al-Husseini, the grand mufti of Jerusalem who met with Adolf Hitler in 1941 to discuss the destruction of the Jews, to Azzam Pasha, the secretary-general of the Arab League who described the Arab invasion of the then-nascent Israel in 1948 as a 'war of annihilation'. Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser – an icon of pan-Arabism in the 1950s and 1960s – pledged more than once to 'destroy Israel'. Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, who founded Fatah, nurtured their own dreams of liquidating the Jewish state." ...... "Alas, Israelis have built their own dangerous dream palace of 'total victory', erected on a foundation of nationalist fervor, religious messianism, and political intransigence. There is a scenario in which Israel’s military exploits change the region for the better. Unfortunately, far from being the standard-bearer for some enlightened political vision, Israel’s current government is committed to fighting a war on all fronts, with no view toward any political future that Israel’s neighbors could possibly accept."
Oct 8th 2024
EXTRACT: "But in the real world, slain leaders are replaced. Those who bury their dead do not forget or forgive, and those who have felt the punishment of arms do not forego weapons but embrace them. So it seems unlikely that’s how the story will end. Sadly, it’s far more likely it will never end."
Oct 3rd 2024
EXTRACT: ".....,Russia will probably spend about $190 billion, or 10% of GDP, on the war this year, and that figure presumably represents the peak, given the constraints imposed by Western financial sanctions. Whenever Russia can no longer finance a budget deficit, it will have to cut public expenditures, and its non-military outlays have already been pared to the bone."
Sep 12th 2024
EXTRACT: "Throughout recorded history, crises and tragedies have inevitably spurred apocalyptic interpretations that seek to imbue temporal catastrophes with some divine or redemptive meaning. One can see this in the doctrines of the major monotheistic religions, and even in modern totalitarian ideologies, such as communism and Nazism. One way or another, humans appear inclined to believe that, without Satan, there is no redeemer. To understand just how dangerous this logic can be, look no further than Gaza, where a tragedy of Biblical proportions is fueling the messianic hallucinations of Israel, Hamas, and American Christian evangelicals alike."
Aug 7th 2024
EXTRACT: "China knows that the war has had catastrophic consequences for both Russia and Ukraine. Estimates indicate that Putin’s conflict in Ukraine could cost Russia US$1.3 trillion (£1.0 trillion) and at least 315,000 in troop casualties. So, win or lose, the post-war damage to Russia would be immense. This is bad news for China. Not only will it have a weakened ally, but the west could then have a free hand to consolidate its resources in dealing with the 'Chinese threat'."
Jul 27th 2024
EXTRACT: "......, regardless of the folly of political violence, the attempt on Trump’s life was futile inasmuch as ridding America, and the world, of Trump, would by no means rid us of Trumpism, which was and remains a symptom, and not the root cause, of this country’s moral and epistemic decline. How else could so many millions of Americans support this man? No one can claim that they do not know what he stands for (insofar as he stands for anything other than himself) or what his intentions are: he has made it very clear that his second administration will be not only authoritarian, but fascist in rhetoric and deed.
Jul 17th 2024
EXTRACTS: "Iran unveiled a digital clock counting down the days to the destruction of Israel in 2040. The display, located in Tehran’s Palestine Square, embodies the Islamic Republic’s long-held commitment to annihilating the Jewish state. Some view this promise as a mere rhetorical exercise...." ----- "From Adolf Hitler to Vladimir Putin and even Osama bin Laden, history has taught us to take threats of ideologically inspired attacks at face value. " ---- "......., the key enabler of Iran’s war of attrition is, in fact, Israel’s own government. Netanyahu’s unrealistic goal of achieving 'a complete victory' in Gaza serves Iran’s strategy of miring Israel in an inconclusive conflict while orchestrating a long-term plan to destroy the Jewish state." ----- "It turns out that the only truly irrational, trigger-happy fanatics in this lethal equation are Netanyahu and his theo-fascist allies, who are determined to engage in an apocalyptic war in Gaza and Lebanon." ---- "These messianic hallucinators have a willing collaborator in Netanyahu. Together, they are doing more to annihilate the Jewish national project than Iran could ever hope to achieve on its own."
Jul 16th 2024
EXTRACTS: "In her dissenting opinion in Trump v. United States, Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor declared that with the majority’s ruling, 'the President is now a king above the law'. In this, she is wrong: the majority opinion has given the US president far more power than English kings had at the time of the American Revolution." ---- "In June 1686, 11 of the 12 hand-picked justices ruled in favor of the king. Echoing the king’s own solicitor, Sir Thomas Powys, the Lord Chief Justice George Jeffreys contended that if the king did not have leeway above the law, 'the preservation of the government' might be in jeopardy." ---- "In 1689, the English people roundly rejected such reasoning and asserted that their kings would thereafter be subject to the law. They set a precedent by removing James II from office. The Supreme Court’s decision goes beyond threatening more than two centuries of American jurisprudence; it overturns four centuries of Anglo-American jurisprudence. The Roberts majority did not give the president the power of an English king; it gave the president power that an English king could only covet."
Jul 4th 2024
EXTRACT: "Most American voters who believe that Trump is the best defender of democracy are not fascists, much less communists. The very thought would horrify them. But they almost surely have a strong opinion on who constitutes the true American people: God-fearing, hard-working, and most probably white. And they worry that these ordinary Americans are being displaced by illegal immigrants, and that their way of life is being threatened by new ideas about gender, race, and sexuality emerging from elite universities. Trump is stoking these fears and exaggerating these threats. His line that the US courts are attacking not only him, but every right-thinking American is horribly effective. Since he is heard as the true voice of the people, he is the purest democrat. As a result, liberal democracy might not withstand another four years of his rule."
Jul 3rd 2024
EXTRACT: "....the debate showed all too clearly that he is suffering cognitive decline and cannot possibly serve as a competent president for another four years. If Biden is true to his word, and stopping Trump from regaining the presidency is his overriding goal, he needs to announce that at the Democratic Convention in August, he will release his delegates from their obligation to vote for him, and instead ask them to vote for the candidate with the best chance of defeating Trump."
Jul 3rd 2024
EXTRACTS: "Both Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Sonia Sotomayor of the United States Supreme Court have just announced grand opinions trying to resolve the fundamental constitutional issues raised by former President Donald Trump’s claim to absolute immunity" ---- "According to Sotomayor, who wrote for the three dissenting justices, Roberts’ sweeping grant of immunity has 'no firm grounding in constitutional text, history, or precedent.' ” ----- "For what it’s worth, I think that Sotomayor is right and Roberts is wrong." ----"But for now, it is much more important to consider the objection raised by Justice Amy Coney Barrett to both Roberts’ constitutional glorification of the presidency and Sotomayor’s devastating critique of Roberts’ majority opinion." ---- "Barrett is right to ask why Roberts and Sotomayor did not join her in adopting the problem-solving approach that they have repeatedly endorsed in many other contexts." ---- "Roberts took the path that not only betrayed Founding principles, as Sotomayor argued, but also betrayed the very principles to which he has dedicated his entire career. "
Jul 1st 2024
EXTRACTS: "Netanyahu’s disdainful criticism of Biden. Netanyahu knows how indispensable the US is to Israel, as no country has provided Israel with more financial, military, and political support than the US. And no American president has ever been more supportive and committed to Israel's security than President Biden. But then, leave it to the most loathsome Netanyahu, who dares to criticize the president for suspending the shipment specifically of 2,000-pound bombs to continue with his devastating bombardment of Rafah that could indiscriminately kill thousands of innocent civilians." ---- "All Israelis who care about their country’s future must rise and demand the immediate resignation of this corrupt and brazen creature who inflicted untold damage on the only Jewish state, making it a pariah state."
Jun 12th 2024
EXTRACTS: "One of the more amusing exercises on the economic calendar is the International Monetary Fund’s annual review of the United States. Yet while everyone knows that the US government pays absolutely no heed to what the IMF has to say about its affairs, the Fund’s most recent Article IV review of the US economy is striking for one unexpected finding. Readers will be startled to learn that, in the IMF’s estimation, US government debt is on a sustainable path." ---- "What then could go wrong? Well, US institutions could turn out not to be so strong. Donald Trump has a personal history of defaulting on his debts. As William Silber has observed, Trump in a second presidential term could instruct his Treasury secretary to suspend payments on the debt, and neither Congress nor the courts might be willing to do anything about it. The gambit would be appealing to Trump insofar as a third of US government debt is held by foreigners. The damage to the dollar’s safe-asset status would be severe, even if Congress, the courts, or a subsequent president reversed Trump’s suspension of debt payments. Investors in US Treasuries would demand a hefty risk premium, potentially causing the government’s interest payments to explode."
Jun 9th 2024
EXTRACT: "An all-too-familiar specter is haunting Europe, one that reliably appears every five years. As citizens head to the polls to elect a new European Parliament, observers are once again asking whether far-right anti-European parties will gain ground and unite to destroy the European Union from within. To be sure, skeptics of this doomsday scenario have always argued that the far right will remain divided, because nationalist internationalism is a contradiction in terms. But it is more likely that specific policy disagreements – mainly over the Ukraine war – and drastically diverging political strategies will prevent Europe’s various far-right parties from forming a 'supergroup.' ”
Jun 9th 2024
EXTRACT: "While the dreadful legacy of his Conservative predecessors – the morally vacuous Johnson and the reckless Liz Truss – would make it extremely difficult for Sunak to offer a credible vision of a better future, many of his current problems are self-inflicted. For example, he supported Johnson’s bid for the Conservative leadership, a decision that reflects poorly on his judgment. Sunak has also been a Euroskeptic since he was a schoolboy and was an early supporter of Brexit."