Friday, November 27, 2020

Trumpty Dumpty Has His Regression

Trump is an enormously regressive individual. Take for instance the soubriquets he uses to describe people. "Pocahantos" for Elizabeth Warren, "Crooked Hillary" (an interesting choice from a legendary liar). It’s schoolyard name calling elevated to the level of international diplomacy. He famously called Kim Jong-un “Little Rocket Man.” And what he’s done is to create a movement based on regressive behavior. “Lock her up,” the chant used to demean Hillary Clinton came in handy against the Governor of Michigan, Gretchen Whitmer. Rather than discountenancing such behavior Trump has egged his followers on. The total lack of decorum and disrespect for other human beings reflected in the president’s refusing to concede is reflected in the collective regression evidenced in his crowds of supporters on the campaign trail. Regressive behavior is symptomatic of dictators in general. During the years of the Argentine military junta, opponents were literally thrown out of planes. If it weren’t so frighteningly horrible, it might be looked at the behavior of a group of out of control five year olds who attempt to destroy playthings and sometimes each other when no figure of authority is there to protect them from each other. Children in the anal stage of development don’t act like diplomats. They fight over each other’s possessions and constantly cry foul play when they don’t get what the want. Alfred Jarry’s Ubu Roi one of the greatest imagined despots of all time is really a gigantic baby whose petulant behavior bears a striking resemblance to the tantrum Trump has thrown in the wake of his loss. Unable to gracefully admit defeat, he has refused to come out of  his White House to play with the other kids. Trumpty Dumpty sat on a wall/Trumpy Dumpty had a great fall.

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