Watching a Demagogue Rise

I’ve been struggling to understand Trump’s rise for months now. On the one hand, I get it. People are fed up. There’s a lot of anger in this country right now, and Trump is feeding on it. On the other hand, I don’t get it. While I get the anger part, surely this is a bridge too far? Trump does more than promise to make America great again, he also says some of the most racist, sexist, xenophobic things I’ve ever heard a presidential candidate say. And the violence he tolerates among his followers and at his rallies brings to mind visions of fascist dictators. How is this happening?

Then I saw this tweet by @LibyaLiberty:

Text reads:

If you’re an American confusedly watching the darkest forces of ur nation rally behind a demagogue-maybe u can understand the Mid East now. 

I have often been at pains to remind people that not everyone in the Middle East supports this or that dictatorial leader or Islamist demagogue. Most people in the Middle East are just like you and me—they want a job, a home, and the space to create a family with those they love. But this? This helps me better understand what it’s like for them to watch dictators or demagogues rise and fall, and also how these leaders attract their followers.

@LibyaLiberty went further in explaining:

Text reads:

If you’re an American confusedly watching the darkest forces of ur nation rally behind a demagogue-maybe u can understand the Mid East now. 

Now imagine if you KNOW it’s because of political frustration, economic stagnation, & social decay but everyone kept calling it a jihad . . . 

Trump got everyone wanting to make every Muslim walk the plan and you haven’t even had a single Muslim nation drone you.

God forbid. 

Now imagine if the US gov’t outlawed Christian evangelism. How radicalized would segments of the nation become. And militant. Buddy on crack. 

That’s the Mid East today. Years of pol oppression & religious manipulation by dictators offered seats at the UN. Something had to give. 

If nothing else, watching Trump rise has given me a better understanding of how—and why—this sort of thing happens in other countries around the world. We haven’t seen it as often here in the U.S. in part because the establishment of each party usually reins it in. The Republican party has failed to do that this election cycle, and their leaders are starting to freak out, as evidenced by the GOP Congressional leaders and past GOP presidential candidates who are now weighing in and disavowing Trump, their panic vaguely concealed.

Don’t get me wrong, we’ve had demagogues before—that is nothing new. Think Glenn Beck, for instance, or Rush Limbaugh. There are other demagogues in our history too, if you look back further. It’s just that demagogues just don’t usually run for president. They don’t usually rally their supporters to work within the system to cease political power. The result is concerning, to say the least.

Have you seen the videos of escalating violence at Trump rallies?

In the above video, Trump supporters violently push and shove a young black woman, Chanelle Helm, forcing her out of the rally. What happened was assault, and frankly, I found it disturbing to watch—but it’s important, too. We need to keep our eyes open and be aware of what is happening. Turning away is not an option.

You can read further details of the above violence here:

What we now know from the full video, particularly starting at around 28:00 in this video, is that the crowd was taking their cues from Trump — who repeatedly barked, “get them out of here” without giving anyone in particular a clue as to who he expected to do such a thing. So flippant in his directive, it appears that attendees simply began taking it upon themselves to manhandle protesters and force them out of the rally. Apparently wanting to have the feeling that they were doing what their Supreme Leader told them to do, everybody began to chip in. A random teenage boy shoved the young girl to one side until she is pushed again by someone else. A man wearing a military hat repeatedly shoved and yelled at her as well.

This is not the only case of violence at Trump rallies. There has been violence against reporters, too, and in some cases black students who weren’t even there to protest have been ejected. And it seems to be getting worse.

I wish I could leave you with some sort of neat tied-up-in-a-bow resolution to all of the above, but I can’t. We live in a country full of anger. Some are directing that anger at the system, but others are directing it at immigrants and minorities. That much of this anger is understandable does not who is being targeted in the process any less horrific. If nothing else, I have a lot more sympathy and understanding for those people around the world who have watched as dictators and demagogues rise, unable to stop what is taking place before their eyes.