The Bully In His Pulpit
Tuesday night showed the core truth of Trump. And of liberal democratic collapse.
“Dennis Burnham, who lived next door, was a toddler when his mother briefly put him in a playpen in their garden. She returned a few minutes later to find the current U.S. president, then aged five or six, standing at his fence throwing rocks at the little boy. Another neighbor, Steven Nachtigall, now a 66-year-old doctor, said he never forgot Trump ... once jumping off his bike and beating up another boy: ‘It was so unusual and terrifying at that age,’” - Trump Revealed.
“When I look at myself in the first grade and I look at myself now, I’m basically the same,” - Donald J Trump.
The pews at the cathedral were packed this Ash Wednesday — more than I can remember in years. Some others on social media seemed to notice the same thing. And the atmosphere was dark and intense even for the beginning of Lent — as ash was smeared on my forehead with the familiar, sobering mantra:
Remember, man, that thou are dust and unto dust thou shalt return.
Unbidden grief welled up. Grief for my mother and father, grief for a Ukrainian exile friend who killed himself last summer, impending grief for a Pope I love and revere. And yes, although I may be roundly mocked by some of you for this, grief for my country.
The night before, you see, I’d watched the president’s address to the Congress. Yes, yes, I know I recently pledged not to respond to every provocation from the troller-in-chief and focus on policies and long-term results. But to understand the moment we are in — and the policies that will follow — we simply cannot look away from what Tuesday night revealed about the state of our republic. I know I’m repeating myself, and have been since early 2016, but part of Trump’s psychological abuse is wearing down opponents so they stop repeating themselves, and give in to the lies. I will not be worn down. Truth matters.
Here it is: We have a sociopathic president in total command of a cult-like party; a Congress that, as long as the GOP controls it, is a rubber-stamp version of the Russian Duma under Putin; a court balanced precariously between a modest defense of the unitary executive and an Alito wing bent on empowering an American Caesar; and a Justice Department openly planning persecution of the president’s political opponents.
The speech itself, mind you, was masterful. He’s at the top of his game and clearly loving every second of it. If you knew nothing of history or reality apart from it, you’d have been inspired, entranced, even ebullient about the greatest comeback of any country in all of human history by far! And the poignant individual stories were pitch-perfect, with the Democrats’ cringey lameness the cherry on the cake.
Trump’s ability to invent and sustain a false narrative, however crazy and however incoherent, is preternatural. So are his profound skills in psychological abuse deployed to make it stick: gaslighting, intimidating, manipulating, and menacing you so that, in the end, you have no idea what the truth is or could be, and submit to the man if only to get out of his way.
Start with the opener, which was quite something:
The presidential election of Nov. 5 was a mandate like has not been seen in many decades ... Now, for the first time in modern history, more Americans believe that our country is headed in the right direction than the wrong direction ... In fact, it has been stated by many that the first month of our presidency — it’s our presidency — is the most successful in the history of our nation. By many. And what makes it even more impressive is that do you know who No. 2 is? George Washington.
Trump’s popular vote margin was the second smallest of any candidate’s since 1968; yes, there’s been a jump among Republicans who think the country is now on the right track, but still many more Americans believe the country is on the wrong one — and Trump’s numbers on this, far from being unique in modern history, are the same as Biden’s were at this point in his term. Oh, and absolutely no one has said that Trump’s first month is better than George Washington’s — except Donald Trump.
So here’s what I’d ask of readers who say that I have Trump Derangement Syndrome: tell me how you personally parse all these claims that were a mere warmup for the rest. When you heard him say he was better than George Washington, did you giggle? Did you just ignore it? Did you roll your eyes? Did you feel a tinge of nausea? Did you actually believe it? Or have you stopped caring altogether?
This matters because it is central to Trump’s success: no sane person with a grip on reality — unless they had just arrived from outer space — could believe vast tracts of his speech. With huge self-evident lie after huge self-evident lie, insane exaggeration after insane exaggeration, you are instantly forced to choose between walking away from the nutter or acquiescing to his madness. And since he is president, you can’t walk away. So the lies become Truth for millions; narrative replaces reality; aggressors are victims; exploding debt is fiscal prudence; weaponization of the law is anti-weaponization; and on and on.
Notice how post-modern this is. These are not the usual politicians’ lies, which pay some deference to the truth, even when eliding it. Trump, like the critical theorists, has contempt for the truth. “Truth” is entirely a myth he creates at will to justify the use of power. Critical Trump Theory, so to speak, is unfalsifiable, irrational, and seeks to replace objective reality with Trump’s lived experience so that, in the end, only his power remains. Brute power — immune to fact, argument or debate. Trump power. That’s what the Founders started this country to resist. And it’s what a majority of Americans have now given up on.
The best metaphor for Trump’s entire raison d’être is the incident cited above, when at just five years old, he was found throwing rocks at a baby: find someone weaker, first humiliate them, and then destroy them. And for Trump, this doesn’t have to lead anywhere. It is an end in itself. The bullying of others is what gives him life. He does it for those he favors as well as those he wants to destroy. Here is Trump on Truth Social in July last year, for example, on Musk. This is necessary even for Trump’s allies:
When Elon came … asking me for help on all his many subsidized projects … I could have said “drop to your knees and beg” and he would have done it.
Canada and Mexico are best understood as the baby in the playpen. Trump himself re-negotiated a trade agreement with both in his first term. Have they violated that deal? No. Have they refused to cooperate on fentanyl and illegal migrants? No. Has Mexico reduced the pressure on the Southern border to almost nothing. Dramatically. Is there anything they can or could do to please Trump? No. The point is the abuse. And like all abusers, Trump constantly shifts what he is demanding, gaslights, threatens, charms, attacks … so that you begin to realize there is nothing you can do except wait for his mood to change. Welcome to monarchy.
And you thought he might come to Ukraine’s defense! Poor Douglas Murray. What the world saw last Friday was the same, central Trump dynamic: the leader of a smaller democracy that has withstood three years of brutal attack by a far larger dictatorship ... was still publicly humiliated, because he dared air his concern of no security guarantees against Russia. “Just say thank you,” Vance harangued him. “Have you said thank you once?” I cannot recall any visiting head of state who has ever, ever been thrown out of the White House the way Zelensky was. Why? Because he did not submit.
Notice also how Tump and Vance have treated the big European democracies. Vance went to Germany to lambaste the country for curtailing extremist speech, and intervened in their domestic politics to endorse the AfD, meeting with them while blowing off the Chancellor; he described the UK and France as “random” countries that haven’t “fought a war in 30 or 40 years,” and said the UK would be the “first truly Islamist country” to have nukes. Now try and recall him saying anything comparably vicious or withering about Russia and China. Humiliate and berate Trudeau, Starmer, Merz, and Macron. Throw love-bombs at Putin, Xi, the West Bank settlers, and Kim.
The same, I think, is the real rationale behind the chaotic, often illegal, acts of DOGE. It is not about reducing the debt and never was; the savings, if any, will be trivial. The cruelty and caprice of Musk’s rampage is solely about submission. The very irrationality of the assault is designed to get the entire federal bureaucracy to surrender its will to continue as a rational enterprise.
Or take Israel and Gaza. Of course Trump sees Palestinian Arabs the way Jabotinsky did: weak, dispensable, contemptible, deserving of obliteration. And what rationale could defend the assault on Denmark over Greenland, or Panama over the canal, or what appears to be Trump’s near-pathological hatred of Canada — which we just found out is even weirder than it publicly appears? The impulse, the need, to bully.
So yes, I will wait and judge the consequences of Trump’s policies. Some — like ending DEI, mass migration, and the medical abuse of children — I support. But at the expense of reason, decency, and the rule of law?
What I saw Tuesday night was a whole new low in mass deception, delusion, and democratic collapse. What I saw was a new stage in the transition from democracy to a form of tyranny in real time. The institutional trappings remain, as they did in Rome. But the institutions no longer function as the Founders understood them; and reasoned deliberation has become utterly irrelevant. The cooling saucer of the Senate on Tuesday night was chanting “USA! USA! USA!” like a mob. If Ben Franklin witnessed the scene, his worst fears would be confirmed.
So forgive me for the grief. Things may improve; the courts are doing what they can, and Roberts and Coney Barrett seem like actual conservatives — not Trump cultists. There is a great deal of ruin in a nation, and we have a huge reserve of historical, constitutional legitimacy. Europe may yet rally. The First Amendment allows us to call out the lies — even though parts of the media have already voluntarily submitted.
The challenge for liberals of all stripes is a familiar one in dystopian democracies and rigid dictatorships: Live not by lies. Keep your grip on reality. Avoid the propaganda now washing down on you like torrential rain. Find a refuge, as I did on Wednesday — a place where eternal truths remain, or where free thinking can endure (Spinoza is a role model, which is why the Dishcast discusses him this week).
Avoid hysteria, which Trump wants and exploits. But avoid also being co-opted by a single one of his lies, to see clearly, and to speak simply. Read those you disagree with; get off most social media; choose doubt over certainty; restraint over impulse; resist this authoritarian and irrational moment by refocusing above all on the simple truth, as best as you can, and fighting all those on both extremes trying to annihilate it.
Because these wings are no longer wings to fly
But merely vans to beat the air
The air which is now thoroughly small and dry
Smaller and dryer than the will
Teach us to care and not to care. Teach us to sit still.
(Note to readers: This is an excerpt of The Weekly Dish. If you’re already a paid subscriber, click here to read the full version. This week’s issue also includes: my talk with Ian Buruma on the 17th century dissenter Spinoza; reader dissents on the right-wing dissent over Trump; listener dissents on the episode with pro-Trump Caldwell; 12 notable quotes from the week in news, including three Yglesias Awards; 13 pieces on Substack we recommend on a variety of topics; a Hathos Alert from the Dem resistance; a Mental Health Break of Weird Al; a pastoral window in Wisconsin; and, of course, the results of the View From Your Window contest — with a new challenge. Subscribe for the full Dish experience!)
From a new paid subscriber:
I’ve been reading you since the early blog days, and I’ve been reading the free version of the Dish for some time — but the state of the world right now compels me to make sure I’m reading or listening to your full perspective (rather than just the intros), to help me better shape my own thoughts, feelings, opinions.
Back On The Dishcast: Ian Buruma
Ian is a historian, a journalist, and an old friend. He’s currently the Paul Williams Professor of Human Rights and Journalism at Bard College. He served as the editor of The New York Review of Books and as foreign editor of The Spectator, where he still writes. He has written many books, including Theater of Cruelty, The Churchill Complex, and The Collaborators — which we discussed on the Dishcast in 2023. This week we’re covering his latest book, Spinoza: Freedom’s Messiah, and the example of Spinoza’s intellectual integrity in a deeply tribal and emotional time.
Listen to the episode here. There you can find two clips of our convo — on cancel culture in the 17th century, and how Western liberalism is dying today. That link also takes you to commentary on our episode with Chris Caldwell defending Trump, and you can also find readers and me debating the Trump-Zelensky meeting, the SOTU, and conservatives defying Trump. Plus, more Kristol bashing!
Browse the Dishcast archive for an episode you might enjoy (the first 102 are free in their entirety — subscribe to get everything else). Coming up: Evan Wolfson on the history of marriage equality, Michael Lewis on government service, Nick Denton on China and AI, Francis Collins on faith and science, Douglas Murray on Israel and Gaza, and Mike White of White Lotus fame. Please send any guest recs, dissents, and other comments to dish@andrewsullivan.com.
Dissents Of The Week
A responds to my latest column (“The Other Resistance — From The Right”):
Yes, there are a handful of conservatives who, in the face of evil and incompetence, stand strong on some point of honor or substance. What’s extremely discouraging is how few of these principled conservatives there are in Congress. I count maybe three out of 268 GOP critters. In the administration? Not one. The few non-maniacs, Rubio specifically, stand by and let the horrors proceed without dissent. MAGA swallowed the GOP, and the 1% that cling to the old ways are rare indeed.
Read my response here, along with a few other dissents. More are on the pod page. As always, please keep the dissents coming: dish@andrewsullivan.com. A reader writes:
Thanks as always for the Dish and for printing comments from people who disagree with you. Also, your moderated printing of comments is much better than a comment section.
In The ‘Stacks
This is a feature in the paid version of the Dish spotlighting about 20 of our favorite pieces from other Substackers every week. This week’s selection covers subjects such as a looming recession, more bombs for Israel, and immigration judges. A few examples:
“Making mice transgender” is actually partly true, says Ben Ryan.
Luke Hallam explains why “Machiavelli would hate Trump.”
Here’s a list of the substacks we recommend in general — call it a blogroll. If you have any suggestions for “In the ‘Stacks,” especially ones from emerging writers, please let us know: dish@andrewsullivan.com.
The View From Your Window Contest
Where do you think it’s located? Email your guess to contest@andrewsullivan.com. Please put the location — city and/or state first, then country — in the subject line. Proximity counts if no one gets the exact spot. Bonus points for fun facts and stories. The deadline for entries is Wednesday night at midnight (PST). The winner gets the choice of a VFYW book or two annual Dish subscriptions. If you are not a subscriber, please indicate that status in your entry and we will give you a free month sub if we select your entry for the contest results (example here if you’re new to the VFYW). Contest archive is here. Happy sleuthing!
The results for this week’s window are coming in a separate email to paid subscribers later today. From last week’s results, here’s the sleuth who writes profiles of notable figures who grew up in each location:
For the notable person this week, I turned to a favorite subject of yours and Chris’: South Park. April Stewart is an American voice actress. Born and raised in Truckee, she started acting at the age of 12. Her father, Freddie Stewart, was a singer with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra. April studied classical, contemporary, and musical theatre at The Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts. Before starting her voiceover career, she spent the majority of her time on the stage.
Today Stewart is best known for providing the voices of many female characters in South Park: Wendy Testaburger, Liane Cartman, Sharon Marsh, Carol McCormick, Shelley Marsh, Mayor McDaniels, Principal Victoria, and others. Stewart started her voice work on South Park in 2004 starting with season 8 after the departure of Eliza Schneider. Prior to this, many of the female characters on the series were originally voiced by Mary Kay Bergman. Incidentally, in 2001, she began voiceovers at the suggestion of Grey DeLisle, who had been a student of Bergman’s.
Stewart’s voice can also be heard in numerous cartoons, video games, commercials and movies, which include, Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water, The Great and Powerful Oz and Wreck-It-Ralph. Some of her most memorable roles include Raava and Fire Lord Izumi from The Legend of Korra; Empress Jessamine Kaldwin and Corvo’s Heart from Dishonored; Maria from El Tigre: Adventures of Manny Rivera; Petra Venge from Destiny; and Jean Grey and Psylocke from Marvel Heroes.
She has stated that “Trapped in the Closet” is one of her favorite episodes of South Park, and she named Sharon Marsh as her favorite character to voice. She also referenced Shelley as one of her favorite voices and said that Principal Victoria was her most difficult, due to Victoria’s Minnesotan accent.
Like Matt and Trey, her voice is pitched up for child characters like Wendy Testaburger; she cannot naturally reproduce them. She has cited on Twitter that the more “mature” voice she uses for Wendy was a deliberate creative decision by Trey Parker.
As Stewart stated on her website, her favorite role in this life is, and always will be, Mom to her teenage daughter.
See you next Friday.