To break sharply with the past is to court the madness that may follow the shock of sudden blows or mutilations. As the sanity of the individual lies in the continuity of his memories, so the sanity of a group lies in the continuity of its traditions; in either case a break in the chain invites a neurotic reaction, as in the Paris massacres of September, I792.— Will Durant, The Lessons of History
Or the Capitol riot in 2020. When people saw that it took a week to count the votes and that anomalies surfaced left and right, the reaction was swift and bitter.
And it is only the first assault, not the last. Rambunctious President Trump is bent on his own revolution, and if successful, it will leave American public unable to recognize itself anymore. A “neurotic reaction” is sure to follow.
What is causing this break in the chain of continuity?
First, there is Trump himself, shambling and glowering like a pro-wrestling heel. His official portrait — the one that hangs in American embassies — says it all: a self-pitying bully, or bull who intends to stomp the china shop into dust. Previous portraits embodied the nation’s self-image: friendly, orderly, neighborly.
Even the conniving Nixon smiled for his portrait. But here is a president who makes no bones about his viciousness, and equates his grievances with America’s: everyone is taking advantage of me/us; everyone is cheating me/us; everyone is robbing me/us — but only because other administrations have made it easy for them, and I/we will make them pay for that.
This victim’s way of looking at the world is Trump’s contribution to American politics. It always finds a welcome reception — from Hitler justifying German militarism to Nigel Farage promoting Brexit — because the blame for the country’s ills has specific culprits: immigrants, the mendacious “allies,” the (Democratic) elite, the “Deep State,” the Justice Department — to name just a few of Trump’s favorites. His message contrasts deeply with the previous narrative of a strong America that led a more-or-less willing group of nations that needed to be wary of enemies. Trump’s solution is not the usual “vigilance” and “resolve,” but revenge. Hence the first cultural shock for Americans: with obvious anomalies like Osama bin Laden and 9-11, they have no experience with policies of revenge.
Or the policy of conquest. Trump, who knows how to campaign but really has little understanding of Americans, expects his compatriots to burst with pride when his troops clobber angry locals at the Panama Canal — expects them to beat their chests and do the gorilla chant: “U.S.A.! U.S.A.” But the reaction is likely to be stunned silence: did we really need to spill blood for that?
What of Greenland? Will Americans be treated to images of sullen Inuits watching Marines land on their beaches and set up tent camps and a Pizza Hut? In Iraq and Afghanistan, successive American administrations were careful to assure people that they were conquering in order to expel dictators and bring democracy to oppressed peoples. It was a fig leaf, of course, but it reinforced the white-hat image Americans have of themselves, and gave the military a clean sense of purpose.
But Greenland, Panama and Canada already have working democracies; an American invasion of any would be just that: an invasion, one they will resent, and probably resist. Already Canadians are unhappy with Americans: take a look at this U.S.-Canada hockey game. Trump may think that expansion is as wonderful in politics as in business, but his countrymen will abhor any force, economic or military, used against these peaceful, inoffensive peoples — that’s for the likes of the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany. A people who consider their military a force that defends their freedom will not recognize its legitimacy in taking over other countries.
And then there’s Israel. At this writing, it seems that once a certain number of hostages have been released, the rest will be written off: their families will have to settle for a stylish memorial with the victims’ names carved on it. After that, the Israelis will “finish the job.” And again, Americans will find themselves dragged along in this blood-fest of manifest destiny, ever more conscious of Jewish power in their politics, and aghast at the blanket suppression of lawful protest: it’s turning out that even the good ol’ First Amendment just ain’t what it used to be.
Which leads to the next shock: the purpose of government itself. Americans shrug ignorantly at the mass firing of seventeen inspectors general , civil servants are treated as useless chattle and laid off by the thousand, and Trump has promised 80,000 job cuts in Veterans Administration. The message to the public is that the government is getting out of the public service business. Ronald Reagan’s little revolution back in the Eighties — “Government is the problem, not the solution!” — meant that there were less services and fewer rules. With Trump, services will be whittled down to the politically indispensable, and rules, well, rules will just be whatever they say they are — this is in the spirit of enlarging individual freedom.
Elon Musk has no more understanding of Americans — or government — than Trump. According to the New York Times, Musk recently defended his performance at Trump’s first Cabinet meeting, “reminding the cabinet secretaries that he had built multiple billion-dollar companies from the ground up and knew something about hiring good people.” Doesn’t that single sentence perfectly summarize the rich? “Because I’ve built companies and become wealthy, my intelligence is evidently fit for all purposes.” It is of a piece with Trump’s nihilistic message that brilliant people (like him and Elon) can remake or eliminate the rules — who needs those bums in Congress? — and that will be good for everyone.
Americans, however, are a law-and-order, rules-based people. Already there is enormous public hatred of big companies. Look at the outpouring of support for Luigi Mangione, who killed a healthcare executive. Americans view freedom, among other things, as protection from the rich and powerful. What will they think when consumer protection falls even further?
So imagine the panorama towards the end of Trump’s term: Israel in charge “from the river to the sea,” the Palestinians having been chased out carrying their babies and mattresses; Canada the fifty-first and angriest state, the Americas upset about the aggression against Panama, Europe no longer on speaking terms with America and making up with Russia in order to re-start their economy, and a paradise for big companies who have cut their payrolls way back because AI allows them to.
The liberal mainstream media, if not outlawed, will run amok pointing out the lack of good professional jobs, the about-face in foreign policy, the rising homelessness and income inequality, phones unanswered in government agencies, and a rising tide of other injustices in public life. Protest will be either outlawed or censored. Americans will scarcely recognize themselves.
It bears repeating: “As the sanity of the individual lies in the continuity of his memories, so the sanity of a group lies in the continuity of its traditions.” You can count on the sharp reaction of an adrift, bewildered, frightened America after four years of Trumpism. Paris 1792? One thing is certain: as Trump said of his spat with President Zelensky, “This is going to be great television.”
