Stop Throwing a Hissy Fit - Donald Trump is a "Normal" Leader
It’s hard to read the news these days without coming across a reference to something being “normalized” by the Trump Administration. His comically brazen falsehoods, disregard for reporters, open contempt for the judiciary; the list is long. On the more liberal programs, barely a night goes by without some commentator or other screaming “This Is Not Normal’ into the camera.
There appears to be some confusion here that could use clearing up, so here it is: This is normal. And no, it is not the “new” normal. It has always been normal.
Take a look around at most of the world, or at the history of pretty much any place at pretty much any time, and you should start to see the picture.
The serious expectation that leaders should be temperate and unselfish servants of the people is an absurdly modern, isolated concept. Until the last century, it barely existed at all. Even now, it’s only really in a few places that this assumption prevails.
If your history is shaky, here’s a high level view. From the civilizations in B.C. Mesopotamia until the First World War, societies were almost always governed by the now-mocked figures of emperors and kings. These heads of state tended to be fickle, vain, prone to violent outbursts, and allergic to any checks on their authority.
The 20th century was hardly better, with the few burgeoning democracies being accompanied by the likes of Stalin, Hitler, Mussolini, and Mao.
China, today, is a Communist dictatorship. Russia is run by a KGB officer. Most governments in the developing world are shamelessly corrupt, and they preside over the majority of the world’s population. Taxpayer-funded palaces and gaudy statues of dictators are common sights across the globe. That is normal.
Western-style liberal democracy, on the other hand, is an exception. It is outside the common pattern, and it is experimental. Nothing need be done to normalize a petty autocratic blowhard in a position of authority. That has been the norm for the full span of human history.
What we have normalized over the last few decades is our way of life. And not in a healthy way. We have gotten so used to the American system that it no longer seems exceptional. In some cases, such as the slow sabotage of overzealous moral relativism, the notion considering our society superior to any other has been actively resisted.
It might be coincidence that the last generation of Americans to see firsthand what kinds of horror can be wrought by autocratic systems are dying off at the same time that we seem to be forgetting why our principles and institutions are good ideas in the first place, but I doubt it. People who have fought against oppressive regimes tend to better understand the value of open societies, and are invested in their preservation.
However foundational we have come to see them, there is nothing inevitable about the freedoms we take for granted. Free speech is not a natural right. Neither is equal protection under the law, or the right to representation in government. These are unnatural, unusual things designed by uncommon people.
So scream all you want, but keep in mind that a character like Trump is remarkable only because he is in an exceptional country. Just about anywhere else and he would be par for the course. Donald Trump is normal. Functional democracies are not.
