Populism: There is no wisdom in delusion

Dear Editor,

The recent assassination attempt against Mr. Trump, while shocking, is not surprising. He has, indirectly, fostered it by his bizarre approach to life and to politics. To him, truth does not matter, rules and institutions supporting and stabilizing civil society do not matter, and democratic institutions and practices do not matter because they all impede him getting what he wants. Politically, he cloaks his wants in populism to better sell them electorally. He is at the forefront of rising populist sentiments worldwide. However, populism does not cause attempted murder. It is not that simple. Mr. Trump has made populism a delusion.

The delusion in populism is its followers believing their leaders who tell followers, firstly, the mere fact they want something is justification for their getting it, and, secondly, the mere fact they believe something makes knowledge and truth unnecessary. Society’s rules and standards such as laws and lawfulness, truth, rights and human rights, justice, expertise, respect and decency, civil decorum and discourse, and the common good, all of which facilitate democracy, are all blithely ignored if those rules and standards conflict with populists’ mere wants and beliefs. Thus, populists give themselves a diminished context against which to measure and appraise their actions. They choose to see no “big picture”.

The result is an abandonment of normalcy, because, to populists, society’s rules and standards, described above, are impediments, not benefits. Mr. Trump, has, for his supporters, made the grotesque desirable, deviancy acceptable, the improper and unimaginable simply business as usual, and the abnormal normal. When there is no truth, there can be no lies. When there is no justice, there can be no injustice. When there are no civil standards, no act or statement is out of bounds. 

The delusion afflicts Canadian society. A few recent examples include Saskatchewan Premier Moe’s government collecting the federal carbon tax and incurring large late penalties illegally refusing to send it to Canada Revenue Agency, goons occupying Ottawa in February 2022, and our current Alberta Premier who believes her eleven minute phone conversation with a criminally accused, weeks before his trial, was acceptable. They all wanted to do it. They believed they should do it, so they did it. Simple. No Rules. In the U.S., for Mr. Trump’s would-be assassin, the law against murder was a minor annoyance conflicting with his beliefs.

Gregory R. Côté, Irvine