In his appeals to an unquestioning public, President #Donald Trump has changed political speeches. As with other politicians overseas, the messages speak of an eternal Present where memory does not exist and the Future is ever-changing.
No opposition
As a businessman Donald Trump wanted to be surrounded only by those who obey him. This week with the pseudo campaign rally he showed the same attitude in regards to his public. Expressions of dissent are banned, with only the faithful and committed being allowed to applaud his every word.
This message was reinforced Saturday when he tweeted that he would not be attending the traditional #White House Correspondents Dinner.
The war with the Press is not so much about the accusations of “fake news” which he inevitably and constantly denies and then confirms as real, but because the Press Corps does not display the required level of unquestioning adulation
But in this search of eternal approval, President Trump has repeated a phenomenon that already occurs overseas that marks a decline in public speaking and debate.
The eternal present
Like Beppe Grillo, the Italian comic and leader of the country’s populist Movimento 5 Stelle (5 Star Movement) that has created only confusion in Italian politics, Donald Trump does not project a constant image. Yet these Grillo and Trump are only employing a tactic used by disgrace former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.
In this way the experienced snake oil salesmen and now impromptu politicians direct their speeches to gathering facile consensus from their fans. They say what needs to be said at any given moment to win over those present, even to the point that from one minute to another they are capable of giving contradicting statements.
Yet the fans, in their desire to see that hated opposition apparently being humiliated, accept the contrasting messages as part of the brilliance of their idols.
And so, Trump and Grillo, as did Berlusconi and other populist politicians in Europe, have abolished the past and the future tenses from their speeches and present an eternal present where they project only the messages they feel will make their passionate fans happy and so that they can gather the limelight they so obviously covet.
Danger
Yet there is a danger in this constant present and the permanent search for adulation from an adoring public. Politicians cannot always make speeches simply to make the public feel good.
There are occasions that the President and other political leaders must transmit gravitas to the citizens. Periods of great trials, such as wars, after terrorist attacks and other calamities need to be handled with care. Periods of economic difficulty require leaders capable of calming the population and guiding them through the difficult decisions required to restart the economy.
The search for adulation from the public is not the sign of a capable and secure politician. It is the sign of a person incapable of preparing and projecting a hopeful plan and vision of the country for the future.
Presenting ersatz messages of “Trust me, I know what I am doing” is not the answer to complicated questions and to dealing with other countries.
Leaders
True Leaders understand that their message must not get limited to select groups of the population, but must be extended to all the population. Taking away the past and talking only of the present denies the future for the country.
We live in the present, but only so that we can make the future even better than our memory of the past.
Donald Trump’s messages do not give the country true hope for the future. He, Grillo and the other politicians do not address issues, but seek only an ephemeral limelight that sooner or later will destroy them because they cannot deliver the present they promise.
