The man in the mirror is more difficult to correct than the people we meet in the world. As a case in point, no matter which side of the political aisle one stands on, it is easy to point to demagogues such as Donald Trump if you are a Democrat or Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez if you are a Republican as the imminent demise of our republican democracy. The fearmongering of demagoguery is equal on both sides without recognizing the traits of one’s own party leaders.
Emily Pears in National Affairs describes this problem as identifying “demagogues among our own co-partisans as easily as we identify them among the opposition — poses a further challenge.” Her article is a bit left-leaning as she points to Trump in a backhanded manner as the main demagogue of our time, and she unwittingly suffers from ignoring her own advice. With that said, her article is appropriate and important to read as demagoguery is an illusive threat to republican democracy as George Washington noted so many years ago.
You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother ‘s eye.
Matthew 7:5
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus reminds us that seeing our own flaws should be our first objective before we try to point out the flaws of others. While I am not a Trump supporter, I am not a Trump hater either. Yes, Trump is a demagogue. Yes, his presidency was and will not be one of progress, but the fearmongering that Trump represents the end of America is only true if we want it to be true.
Our Constitution is constructed to frustrate and bind demagogues to ineffectiveness. The first Trump presidency proved this resiliency to demagoguery to be true. The union held. America is still here. A second Trump presidency will only lead to America’s failure if we allow it. We must stop the finger-pointing and look at the rise of demagogues as a whole rather than hyper-focus on Trump.