The Greatest Threat To Our Fabric Of Democracy Is Donald Trump’s Fear Mongering

“Any who act as if freedom’s defenses are to be found in suppression and suspicion and fear confess a doctrine that is alien to America.”

-President Dwight D. Eisenhower

“Of all the liars in the world,” wrote Rudyard Kipling, “sometimes the worst are our own fears.” He could’ve also added presidents and their fear mongering. Consequently, we may be facing a more ominous threat than say the caravan of immigrants that’s amassing at the U.S. and Mexican border, or a loss of jobs if we sanction the Saudi Regime over the murder of a journalist, or some kind of liberal takeover by Nancy Pelosi, Maxine Waters, and Hillary Clinton. Namely, the greatest threat to our fabric of democracy may be Donald Trump’s fear mongering. In fact, it may terrorize us so much that we’re willing to give up the ideals of democracy in exchange for reducing the same invented fears.

The Only Thing We Have To Fear Is Donald Trump’s Fear Mongering
The moment Donald Trump said the U.S. had become a “dumping ground for everybody else’s problems” our moral fabric and democracy was weakened. So did generalizations of how Mexico sends its people that have lots of problems, like drugs, crime, and rapists. Not only do such figures of speech and mental traps ignore the complexities surrounding push and pull factors and the U.S.’s complicity, but it extends the traits of a few elements from a group to the entire group which distorts reality. Given that nothing in life is to be feared but to only be understood, it increased anxiety, worsened human rights (Family Separation), and prevented a mature national conversation about true immigration reform.

Since fear mongering takes reasoning out of the decision-making process, it’s even more dangerous. Such was Donald Trump’s response to the Saudi Regime’s brutal murder of an American citizen and Washington Post journalist, Jamal Kashoggi. Preferring no retribution, due to a possible $110 billion military contract and supposed 600,000 jobs, is another fear tactic. It however discredits the U.S. internationally, specifically since the Saudi Regime is already using American weaponry to fight an illegitimate war in Yemen that’s killed many innocent civilians and caused mass starvation. The same can be said of silencing other dissidents, and restricting freedom and violating human rights at home.

(Note: What should also concern Americans is that the Saudi Regime blacklisted Jamal Khashoggi only after Donald Trump complained about him. The day after he spoke at the Washington Institute on November 10, 2016, where he called Donald Trump‘s Middle East policies “contradictory,” Saudi authorities immediately banned him “from writing in newspapers, appearing on TV, and attending conferences” in the kingdom.)(1)

Donald Trump’s repeated attacks against Nancy Pelosi, Maxine Waters, Hillary Clinton, the Democrats, and anyone else who disagrees with him, has had a devastating effect and long-term political consequences. It’s not only divided people, but it’s alienated entire segments of the population from each other and his administration. It’s pushed people to support far-right and far-left extremist groups and their causes, undermining any claim that he and his administration has the high moral high ground. Since fear mongering appeals to the emotions instead of reason, it’s caused people anxiety disorders such as phobia-a persistent and excessive fear of situations and others and the future.

The Only Thing We Have To Fear Is Republican Fear Mongering
Given that democracy is always dependent on trust and cooperation among others, using fear as a political tool isn’t a very good teacher. Neither does it engage the necessary critical and analytical thinking skills needed in democracies. Although fear mongering was radicalized within the Republican Party on September 11, 2001, there’d already been strong undercurrents. It had become a useful tactic during McCarthyism and Nixonian age. Newt Gingrich, along with Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levine, Michael Savage and FOX News, used fear mongering too to attract the disaffected populaces while spreading their intense hostilities and hatreds towards then President Bill Clinton and the Democrats.

With their anger and resentment and incendiary accusations against anything liberal, along with a Manichean division of the world between “us” and “them” zero-tolerance policy, it was only a matter time before far-right groups like the Tea Party and extremists such as Alex Jones rose to prominence. It was also only a matter of time before someone like Donald Trump would come along to capitalize on these sentiments and the fragility of the media system. Republicans were consequently more than happy to use him and fear mongering to win, namely by exploiting immigration, opposing news, race, women, Latinos, and Muslims. This included the breakdown of family and societal bonds.

Granted, fear mongering is a powerful motivator for people who’ve been traumatized by years of war, state terrorism, unemployment, and rising poverty. It‘s also effective against those who’ve experienced less education and less diversity, and who’ve internalized neoconservative and fundamental religion. In the meantime, mass media is just as guilty, since it treats fear mongering as news and information, something that always inhibits the most important freedom: the freedom to think. As long as people are scared into “what to think” instead of encouraged “how to think,” democracy will be on shaky grounds. It’ll also be in decline, gradually turning into something that resembles fascism.

The Only Thing We Have To Fear Is Legitimizing It
Since government is potentially the most dangerous threat to our rights and civil liberties, holding a legal monopoly on the use of physical force, legitimizing fear mongering has been a favorite gambit of dictators and fascist governments. The politics of fear and fear mongering also opens the door to the politics of militarization and eventual military takeovers, something that is now happening along the U.S. and Mexican border and at protest rallies. Always embodying anxiety and suspicion towards the “Other,” it can even lead to the criminalization of any kind of dissent. The greatest threat to what’s left of our fabric of democracy may be Donald Trump’s fear mongering indeed.

Dallas Darling is the author of Politics 501: An A-Z Reading on Conscientious Political Thought and Action, Some Nations Above God: 52 Weekly Reflections On Modern-Day Imperialism, Militarism, And Consumerism in the Context of John’s Apocalyptic Vision, and The Other Side Of Christianity: Reflections on Faith, Politics, Spirituality, History, and Peace. He is a correspondent for www.WN.com. You can read more of Dallas’ writings at www.beverlydarling.com and www.WN.com/dallasdarling.

(1) www.commondreams.org. “While President Continues to Play Dumb on Murder; 2016 Reporting Shows Saudis Only Blacklisted Khashoggi After Journalist Criticized…Trump,” by Julia Conley. October 18, 2018.