How Democrats Propelled the Rise of Donald Trump
It’s long been observed that the opposite of love is not indifference, but hate. I thought of this yesterday when someone sent me an essay titled I Hate Hate, by fellow Substack author Elliot Kirschner. What seems to have triggered Mr. Kirschner to write his essay were bad jokes told by Tony Hinchcliffe—one of thirty speakers at a recent Trump rally in Madison Square Garden. To be sure, Hinchcliffe’s joke about Puerto Rico wasn’t funny, and the comedian’s participation in the rally strikes me as yet another example (Lord there are so many) of how Trump and his people make needless trouble for themselves and their supporters.
However, instead of writing rational criticism of Hinchliffe’s bad jokes and the stupidity of the Trump campaign for including him in the lineup, Mr. Kirschner wrote a diatribe based on his assertion that hate lies at the heart of Trump’s campaign.
This campaign is fueled by hate—hate for diversity, for progress, for women, for democracy, for expertise, for facts, for the truth itself. At its center is a pathetic, egotistical would-be dictator, fueled by his own petty, self-serving hatreds.
The word “hate” originates from the Old English hata, meaning “enemy” or “opponent.” Its roots lie in the divide between “us” and “them”—in the act of othering. But real hate isn’t a game; it can mean life or death, sometimes on unimaginable scales.
As the author states in his title, he too is in the grip of hate, and it clouds his ability to make rational assessments of Candidate Trump and the popular emotions he taps into.
People who strongly identify themselves as Democrats never stop to consider just how much their party elites have contributed to the rise of Donald Trump in American politics. The emotion they call hate is more accurately described as resentment—that is, the resentment of common people who
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LewRockwell.com is a libertarian website that publishes articles, essays, and blog posts advocating for minimal government, free markets, and individual liberty. The site was founded by Lew Rockwell, an American libertarian political commentator, activist, and former congressional staffer. The website often features content that is critical of mainstream politics, state intervention, and foreign policy, among other topics. It is a platform frequently used to disseminate Austrian economics, a school of economic thought that is popular among some libertarians.
