Ken Wilber - Trump and a Post-Truth World

T he election of Donald Trump as the forty-fifth president of the United States came as something of a complete surprise and, for many, a staggering shock. The responses to this surprise, from virtually all colors of the political spectrum, tended to be extreme, vocal, and intense. The Left seemed to overflow with an alarm that quickly turned to anger, vociferous regret, and even sharp hatred, which altogether droveand continues to drivehundreds of demonstrations, almost daily, around the country. The Right sat back with smug grins and not-so-veiled threats of Things are gonna totally change! and Now well get even!threats that, indeed, Trump seems to have been acting on since day one in office.

In all of this, the more I listened to both sides, and read the voluminous outpouring of articles, essays, posts, and publications by all sidespurporting to tell us why this actually happened, what it really means, and what we should do about itthe less satisfied I became with what I heard. Although I agreed with numerous points raised by both sides, it seemed to me that virtually everybody was missing what is perhaps the single most central issue and crucial item for truly understanding what happened, why it did, and what it means. Truly, the core issue seems to have breezed over pretty much everybodys head.

And worse, in missing this central issue, the commentators had missed the crucial types of action that are necessary to redress the problemthat is, what responses would be most appropriate. But one thing has been clear: a country in which 50 percent of the population flat out hates the other 50 percent is not a country that can move forward with any sort of grace, dignity, and integrity. And that is exactly where the United States of America finds itself right now.

So I wrote an extended essay/short book on the topic, which you now are reading. I posted it at several online outlets, and it caused a rather immediate sensation, going a bit semi-viral. Im an author and teacher by profession, so when a good number of people recommended I publish this piece, I spoke with my publisher. We decided to bring it out as a book immediately (and, for future reference to the exact historical location of the points the book makes, it was written, in its final form, around three months post-inauguration). Let me make a few very quick comments about it here.

First, this is not an attempt to give an overall analysis of all the factors that contributed to putting Donald Trump in office. Rather, although this presentation mentions many (or perhaps even most) of the other factors that were involved, it deliberately focuses on the one singleand, I believe, clearly most pertinentissue that was responsible for this result, and it does so especially because, as I noted, this issue seems to have been completely overlooked by virtually all commentators of every stripe. For a full account of the Trump presidency, this factor needs to be included in a comprehensive analysis of all the other factors that are at play here. Still, this factor is indeed central (both for the major cause, and hence for the most appropriate courses of action in response).

Second, although my profession is indeed as a scholar (some twenty-three books in up to twenty-five foreign languages), this short book is not offered as a scholarly production. This is not an academic presentation; its much more like an op-ed piece in a national newspaper. I have intentionally not included scholarly references for any of my quotes, sources, or facts; I want this to be an easy, straightforward presentation unencumbered by bulky academic apparatus. If interested, this data can always be Googled. If you do so, keep in mind what is actually involved in that search processand exactly what that means is something that will become very clear as you read further.

Third, you will note that throughout this piece there are occasional references to things like Integral Theory or Integral Metatheory, AQAL, Lower-Right quadrant, and such. These are simply technical terms from a general philosophical perspective, called Integral, that I believe has much merit; indeed, the basic viewpoint of this piece is the Integral perspective. But if youre not interested in that type of thing, or at least dont want a dose of it right now, by all means simply ignore these terms when they occasionally appear; I have included them mostly for students. If you happen to find them intriguing, by all means, please pick up virtually any of my books (perhaps starting with A Brief History of Everything or The Integral Vision) to learn more about Integral Theory. All that needs to be said for now is that it is an orientation that has attempted to integrate most of the various branches of human knowledgeincluding premodern, modern, and postmodern approachesand thus, if nothing else, this viewpoint definitely tends to be very inclusive and comprehensive. In short, you will find the discussion in the following pages to be very open-minded. But apart from that, there is truly no reason to be bothered or irritated by these occasional technical terms; by all means, simply ignore them.