Toru Suzuki: What Is the Most Dangerous Aspect of the Trump Phenomenon?

2025/02/06

It may be unavoidable that the world is thrown into confusion if the "If Trump" scenario becomes a reality. However, it is also important to contextualize the Trump phenomenon from a more long-term perspective. If we are too captivated by short-term developments, we risk losing sight of the serious problems progressing in the background. I particularly want to call attention to the surprising risk posed by the phrase "Make America Great Again," a slogan Trump has used extensively since his first presidential campaign and which has become his trademark. While this slogan may seem harmless, many Americans are unaware that it actually leads to a way of thinking that should be called anti-Americanism, contrary to the America First policy he espouses. One of the most necessary things for the future of America is the intelligence to see through the "fake patriotism" lurking behind this phrase.

The United States, from its very inception, was founded on ideals that had not been achieved in reality. Even when the Declaration of Independence, which proclaimed liberty and equality, was issued in 1776, the institution of slavery was firmly in place. This nation, which challenged itself with a new political model that no Western country had been able to realize and imposed upon itself the destiny of somehow bringing reality closer to its ideals, was born as an experimental nation, a nation led by ideals.

Indeed, the people of the revolutionary era were intensely aware of their nation's incompleteness. The phrase in the preamble to the Constitution of the United States, which states it was established "in Order to form a more perfect Union," embodied the idea of reaffirming that they had not fully overcome the divisions within their society, while conversely transforming their nation's incompleteness into a driving force. America was to be perfected in the future, and contributing to that endeavor became a source of pride for the American people.

So, has the project of America been completed? When we look back at this country's past, what emerges is a history of repeatedly experiencing harsh realities far from its ideals, and yet, a history of trying to inspire people to strive for the future by reinterpreting its own immaturity as a waypoint on the path to completion.

President Lincoln, during the Civil War which resulted in over 600,000 deaths due to the conflict over slavery, delivered the famous Gettysburg Address in 1863 at the dedication of a national cemetery for fallen soldiers. There, he stated that even with the tragic war, the ideals of the revolution had not yet been achieved, and that the soldiers' deaths must not be in vain in order to complete the "unfinished work" of realizing liberty and equality. Exactly one hundred years later, civil rights movement leader Martin Luther King Jr., standing before the memorial to Lincoln in the nation's capital, lamented the reality of uncorrected racial discrimination but delivered his famous "I have a dream" public speaking, expressing his faith that the nation would one day establish its ideals.

This nation, which has repeatedly faced tragic realities and divisions, has thus acquired, even in its short history, a mechanism for transforming social crises into waypoints on the path to completion and converting its own incompleteness into a driving force for the future. In light of the serious divisions of today, it is hard to say that the project of America is complete. Instead, this country has obtained a cultural safety valve, as "a nation in the middle of its story," to continue walking toward the realization of its ideals.

On the other hand, the slogan Trump chants deviates from this tradition. Unlike the stance that the ideals of America as an unfinished, experimental nation led by ideals will be realized in the future, it suggests, as symbolized by the word "Again," that the country has already reached its zenith and that America's ideals lie in the past. It lacks a fundamental understanding of this country's history, which has sought to gain momentum by reinterpreting realities far from its ideals as waypoints on the path to completion and by being intensely aware of its incompleteness. To begin with, he has not even clarified which era of America was great. To what point in an imperfect past does he intend to return, when the country is still far from its ideals?

For Indigenous peoples, who are still relegated to the ambiguous political status of a nation within a nation called reservations and have not been fully compensated for past invasions and cultural destruction; for Black people, who continue to be exposed to unjust violence by police officers; for the people of Puerto Rico, who cannot send representatives to Congress or vote in presidential elections; and for women, who have suffered from sexual violence and wage disparities, the moment when this country can be proud of having realized its ideals and being great has not yet arrived. In other words, this slogan is remarkably inconsiderate of such people, and its repeated, casual use provokes the feelings of those who have not fully enjoyed the benefits of liberty and equality. The fact that Trump himself cannot specify which era of America was great should be seen as exposing the fact that it cannot actually be said.

Furthermore, the danger of this slogan is not limited to the problem of historical perception. The indiscriminate use of this slogan, while it remains unclear which era of America was "great," obscures what the symbol "great" itself represents. It also blurs the line between "being great" and "not being great." If the meaning of "being great" becomes ambiguous, a clear distinction from "not being great" can no longer be made. The inability to determine the meaning of "great" can also numb one's ethical sense, as the hollowing out of the concept of greatness can lead to a loss of respect for others. The fact that Trump often makes remarks in public that lack courtesy toward others suggests that this risk has materialized to a considerable extent.

The phrase "Make America Great Again," which at first glance seems harmless, not only numbs the sense of the nation's own incompleteness that has been the source of its patriotism, but is also a breeding ground for erroneous historical perceptions and aggressive behavior toward others. In the sense that it violently destroys the mode of thinking that has been the nation's driving force, it is in fact anti-patriotic and, contrary to the America First policy, even anti-American. It ensnares people in the fiction of a witch hunt for those who caused America to lose its greatness, and it draws society into a state where citizens, devoid of courtesy, needlessly and mercilessly attack one another. What is important is not "making it great again," but "making an unfinished nation greater." This slogan, however, buries such an awareness and instead triggers a chain of self-harm.

During the last three presidential elections in which Trump was a presidential candidate, I watched with interest to see who would make a major issue of the dubiousness of this slogan. However, even the Democratic Party, which fielded his opponents, glossed over the points mentioned above, and the dangerous slogan was allowed to circulate freely. It should have been entirely possible to expose the dubiousness of Trump's slogan by launching a campaign centered on the idea that "Make America Greater" is what's important (if I were a strategist for the Democratic Party, I would have undoubtedly proposed this), but even that failed to materialize.

Why are the American people unable to fully recognize the self-harming risk of this slogan? The core of the Trump phenomenon problem seems to lie here. In a sense, it could be rephrased as a crisis of intellect and sensibility in American society.

To begin with, America has a strong climate of anti-intellectualism. This may be partly due to the circumstance that, to counter European culture and tradition, it was necessary to find value in something else. The history of westward expansion, where experience and practical knowledge mattered more than higher education, may have accelerated this. The advent of the information society, which increased the power of ordinary citizens to disseminate information, can also be said to have strengthened the climate of anti-intellectualism. Indeed, one of the reasons for Trump's popularity can be said to lie in his words and actions, which seem to have no connection to higher learning.

Anti-intellectualism may have had a certain significance in the process of this country achieving cultural independence, but it can become a hindrance in situations where calm judgment is required in the context of how to behave as a responsible member of the international community. It is alarming that the American people have let the danger of this slogan run rampant, a danger that should be easily seen through with the intelligence to reflect on their own history and a certain sensitivity to language.

This seemingly patriotic slogan actually erodes the foundation of this country's patriotism, which has been built on facing its incompleteness, and carries the risk of further fanning division while numbing both historical sense and ethical perspective. The dulling of the sensibility that transforms harsh reality into a step on the path to realizing ideals makes the very cause it espouses invisible, and the unfinished great power may run amok toward an absolutism of itself, devoid of shame. This is tantamount to burying an important cultural tradition that this country has acquired even in its short history—the tradition of transforming the direct confrontation with incompleteness into a driving force. What can be glimpsed from the Trump phenomenon is a picture of America being swayed by an empty slogan, failing to exercise the intelligence to expose its dubiousness, and beginning to fall into a dimension that could be called self-harm. What this country needs is a sensibility that does not turn its eyes away from its own incompleteness and its cause.