Übermensch: Nietzschean Role Playing in the Era of Trump
Very often I find that the cycles of history bring
clarity when they come around again. In reading the description the politics of
ressentiment in Nietzsche's Genealogy of Morals what he was describing seemed
essentially illusive. I have to say, however, that the Trump years and
especially now with the impeachment hearings, what Nietzsche was talking about
has come into sharper focus for me. And this quite apart from questions of
whether he's guilty of the things he's being charged with, whether he's a good
or bad guy, etc. However you view all that (and remember I didn't vote for the
guy), it does very much appear that his political opponents have sort of cast
him in the typical role of the Übermensch whose unbounded freedom they feel
intimidated by and therefore at any cost must gang up on in Nietzschean sense
and take down.
In a sense this is nothing new since the person opposed
by political opponents is very seldom the person who actually exists. He or she
is rather increasingly a demonized cartoon invented for the purposes of inspiring hatred and
rage which can then be harnessed and focused on the real person in order that people
might not vote for them. But with the advent of Trump thing have been taken to
a whole new level.
To be sure I have understood for a long time that
stirring a sense of resentment can be exploited as a way of moving people in a
particular direction. I came to me with particular force when I was sitting
with a guy from Yemen many years ago whose English wasn't very good, but who
had to read, on the one hand the Communist Manifesto, a foundational politics
of resentment text, and John Paul II's On Human Work which is in contrast a
breath of fresh air and sanity. Trying to help a non-Westerner comprehend these
texts really helped me to see the difference between their approaches.
Since then I have clearly understood that no matter how
noble the causes of those who try to exploit resentment as a way of achieving
their political ends may be, or how much you may personally care about the
causes, it is never wise under any circumstances to make common cause with such
people. But even so I never really understood how crucial Nietzsche's insight
on this point really was until now (not to say of course that I agree with his
application of the insight).
Trump of course will be gone presently. At most after
four more years. The real question will then be whether his opponents will be
able to give up the role playing that has become normative during his
Presidency and take part in the usual give and take of democratic politics or
whether they will have become inescapably addicted to simply casting any and
all political opponents no matter how modest or unassuming in the role of
dangerous Übermenschen needing to be dislodged by any means and at any cost. One must hope for the best and brace for the worst. The real testing point in the matter, I suppose, will be to see how quickly after Trump departs from office one of those who fought him on this model throughout his presidency will assert concerning his potential successor "He's/She's worse than Trump."
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