I talked with a reporter for the Dutch news magazine HP/De Tijd, some of this will make its way into a story they are running in October. I'll post the full interview here, in case of it's of interest. The reporter's questions are indented and numbered, my responses are prefaced by BL.
- President Trump takes a clear and tough position in the debate about police brutality against African Americans and the demonstrations of the Black Lives Matter movement. He glorifies the actions of Kyle Rittenhouse, who shot two protesters in Kenosha. At the same time, he shifts the discussion about racism and police brutality against black Americans to a conversation about crime, violence and law and order. How remarkable is Trump's position in this debate?
BL: Trump is a casual, rather than, ideological racist (Hitler was the latter). Trump’s basic attitudes were shaped by his childhood in Queens (a section of New York City), which when he grew up was a largely white, middle- or lower-middle-class enclave (Trump himself was a child of privilege, but his attitudes are those of much of the milieu). He learned instinctive support for police (and firemen and the military) and distrust of “coloreds” and “Negroes” who were disproportionately involved in crime. (In the United States, the hit 1970s T.V. show “All in the Family” represents this outlook in the character Archie Bunker.) What’s remarkable is only that Trump is President and says what he says out loud; millions of course believe the same. While there are fewer “Archie Bunker’s” even in New York these days, there are still millions of white people still alive in the United States who grew up during the apartheid era in the American South, and they and sometimes their children harbor similar attitudes.
- Does president Trumps position in the racism debate reflect the GOP’s point of view?
BL: It does not represent the “official” position of the GOP, but ever since Richard Nixon, the GOP has tried to exploit white anxiety about crime, especially crime by non-whites. Trump is more open and crude about it.
- Taking such a strong stand in the racism debate, does the president have a clear vision in mind or can we speak of impulsive actions?
BL: Trump is too stupid and psychologically deformed to have a “clear vision” of anything but he does have fairly consistent instincts on these matters traceable to his upbringing (see my comments above).
- If Joe Biden wins the election, will Trumps ideas be forgotten or has his ideology become ingrained in American society?
BL: It will depend on two things: whether Republican leaders repudiate Trump’s ideas and whether the Fox television network repudiates them. I do not think those outside the United States realize the extent to which Fox is a propaganda network. Fox opposed Trump at the start, but once he prevailed, they have backed him strongly. Fox indoctrinates tens of millions of people in the United States. If Fox shifts away from Trump, then the Republican leadership will too. But it’s too soon to predict how likely that is.
- What are president Trumps chances of getting re-elected?
BL: We learned in 2016 that polls are not very reliable, in part because many Trump supporters don’t trust the “media” so won’t respond to polls. Ordinarily, a President presiding over a catastrophic pandemic and economic crisis, both of which he contributed to exacerbating, would lose badly. Maybe that will happen, but he has a core base of fanatical support that is unmoved. And even if he loses, he may not concede. I suppose it is obvious to the rest of the world already that the U.S. is a dysfunctional country (how else could Trump be President?), but I expect the election and its aftermath will make that even more apparent. Given how dangerous the U.S. is on the world stage, this is a crisis not just for America but for everyone.
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