President Trump’s truth-is-what-I-say-it-is approach to governing has reminded more than one person of a famous observation from French philosopher Voltaire: Whoever can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.
Trump’s presidency is one absurdity after another. From the fawning praise he demands from underlings to his imperial gold flourish fetish to his reality-denying assertions and gaslighting lies, Trump provides plenty of ammunition for well-deserved mockery.
And we should laugh at his ridiculousness. Humor can be an effective tool against authoritarians. It can puncture their self-importance and undermine the sense of invulnerability they count on.
At the same time, we have to take Trump and what he’s doing to the country very seriously. As president, he wields great power. And his abuse of that power is harming millions of people.
Trump’s recklessness and indifference are hurting families who can’t afford health insurance, people losing jobs and small business owners forced to shut their doors. It hurts special needs students who can no longer access basic services and children whose health is threatened when vaccine conspiracy theories are turning into public policy.
There are connections between Trump’s buffoonery and the threats he poses to our freedom and future. His willingness to distort reality is dangerous given how many Americans are inclined to believe what he says.
After Trump lost the 2020 election, his team’s preposterous claims about a global plot to rig the election led enraged supporters to harass election officials and attack the U.S. Capitol.
Trump’s demand for unwavering personal loyalty — enforced via social media bullying, professional retribution against those he deems disloyal, mass firings, and so much more —has undermined our system of checks and balances.
His belief that as president he can do whatever he wants, a belief strengthened by his collaborators on the Supreme Court, has encouraged him to flout the law without fear of being held accountable.
FIFA, the notoriously corrupt global governing body for soccer, created a faux “peace prize” and pompously bestowed it on Trump as a consolation for failing to receive the Nobel Peace Prize he covets. At the same time Trump was accepting his “peace prize,” he and his team were celebrating the killing-on-command of dozens of people in boats allegedly carrying drugs bound for the U.S.
Trump’s inner circle rallied to defend the intentional killing of survivors that legal experts consider either a murder or a war crime. But it’s not credible that survivors clinging to a boat’s wreckage represented the kind of imminent threat that could possibly justify their extrajudicial killing.
It’s absurd to say, as Trump did, that senators should face execution for reminding servicemembers that they have a legal obligation not to carry out unlawful orders.
It’s absurd to claim, as the administration does, that vicious kidnappings of peaceful, hard-working immigrants by masked federal agents — and violence against U.S. citizens and protesters — is making America great or our communities safer.
But going along with the absurdities and defending the atrocities is the cost of doing business with this White House, whether you’re a corporate or political leader or member of the president’s Cabinet.
It is painful to watch those televised Cabinet meetings. Department heads take turns telling Trump he is the most amazingly awesome president ever. It is both a laughable farce and a dominance display.
The same goes for MAGA influencers who have replaced many of the actual reporters at White House and Pentagon press briefings and are eager to show they’re on the team.
It’s never enough for the man who thinks he’s the greatest of all time. The Institute of Peace, forcibly dismantled by the DOGE brigade, has been repurposed and named after Trump. Federal buildings fly his face on large banners. He made joking-or-not-joking comments about adding his name to the Kennedy Center. And does anyone doubt that the golden ballroom will bear his name?
The vainglorious Trump refuses to acknowledge his apparent mental and physical decline — so much so that when the New York Times reported that he may be slowing down, Trump called it treason.
It must be hard for satirists to compete with the realities of the regime. Who could have come up with the strutting TV host and “Secretary of War” Pete Hegseth, or the defiantly anti-public-health Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., who are, like their boss, both absurd and dangerous?
Laughing at this unbelievable cast of characters can renew our spirits and boost our resilience. But it is a serious challenge not to normalize Trump’s cruelty and corruption or make light of the people who are suffering and dying at the hands of this regime.
The president is both ridiculous and ruinous. While mocking his absurdity, we must also organize to deny him the power to commit further atrocities.
