Thread: The moment of truth: We must stop Trump

The moment of truth: We must stop Trump

By Danielle Allen February 21 at 1:00 PM

Danielle Allen is a political theorist at Harvard University and a contributing columnist for The Post.

Like any number of us raised in the late 20th century, I have spent my life perplexed about exactly how Hitler could have come to power in Germany. Watching Donald Trump’s rise, I now understand. Leave aside whether a direct comparison of Trump to Hitler is accurate. That is not my point. My point rather is about how a demagogic opportunist can exploit a divided country.

To understand the rise of Hitler and the spread of Nazism, I have generally relied on the German-Jewish émigré philosopher Hannah Arendt and her arguments about the banality of evil. Somehow people can understand themselves as “just doing their job,” yet act as cogs in the wheel of a murderous machine. Arendt also offered a second answer in a small but powerful book called “Men in Dark Times.” In this book, she described all those who thought that Hitler’s rise was a terrible thing but chose “internal exile,” or staying invisible and out of the way as their strategy for coping with the situation. They knew evil was evil, but they too facilitated it, by departing from the battlefield out of a sense of hopelessness.

One can see both of these phenomena unfolding now. The first shows itself, for instance, when journalists cover every crude and cruel thing that comes out of Trump’s mouth and thereby help acculturate all of us to what we are hearing. Are they not just doing their jobs, they will ask, in covering the Republican front-runner? Have we not already been acculturated by 30 years of popular culture to offensive and inciting comments? Yes, both of these things are true. But that doesn’t mean journalists ought to be Trump’s megaphone. Perhaps we should just shut the lights out on offensiveness; turn off the mic when someone tries to shout down others; reestablish standards for what counts as a worthwhile contribution to the public debate. That will seem counter to journalistic norms, yes, but why not let Trump pay for his own ads when he wants to broadcast foul and incendiary ideas? He’ll still have plenty of access to freedom of expression. It is time to draw a bright line.

One spots the second experience in any number of water-cooler conversations or dinner-party dialogues. “Yes, yes, it is terrible. Can you believe it? Have you seen anything like it? Has America come to this?” “Agreed, agreed.” But when someone asks what is to be done, silence falls. Very many of us, too many of us, are starting to contemplate accepting internal exile. Or we joke about moving to Canada more seriously than usually.

But over the course of the past few months, I’ve learned something else that goes beyond Arendt’s ideas about the banality of evil and feelings of impotence in the face of danger.

Trump is rising by taking advantage of a divided country. The truth is that the vast majority of voting Americans think that Trump is unacceptable as a presidential candidate, but we are split by strong partisan ideologies and cannot coordinate a solution to stop him. Similarly, a significant part of voting Republicans think that Trump is unacceptable, but they too, thus far, have been unable to coordinate a solution. Trump is exploiting the fact that we cannot unite across our ideological divides.

The only way to stop him, then, is to achieve just that kind of coordination across party lines and across divisions within parties. We have reached that moment of truth.

Republicans, you cannot count on the Democrats to stop Trump. I believe that Hillary Clinton will win the Democratic nomination, and I intend to vote for her, but it is also the case that she is a candidate with significant weaknesses, as your party knows quite well. The result of a head-to-head contest between Clinton and Trump would be unpredictable. Trump has to be blocked in your primary.

Jeb Bush has done the right thing by dropping out, just as he did the right thing by being the first, alongside Rand Paul, to challenge Trump. The time has come, John Kasich and Ben Carson, to leave the race as well. You both express a powerful commitment to the good of your country and to its founding ideals. If you care about the future of this republic, it is time to endorse Marco Rubio. Kasich, there’s a little wind in your sails, but it’s not enough. Your country is calling you. Do the right thing.

Ted Cruz is, I believe, pulling votes away from Trump, and for that reason is useful in the race. But, Mr. Cruz, you are drawing too close to Trump’s politics. You too should change course.

Democrats, your leading candidate is too weak to count on as a firewall. She might be able to pull off a general election victory against Trump, but then again she might not. Too much is uncertain this year. You, too, need to help the Republicans beat Trump; this is no moment for standing by passively. If your deadline for changing your party affiliation has not yet come, re-register and vote for Rubio, even if, like me, you cannot stomach his opposition to marriage equality. I too would prefer Kasich as the Republican nominee, but pursuing that goal will only make it more likely that Trump takes the nomination. The republic cannot afford that.

Finally, to all of you Republicans who have already dropped out, one more, great act of public service awaits you. As candidates, you pledged to support whomever the Republican party nominated. It’s time to revoke your pledge. Be bold, stand up and shout that you will not support Trump if he is your party’s nominee. Do it together. Hold one big mother of a news conference. Endorse Rubio, together. It is time to draw a bright line, and you are the ones on whom this burden falls. No one else can do it.
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Marco Rubio, this is also your moment to draw a bright line. You too ought to rescind your pledge to support the party’s nominee if it is Trump.

Donald Trump has no respect for the basic rights that are the foundation of constitutional democracy, nor for the requirements of decency necessary to sustain democratic citizenship. Nor can any democracy survive without an expectation that the people require reasonable arguments that bring the truth to light, and Trump has nothing but contempt for our intelligence.

We, the people, need to find somewhere, buried in the recesses of our fading memories, the capacity to make common cause against this formidable threat to our equally shared liberties. The time is now.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opini...82d_story.html

For someone who is going to vote for Hillary Clinton, I would expect nothing less. There may be some crudeness to Trump, but no evil. To even parallel Trump with Hitler shows the absolute ignorance of the author and fear that there is finally a politician who can very likely be the next president who is willing to represent the people not the special interests or donor class. She should be using her wisdom and insight to guide her candidate on how to beat Trump if indeed he is the winner.

Danielle, this is the worst article I've ever read. You roam through your upper class suck-ass globalist slobbering Harvard Halls afraid of a man who wants to help our people get better jobs, higher pay, and brighter futures, all our people, white, black, hispanic, asian. You want to stop a good, decent successful American businessman, paying for his own campaign, who loves our country and people and wants to help us because he wants to protect our trade, have a temporary ban on Muslims until they can be vetted and stop illegal immigration?

Well, the problem here is you and those you share snippets with at the water fountain. You are the problem, not Donald Trump. You are the problem because you've never helped anyone else, you've never fixed anything, you've never built anything, you've never hired anyone, you've never contributed to our economy. Instead you've supported illegal aliens and surplus immigrants, you've towed the line for globalism and free trade treason, you've blown your horn about politics and wasted your life writing crap based on what has proved to be a fancy-sounding educational background that actually left you quite lacking as a self-centered, narrow-minded, insecure, elitist but without-the-money, stupid .... SNOB.

Donald Trump is a Blue-Collar Billionaire from Wharton ... living the American Dream if there ever was one ..... and kicking ass to win the Presidency of the United States against all odds .... while you're stuck in conceited long over-rated anal retentive universities that haven't produced a politician in my lifetime that's done anything for our country except bankrupt it destroying the lives and dreams of millions of Americans in the process.

Why the Washington Post would print your biased hateful dribble is incomprehensible.

Oh and by the way, throwing the Hitler card against Americans who want to save our country is so old and tired it's water off a duck's back.

Higher education has turned into a monster. They are giving out industrial secrets right and left. They are hotbeds of subversive indoctrination. Our state is now hopelessly indebted because many of the ed. personnel have retirements equivalent to their (bogus) earnings.

It seems that the media will publish anything that is negative against Trump. This woman has live her entire adult life in liberal/socialist academia. JMO

About the author:

Danielle S. Allen

Danielle S. Allen UPS Foundation Professor School of Social Science

Danielle Allen is a political theorist who has published broadly in democratic theory, political sociology, and the history of political thought. Widely known for her work on justice and citizenship in both ancient Athens and modern America, Allen is the author of The World of Prometheus: The Politics of Punishing in Democratic Athens (2000), Talking to Strangers: Anxieties of Citizenship since Brown v. Board of Education (2004), Why Plato Wrote (2010), and Our Declaration (Norton/Liveright, 2014). In 2002, she was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship for her ability to combine “the classicist’s careful attention to texts and language with the political theorist’s sophisticated and informed engagement.” She is currently working on books on citizenship in the digital age and political equality. Allen is a frequent public lecturer and regular guest on public radio affiliates to discuss issues of citizenship, as well as an occasional contributor on similar subjects to the Washington Post, Boston Review, Democracy, Cabinet, and The Nation. University of Cambridge, Ph.D., Classics, 1996; Harvard University, Ph.D., Government, 2001; The University of Chicago, Assistant Professor 1997–2000, Associate Professor 2000–03, Professor 2003–07, Dean of the Division of Humanities 2004–07; Institute for Advanced Study, UPS Foundation Professor 2007–; MacArthur Fellowship 2002; American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Member; Trustee of Amherst College, Mellon Foundation; Pulitzer Prize Board, Chair; PROSE Award in Education 2013 Individual Homepage

https://www.ias.edu/people/faculty-and-emeriti/allen

"political theorist" .... well, Donald Trump shoots down all their theories. Maybe that's why they hate him so much.