Trump’s constant barrage of superlatives in his speeches are typical of autocratic leaders as they set about creating the hero myths that make the conditions for establishing a cult of personality among their followers favorable, and also contribute to the disintegration of their minds in the later stages of their rule when facts do not comport to the fantasies that they create. Trump is very much in the later stages of this pattern – perhaps more so than any tin horn that has ever existed anywhere at any time in the known universe and beyond.
Heh.
“Of all Donald Trump’s rhetorical predilections, one that goes largely unmentioned is his addiction to superlatives. No one has ever seen anything like virtually everything he brings up. Why does he do this? And what does it reveal?…
…A quick look at Trump’s speech at the Republican National Convention in July shows that his dependence on superlatives has overtaken all his other oratorical habits. He used them to describe almost everything he discussed. The criminalization of political disagreement is “at a level that nobody has ever seen before.” The “inflation crisis” is “crushing our people like never before. They’ve never seen anything like it.” As for the “illegal immigration crisis,” well, “Nobody’s ever seen anything like it” either.
I suppose using rhetoric like this also contributes to a leader’s ability to develope a cult-like following, as the constant insinuations that events are now happening that no one has ever witnessed before make them feel as if they are a part of something that is unique in the history of man – when in truth it is just more of the same old story:
“This type of rhetoric is not new. Vesna Mikolič, a Slovenian scholar of linguistics, analyzed the speeches of four of the original Italian fascists of the 1920s. She found that an increased intensity of their language, including hyperbole and superlatives, correlated with their detachment from reality, as well as with incitements to violence, and with actual violence. Mikolič calls this kind of oratory — as when Trump promises to “lead America to new heights of greatness like the world has never seen before” — the “fascist imaginary.”
So this reliance on superlatives not only helps to groom the dictators’ followers by creating a narrative of each little cult member being unique in world history – but also contributes to the eventual disintegration of the dictators’ own minds.
Seems fitting.
But where does such abuse of language and perversion of history lead?
“Once a leader commits to hyperbole, he stays committed. As Richard Evans reminds us in his book “Hitler’s People: The Faces of the Third Reich,” Adolf Hitler claimed that his invasion of France was the most “glorious victory of all time” and that he was the greatest military leader ever — greater than Napoleon or Caesar.
Federico Finchelstein, an Argentinian fascism expert, says such leaders “fantasize about creating new realities and ultimately transform reality to fit their fantasies.” For example, Hitler claimed that Jews were disease-ridden subhumans and then created the conditions that made him prophetic. The fascist’s aim, says Finchelstein, is “the destruction of any trace of demonstrable truth.” And the philosopher Hannah Arendt says “the ideal subject of totalitarian rule is … people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction and the distinction between true and false no longer exist.”
Trump has managed to obliterate the distance between fact and fiction… at least in the minds of his own followers.
The advantage we in the U.S. have over the Italians, Germans and Eastern Europeans is ours is a much less homogenized society and vast swaths of the American public remain immune to the bullshit our would-be autocrat regularly spouts. But still, as we are constantly reminded, this will be a close election. We owe it to our country and our progeny to insure that fascism does not prevail.
And we cannot allow the crazy drunk at the end of the bar to chart our course for the future:
“On their podcast “Shrinking Trump,” the psychologists John Gartner and Harry Segal identify the increasing simplicity of Trump’s vocabulary and worldview as a sign of cognitive decline, which it very well may be. But it is also a feature of fascism. Trump has always lied, but his fantasies have now reached a level that no one has ever seen before.”
Imagine how deranged he will become if he wins another vote…
Trump would certainly be superlative in Dumb and Dumber
I never saw that movie. Never cared to. I recall some clips of ads for it and simply wasn’t interested. I did however have someone call up the following on the internet when I talked about how hard it was to gross me out to the point of wanting to puke. (Long story) I said (which is true) that unless ill with something that causes vomiting the only thing that makes my stomach turn enough that I want to puke is puke itself. Even just seeing a pile of it on TV gets me a little queasy but encountering it in real life has caused me more than once to blow chunks. So he played me this scene from Dumb and Dumber of Jeff Daniels which has got to be one of the grossest, most disgusting things ever put in what was apparently a popular movie. I think he should reprise it, albeit dressed up like Trump complete with a Trump wig that will as he shakes his head have the combover flop over and expose bald head. It would be worth putting up with all the disgust. And my oh my how Trump would freak the hell out if it went viral!
Aldo the Apache in Inglorious Basterds,(Brad Pitt), always asked the captured nazis what they were going to do with their uniform after the war. They, being scared shitless, always said they’d burn it. His reply? You see I don’t like that. If it were up to me I’d make you wear that goddamn uniform for the rest of your life! But…that ain’t practical…I suppose you’d have to take it off sooner or later, so I’m going to give you something you can’t take off. He’d then proceed to carve a swastika into their forehead. Sounds cruel to the nice comfortable citizens who never put on the uniform or suffered loss to save democracy I’m sure. Sounds right to me. You want to support a child killing nazi after 400,000 boys paid WITH THEIR LIVES? You’d be getting off easy in my book. You put my children of color at risk for their lives and future? You’re goddamn lucky I don’t go nazi hunting. I’ll vote to stop you, but, should that fail and this fascist steals power ONCE AGAIN, then all bets are phucking off. I wonder how much a good bowie knife costs these day?