Hatred As The Most Powerful Of Unifying Agents — Trumpism

In the Middle of the last century a noted American social and political philosopher, Eric Hoffer, wrote about hatred: “Hatred is the most accessible and comprehensive of all unifying agents….Mass movements [political or religious] can rise and spread without belief in a God, but never without belief in a devil….When Hitler was asked whether he thought the Jew must be destroyed, he answered: ‘no… We should have to invent him. It is essential to have a tangible enemy, not merely an abstract one.’”

For some thirty years Republicans have been content to encourage the nation’s haters to come to their party and except for a few brave souls like Senators McCain, Corker and Flake the GOP has become hostage to the nation’s destructive social element. Hatred binds like superglue. Whether it is hatred of Washington, folks in metropolitan regions of the country, LGBT types or minorities and emigrants, hatred can easily be mobilized as a powerful political force by anyone wholly devoid of decency or respect for truth — yes, the Donald.

No matter the inspiration of their hatred, haters function as one. So even though resentful American haters may be less than thirty percent of the population their intensity of cause is likely unassailable. For the balk of the population (positive, hopeful folks) they will most likely be loosely fragmented among many diverse lukewarm ideals, easily bowled over by the unity of simplistic hatred. And with the Internet and “conservative” media constantly fanning the flames of disunity, hatred has gained powerful tools never before enjoyed by the forces of darkness. And so we see Trumpism riding high against all comers — bye, bye democracy, hello Putinism.