Make Oceania Great Again

Sales of the George Orwell novel 1984 increased by 1000 percent after Donald Trump’s inauguration, jumping to #1 on Amazon. Penguin alone printed an additional 75,000 copies. A stage adaption of 1984 is coming to Broadway this June. Interest in 1984 was already renewed because of the NSA surveillance programs in the Bush and Obama administrations. And now after Kellyanne Conway’s “alternative facts” slip, doublethink and newspeak are once again in our vocabulary.

Alternative facts are only the tip of the iceberg of Breitbart and such sources. Orwell’s doublethink required conscious self-deception in order to hold contradictory views simultaneously. Newspeak referred to a created language with alternative definitions that were “designed to diminish the range of thought.” The term propaganda does not necessarily imply falsehoods or bias, but persuasive language; newspeak however, relies on limiting the debate to simplistic slogans and platitudes to better control the range of political argument. To be fair, all politicians rely on slogans to communicate, but usually they offer policy positions and details to support them. Normally it is not enough to explain one’s policy choices as “terrific.”

Conway regularly reupholsters President Trump’s bizarre comments with “I think what the president was trying to say was…” Blunders such as the call to Taiwan’s president are retroactively labeled as a brilliant redefinition of policy options, the equivalent of trying to build the road wherever the drunk driver is steering his car. Erratic and unconventional behavior is defined as Trump’s “strategic unpredictability,” as if uncertainty gives the United States some sort of diplomatic advantage. Vice President Pence redefines the rushed and confused decision to ban travel from seven Muslim countries as “decisive.” Trump’s press secretary Sean Spicer explains Trump’s fantasy about 3–5 million illegal aliens voting (all for Clinton, he is mysteriously certain), with “It’s a belief that he has maintained for a while, a concern that he has about voter fraud.” Beliefs not only apparently trump evidence, but even simple logic. How is there no evidence of this massive and unparalleled cheating, which would expose so many to arrest and deportation? No problem for doublethink… Surely Trump officials must be exhausted wielding their shovels behind this parading elephant.

The Ministry of Truth: Time and time again, our president is able to make claims that are so obviously false, vain, conspiratorial, impossible to verify, or steeped in his own personal insecurity (e.g. loss of the popular vote or the size of his inauguration crowd), that listeners are befuddled and cannot imagine how to respond. Any other candidate for president might have been driven from the race after one or two of the whoppers Donald Trump told in the campaign. How does he continue to get away with it? Most Americans are not political experts who are informed enough to be able to distinguish between objectivity, mere bias, and outright fakery. We are all bombarded with data in our information-rich society. Most people don’t have the patience or time or intellectual will to try to fact-check every comment. Unfortunately, they tire of trying to think critically and give up, resorting to either compliance or cynicism. This is why newspeak and doublethink work. A politician who has little conscience in being truthful can take great advantage of it, whether on purpose or by accident.

I can’t imagine either of the Bushes, Clinton, or least of all Obama repeating such discombobulated rumors and then doubling down — seemingly without political consequences. We treat Trump like a child who says silly and immature things, rather than the adult he is. Pundits giggle at his comments as if observing a four-year old and saying “Ha, isn’t he a precocious naughty boy.” But he isn’t. He’s the President. Of the United States. Of America.

Newspeak: Does the public care that he promises to release his tax returns but doesn’t? Is it of no consequence that Trump imposes his conclusions about the TPP, the Iran nuclear agreement, the Paris Agreement, the Affordable Care Act, and even Frederick Douglass while merely pretending to be informed? Does it really matter whether Trump labeled his Republican opponents with childish taunts, labeled female candidates as “not looking presidential,” and labeled judges as “a so-called judge” or “a Mexican”? Does it matter whether there was a “Bowling Green Massacre,” or whether the Muslim travel ban was merely an outgrowth of Obama’s immigration policy, or whether New Jersey Muslims cheered after the 911 attack, or whether Hillary committed the hundred evils of which Trump accused her? The hallmark of propaganda in Orwell’s Oceania was definition and repetition. If the public is told Hillary is “crooked” one thousand times, it becomes the truth.

Blackwhite: Orwell explained that blackwhite is the willingness to loyally follow the Party line “in contradiction of the plain facts”, i.e. to believe that black is white and forget it was ever otherwise. Remember “I am the least racist person you’ve ever met” and “Nobody has more respect for women than I do — nobody”? I’d have to bathe my brain in bleach to have a chance of accepting this blackwhite and his overuse of superlatives. His annoying habit of patronizing Americans by category (e.g., the cringeworthy “I love the Blacks” claim) and focusing on their identity rather than their argument or character is straight out of Archie Bunker racism and the old hey-some-of-my-best-friends-are argument. Don’t forget that even some Mexicans “…I assume, are good people,” he assured us. How can he be called a racist when the Great White Father is going to send the army into the Chicago ghettos where apparently all African-Americans live (in miserable destitution) to liberate them from themselves? Forget about all the claims of sexual harassment and his own numerous recorded words about women; how can he be a sexist when he’s told us that he respects women and has hired some? No, he’s not mocking the disabled reporter; he just felt like flailing his arm at that particular moment. Wait a minute — what reporter? Ummmm… it never happened.

The Ministry of Love: Many people assume that totalitarianism of the kind envisioned in 1984’s Oceania survives because an all-powerful government imposes a harsh and violent rule over a cowered public that is too afraid to resist. Actually, that sort of control is better termed “authoritarianism,” where citizens may still think independently but obey out of fear of punishment. Authoritarian rule does not need a Ministry of Truth, whereas totalitarianism requires more. Totalitarianism survives not merely out of fear and force, but because its subjects believe in it, or even love it, as poor Winston Smith does in the end of 1984. Think North Korea.

No, I’m not hinting that Donald Trump’s supporters love him as much as North Koreans seem to revere their totalitarian leader. Many Trump supporters that I know have no illusions about his flaws. And I’m not saying that Trump is the equivalent of Hitler or Stalin, the primary inspirations of George Orwell’s post-WWII novel. It is very tempting to compare Trump’s methods to those of Hitler, and I have done so myself. The truth is that is a massive exaggeration, and Weimar Germany in 1933 is not the USA in 2017, for many reasons. You needn’t worry about the Thought Police storming into your house yet, notwithstanding NSA surveillance and border agents’ inspections of your social media accounts. However, the renewed interest in 1984 is well-rooted in its haunting similarity with the post-fact society in which we find ourselves today. Doublethink is not only a plague to modern electoral politics; science is progressing exponentially while at the same time is under attack by those who deny climate change, evolution, the efficacy of vaccinations, and even evidence, rules of logic, and the scientific process itself. In fact, there is evidence from the Harris and Gallup pollsters that Americans’ belief in superstition is rising, not declining. Even more disconcerting, Americans are more likely to believe in conspiracy theories and fake news. The Internet has both empowered us and shrouded us in fake news and confirmation bias.

Freedom is Slavery: Since Philip Converse’s influential “The Nature of Belief Systems in Mass Publics” in 1964, political scientists and pollsters have told us that many Americans don’t have fixed opinions or ideological positions. Instead, they choose their candidates for office not based on their positions on the issues, but on their “personal qualities” and other non-issue and non-ideological factors. More recent research (e.g. Follow the Leader? by Gabriel Lenz) suggests supporters then adopt the positions of their candidates afterwards, mostly out of trust and their image of the candidate. This phenomenon is especially pronounced among voters who are less educated — like those Trump proudly applauded, musing “I love the poorly educated.”

Of course, partisanship is still the predominant factor in the general election, but in the primaries and caucuses, image and personality is critically important. This is true of all candidates and was especially noticeable in the case of Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump. That doesn’t mean that there was not a portion of Sanders supporters that truly understood what democratic socialism means, and it doesn’t mean that there were not mainstream Republicans that figured Trump would likely pick traditional conservative judges recommended by Mitch McConnell. But those “rational” voters were far outnumbered by the image voters.

What is more prevalent among Trump’s supporters is an almost complete lack of knowledge about any substantive positions he might have. Obviously this is not their fault alone. Yes, he will build a wall, get tough, lock her up, put America first, tell it like it is, make terrific deals, “fix” trade, limit immigration, and of course Make America Great Again. And we will all soon be very tired of winning. But beyond these slogans most supporters were unable to identify any actual policy. Polls showed that supporters would claim to support almost any position if they thought Trump was behind it. They loved what Trump said, and no amount of fact-checking and refutations could sway them. What good are facts and arguments in the face of this? Therefore, the truth about the inauguration crowd is not what one sees in the photo, but by what Big Brother announces. (Stalin physically altered photographs, something that doesn’t seem necessary now.) Astonishingly, US Congressman from San Antonio Lamar Smith revealingly put it this way: “Better to get your news directly from the president. In fact, it might be the only way to get the unvarnished truth.”

A few weeks before the general election I spent about three hours online watching various reporters’ interviews with Trump supporters. It was bewildering listening to [what seemed to me] mysterious claims of what was factual and true. But more interesting to me was the fact that many of them angrily refused to cooperate with “The Lying Press,” clear evidence that newspeak is working. I wondered out loud to my friends how many of them were not cooperating with pollsters and thus not reflected in polling. But they did show up to vote.

War is Peace: And so the newspeak and doublethink continue. Sean Spicer reports on “Iran’s additional hostile actions that it took against our Navy vessel,” convoluting a Houthi rebel attack on a Saudi ship. Knowing the history of the battleship Maine and the Gulf of Tonkin incident, one would think that the White House might be very careful with such language. But not in the age of newspeak.

Trump is now re-debating the efficacy of torture and “black sites,” while claiming he will defer to his Secretary of Defense. What are foreigners to think? Here is the US president openly speculating about torturing people and setting up offshore black sites. Mere talk is damaging enough. There is simply no way to sanitize such doublethink. Even if one doesn’t care about the immorality of torture, or the fact it’s illegal, or whether it even works… how about what it does for Jihadist recruitment? What do Americans think of the disturbing pronouncements of Kim Jong-un?

Big Brother in Oceania cultivated enemies to sustain the regime. Trump seems to delight in being a “disruptor” as his supporters proudly say. Now he is blaming traditional US allies and undermining NATO for an assortment of irritants — while newspeaking that he “loves” Mexico, Australia, China, Israel, and pretty much every country. Meanwhile, US Senators like John McCain must follow him apologizing and reassuring. He is threatening to intervene in Mexico and flirting with war with Iran and China (and possibly other countries by the time you are reading this). This after a constant campaign theme railing against “dumb wars.” Doublethink! Apparently, America’s default diplomatic posture is now belligerency and bullying. We even detained the former Norwegian Prime Minister in Dulles Airport for an hour (he went to the National Prayer Breakfast, of all things) because his diplomatic passport revealed he’d been to Iran. The Baltics are biting their nails and Hungary is drifting to Putin. Europeans are now grappling with what Americans had to deal with during the campaign — does Trump really believe his own rhetoric, rumors, and bragging? Are his tweets policy statements?

Ignorance is Strength: And so we have an Education nominee that doesn’t support public education, an EPA Director who is a climate change skeptic at war with the EPA over carbon emissions, drilling rights and other things, a National Security Advisor who tweets viral conspiracy theories and fake news, a UN Ambassador with no foreign policy experience, an Attorney General whose commitment to civil rights is shaky at best, a Health secretary who doesn’t support stem cell research or climate change theory (and profits from stocks affected by his votes), a Treasury Secretary who has been repeatedly sued for his aggressive foreclosures and questionable business practices, a Secretary of Labor who opposes his department’s mandate to promote worker protections like overtime pay and sick leave and thinks “workers are overprotected,” secretaries in HUD and Energy who do not know what their departments do, and… well, you get the picture.

But surely now that the campaign newspeak is over, the cold reality of governance must commence… no? Trump can no longer claim to be able to make a massive tax cut, increase defense spending “bigly,” build a Great Wall that Mexico pays for, repeal and replace Obamacare (a few days ago he said all Americans will be covered, much to the surprise of Paul Ryan), etc… all while eliminating the national debt in eight years. Yes, he really did once say that. But now he can’t. Right?

Opponents of Trump assume that because his narcissistic and reckless behavior is so incredibly transparent, it cannot last much longer. He shows few signs of moderating, and his chief strategist Steve Bannon ensures that he continues to confront opponents and make new enemies on a daily basis. This is not Oceania; sooner or later it will catch up with him and Republicans will desert him en masse. This may very well happen. Even if it does eventually happen, one can only imagine what damage he may cause before then. But not so fast… There is a massive disconnect between his loyal supporters and those of us who cannot understand why they support him. Trump’s supporters do not typically read the objective fact-checking, witty rebuttals, and devastating analyses that others read in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Slate, The Atlantic Monthly, or even in conservative-leaning publications like The Wall Street Journal, The Hill, or National Review. Beyond their favorite Fox News, some of their sources are spectacularly conspiratorial news sources that drip with resentment of “the establishment,” liberal Democrats, RINOs, “the Lying Media,” and pretty much anyone with any sort of expertise or experience. They are very forgiving of Trump because they believe he is an imperfect vessel of needed change. Obama’s supporters were not the only ones that long for hope. As long as Trump supporters are pressuring Republicans to support the president, and as long as Republican members of Congress believe that a cooperative president on Republican legislation outweighs their concerns about his leadership, Trump will continue his free reign over policy, and more importantly — the facts. Good luck, Winston, you’re gonna need it.