BACK IN THE USSR, DON'T KNOW HOW LUCKY YOU ARE

On Saturday, I wrote that there were sinister connections between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin. In a comment, Dennis replied, “sinister to whom,” arguing that Putin is a basically a Christian populist who became a mob boss only because that’s what you have to do to be a leader in Russia. As I understand his argument, he’s suggesting that if Putin interfered in our election, it was on behalf of international populism.

That leaves open the question of whether Putin thought Donald Trump would bring populism to the United States, or whether he inflicted Trump on America to destroy us, thereby advancing populism elsewhere in the world. Either way, such a defense of Russian interference in our election on behalf of populism begs the question of whether populism is a good thing.

Here’s what I think.

As to Vladimir Putin, I’ve seen no evidence that he cares about the teachings of Jesus, although I don’t doubt that he’s willing to use the Russian Orthodox Church as a fig leaf to fool the gullible, much in the same way Trump uses American Evangelicals. What is not in dispute is that Putin rose to power through the ranks of the KGB, which rewards ruthlessness, not faith, hope, and charity. In the KGB, nice guys don’t finish last – they finish dead.

Appearances can be deceiving, but Putin looks to me like nothing more than a modern Joseph Stalin. His two primary interests seem to be enriching himself at home while doing his best to help Mother Russia screw over its traditional enemies, including us. From Putin’s perspective, helping elect Donald Trump made perfect strategic sense. The whole world, allies and enemies alike, are laughing at us now. That’s good for Russia (and China).

Is Donald Trump a populist? In the aftermath of his victory, mainstream media flirted with that narrative. They published way too many think pieces arguing that Trump supporters constituted “the real America.” Clinton voters were presumably less real, even though there were three million more of us.

But once Trump was sworn in and actually begin implementing policies, the talk of populism began to fade. He campaigned on “draining the swamp,” but instead filled his Cabinet with generals and Goldman-Sachs tycoons. His so-called tax reform will enrich him and his fellow plutocrats, at the expense of most the voters who trusted him. Sooner or later, they’ll figure out that Trump isn’t going to bring back King Cotton, King Coal, King Blacksmithing, or any of the other legacy industries that were once engines of American prosperity.

The only way you can honestly describe Trump as a populist is by assuming that populism is essentially nothing more than white nationalism. Trump’s “populist” base is comprised of people like the Nazis and Klansmen who rallied in Charlottesville, and the know-nothings in Alabama who supported child molester Roy Moore. All of them are white, and they skew older and less educated. The one thing they have in common is a fear of the future.

Older folks, and particularly less educated older folks, often mourn the passing of the old days and the old ways. I’m 70 myself. I can relate. But let’s not kid ourselves. Thanks to cable TV, iTunes, satellite radio, and streaming services, I could, if I chose, marinate myself in TV shows and music from the Eisenhower era. But once I step outside, it’s still going to be 2018. Until it’s 2019. The arrow of time moves in only one direction.

Trump-style populism is based on an US vs. THEM world view. If you’re an American citizen with European ancestors and a Judeo-Christian faith, you’re a member of US. Racial, ethnic, and religious minorities are THEM, and that’s true even if some of THEM happen to have been born in the good old USA. As far as Trump’s populists are concerned, Latin America and the Middle East can keep their damned poor, their huddled masses yearning to breathe free. We’re in the process of shipping the wretched refuse of their teeming shore back where they came from. Unless they die in custody first.

American democracy, on the other hand, promises liberty and justice for all. Of course, liberty and justice for all has always been more of an aspiration than a statement of accomplishment. Sometimes we take one step forward and two steps back. If we’re lucky, Donald Trump, the very stable genius with a bigger button, will take us only two steps back.

Meanwhile, I’ll take a pass on populism. Like communism, fascism, and all those other 19th and 20th century isms, it strikes me as a solution for the past, not the future. There is, however, at least one piece of ancient advice I’m trying to follow: love they neighbor as thyself.

I suspect that concept is incomprehensible to populists.