John W. Dean - Authoritarian Nightmare: Trump and His Followers

Just as we were finishing the first draft of this book, the COVID-19 virus began tearing the whole world apart, and nobodys lifeand no new book about Trumpcould be unaffected. Donald Trump had faced few challenges but had created much chaos during his first three years in the White House, while the country had been reveling in peace and prosperity. Pensions were padded, payoffs were pursued, parks were packed. Then it all disappeared almost before we knew it was going. A lot of people had worried from November 8, 2016, onward that the end was nigh, and its name would be World War III. Few had figured on a plague. But Trumps dealing with COVID-19 will define his presidency, and we had to deal with his dealing, front and center, in this book because it exemplifies his behavior and that of his followers. The trouble was, we could not wait to see how the emergency turned out, since it would probably still be turning out, or be freshly returning, on Election Day 2020. The closer we get to November 3, 2020, the more it looks like that day will be a pivotal moment in American history, and the more we thought this analysis had to be informed by the presidents handling of the COVID-19 crisis.

Then on May 25 a white police officer in Minneapolis slowly and brutally murdered a helpless Black man in broad daylight as onlookers filmed the crime and begged the officer to stop. The country erupted with wider and angrier protests than most Americans alive today had ever seen as the racism that has betrayed Americas ideals from its first days was nakedly exposed in all its ugliness. The demonstrations lasted for weeks and were almost always peaceful. Local officials in Minneapolis and the states governor immediately aligned themselves with the nonviolent protestors and took steps to reduce the anger and try to solve the problems. So did other governors, mayors, police chiefs, and rank-and-file police officers. What did the president do?

Sometimes emergencies bring out the best in leaders, revealing unanticipated strengths and sound judgment. Certainly, Americans needed strong, wise leadership as they woke up every day to the greatest public health crisis in a hundred years and the greatest civil unrest in fifty years. The chief executive of the land has the job of uniting the country in times of perils and using his vast array of experts to advise him. The epidemic gave President Trump the opportunity to demonstrate the massive skills at organization and government that his followers ardently believed he had. And a strong showing would almost guarantee re-election in November. Americans would thankfully give a second term to a president who had just saved the nation from such peril. As for the civil unrest, no one was better positioned than Donald Trump, because of his past, to bring peace to the land by joining the cry that Black lives matter as much as white lives and showing he would work to make African Americans equal partners in a great America.

Instead of turning this political godsend and this opportunity for historic healing into buzz-saw momentum in the election, it seemed to us that Trump proceeded to make the same mistakes he had been making for the past three years, while his followers, whom this book is mainly about, kept cheering him on. So the White Houses handling of the pandemic and the Black Lives Matter protest did not lead us to reframe our analysis of Americas situation; rather, it stamped an exclamation point on almost every one of our conclusions.

But can the world possibly need yet another book about Donald Trump? If you Google books about Trump, the answer seems obvious: Youve got to be kidding! But while there are many books about the man and his presidency, favorable and not so favorable, we could find no book that explains why he acts the way he does. Nor are there any books that explain his base, the source of his power. In fact, many observers have thrown up their hands in despair at Trumps very steadfast supporters. They seem beyond the pale, beyond understanding. Well, give us a chance, for we believe we have solid science-based answers.

First things first. Many people have opined there is something seriously wrong, psychologically, with Donald Trump. If you proudly wear a Make America Great Again hat, you may be offended by the suggestion. For you, as for him, Trump should be immortalized on his own Mount Rushmore, maybe renamed Mount Trump, as Americas greatest president. But if you have passed on a twenty-five-dollar official MAGA hat while observing Donald Trump for any time at all, you may believe the man is deeply troubled mentally. Psychiatrists and clinical psychologists have been riveted by his behavior from the outset of his presidential bid. They wondered during the campaign, Is this an act just to get elected? But by the time he moved into the White House, many concluded Trump was not crazy like a fox but crazy like a crazy.

These professionals have company. Many sophisticated Washington pundits and presidential observers have deep concerns about Trump. Other aides, competing with one another for the presidents favor, leaked damaging information about their opponents in Trumps inner circle, which implicitly diss Trump for hiring their opponents. The Trump White House leaks more than Nixons did when he formed the infamous Plumbers unit to shut off the flow. It appears everybody is trying to get even. John Boltons book The Room Where It Happened revealed just how dysfunctional the White House had become by 2018 and what a terrible manager and decision maker Trump was.

The combination of brutal personal portrayals and the daily drips of West Wing scuttlebutt reported regularly from the White House lawn on the six oclock news give one pause about the person who lives at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Donald Trump, the most powerful person on the planet, apparently does not have as much influence as he wants, often exploding in anger in the West Wing, not to mention ranting publicly on social media when he does not get his way. He demands all-the-time-on-all-the-issues loyalty from those around him. As a result, most of the cabinet appointees and high administration officials who objected, however privately, to Trumps plans during his first two years in office have resigned or been fired. As Trump entered the last year of his four-year term, he surrounded himself, as much as he could, with advisors who told him he was always right. That action has given us the equivalent of an explosives-loaded freight train with no brakes.