Trump's America—Land of Cruelty and Vengeance | Opinion

Once there was a time when egregious acts by presidents required a veneer of legitimacy. President Ronald Reagan may have ignored the AIDS crisis and engaged in thinly veiled racist tropes, but outwardly he presented an image of unity and spoke of "a city upon a hill." That is to say, he appealed to our ideals and the better angels of our nature. His general ideology was that America, though imperfect, was a righteous nation made up of well-intentioned people who cherished democratic ideals.

Throughout our history, presidents good, bad, great, and terrible have placed tremendous value in our moral authority, encouraging us to set an example for the world. President John F. Kennedy promoted a spirit of service and civic-minded virtues, asking us to ask more of ourselves. Lyndon B. Johnson saw us as a nation with the potential to form a "Great Society" for others to emulate. Though he got us mired in a disastrous war in Iraq, George W. Bush made creating a democracy in that land a primary objective. Even paranoid, morally-challenged Richard Nixon understood the idea that America had a moral obligation to share its wealth, promote peace, and help bring others up around the world.

Yet, for all his talk of "making America great again," it's evident that Donald Trump's version of greatness has nothing to do with leadership or moral rectitude. Trump's definition of greatness rests solely on the notion of power. To Trump, a great nation is not one that leads the world, but one that ignores its suffering in pursuit of self-interest.

It's a philosophy Trump lives by. He's never had any use for charities (except when profiting from them); has never sought to support education or contribute to the distribution of knowledge (though he did start a fake university), and has, throughout his life, perceived altruism as pointless and a waste of time. Those who sacrifice themselves rather than enriching themselves are seen by Trump as "losers" and "suckers." His creed is greed. He sees nothing wrong with this, once boasting, "My whole life I've been greedy, greedy, greedy. I've grabbed all the money I could get. I'm so greedy. But now I want to be greedy for the United States."

Trump goes beyond simply promoting callousness, he relishes it. And now he's made this self-centered philosophy a cornerstone of our politics. Rather than extend helping hands to the world, we've made one hand into a stop sign and the other into a fist. "America First," we constantly hear from Trump's MAGA crowd; in truth they mean "America only."

In just one week's time, Trump closed off U.S. foreign aid, suggested taking over the Gaza Strip and removing all Palestinians from their homeland to build beachfront property, continued his efforts to malign transgender people, and threatened to "obliterate" millions of Iranians. He's purged federal agencies, sought to deprive Americans of health care, pursued a heartless (and rather thoughtless) policy toward migrants, attempted to bully our allies, and exacted vengeance on those who dared pursue him for his crimes.

Abraham Lincoln asked the nation to act "with malice toward none, with charity for all." Donald Trump seems to prefer malice toward all and charity for none. One can imagine him watching A Christmas Carol in reverse so that he's more pleased with Scrooge in the end.

Yet, as cruel and terrible as Trump has been and will undoubtedly continue to be, what's even worse is the fact that so many millions of Americans embrace his ideology, believing, as the antagonist Gordon Gekko once said that greed is good, and that our first and only priority is to look out for ourselves. If that means abandoning our allies, so be it. If it means mischaracterizing DEI efforts to maintain white hegemony, also OK. And if it means cutting off crucial medications to other countries, that's not our problem, they reason.

The MAGA world doesn't take issue with Trump going after political opponents or people in the Justice Department he doesn't like either because, as they see it, the world is a harsh and corrupt place, and no one else would do any different. They race to Trump because they see him as their glorious leviathan—the monster whose wings they can take shelter under to feel powerful. He justifies their every negative notion about the world, and for that they love him.

What they're all missing is that truly great nations are compassionate nations, and right now we're pretty far from greatness.

Ross Rosenfeld is a frequent political writer. Follow his Substack, Politofile.

The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.