Donald Trump ran a campaign — and won the 2016 presidential election — based on unorthodox tactics, whereby he used irrational provocation to defy traditional political norms and make a mockery of established beliefs on both domestic and international issues confronting the United States. Amazingly enough, Trump has continued his instinctual political posturing even as president, dividing the nation and causing severe friction with the traditional allies of the U.S. Yet, his unorthodox tactics and irrational leadership style appear to remain a winning formula as current polls indicate that, unless something dramatic happens, Trump may very well be re-elected in 2020 by an even bigger margin.
How do we make sense of Trump’s continuing popularity? Noam Chomsky, one of the most respected public intellectuals alive, shares his insights on Trump’s actions in the exclusive Truthout interview that follows.
C.J. Polychroniou: Noam, I want to start by asking you to reflect on Trump’s political posturing and leadership style and explain to us how this apparently “irrational” president continues to enjoy unquestionable support among nearly half of all voters and has managed to turn the GOP into his own fiefdom.
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Noam Chomsky (born on December 7, 1928, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historical essayist, social critic, and political activist. Sometimes called "the father of modern linguistics", Chomsky is also a major figure in analytic philosophy and one of the founders of the field of cognitive science. He is a Laureate Professor of Linguistics at the University of Arizona and an Institute Professor Emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and is the author of more than 150 books. He has written and lectured widely on linguistics, philosophy, intellectual history, contemporary issues, and particularly international affairs and U.S. foreign policy.
Chomsky has been a writer for Z projects since their earliest inception, and is a tireless supporter of our operations.
3 Comments
george patterson on
As usual, Noam Chomsky has shown enormous insight, wisdom, knowledge, and logic, demonstrating clearly how Trump’s so-called economic boom is an utter sham in which the vast majority of Americans have suffered severely from the increasing inequality of wealth and income, whereas the one percent, including the corporate sector’s wealth has skyrocketed astronomically. Ironically, in the richest country in the history of humankind, the quality of life has declined enormously in its inequality of wealth and income, including other aspects of the human development index like health care, education, housing, vacation, sick leave, and so forth; whereas the other developed liberal democracies like those in western Europe, including Australia, New Zealand, Iceland, and Canada have a much higher quality of life that continues to improve substantially.. This is so shocking, sad, and tragic which we must reverse,. Since we are at a tipping point, we must not ignore that existential reality before it becomes too late..
Noam Chomsky for many many years has been proven to be right about a broad and deep range of issues. I wish I could argue that he has not gotten it right about these latest comments, but alas, he’s hit the nail on the head again, I fear.
At first I thought the plethora of Democratic candidates seeking the presidency might be a sign of vigor and newness, but as the group has not reached about two dozen, I think this array illustrates a deeply divided, energy-sapping, in many ways powerless party against the ultra-conservatives that support Trump, especially the evangelicals and the rich who seem to see the presidency as a means of getting what they want regardless of the results and injury to most.
We may be at an historic turning point and we have to go through all of this to find something better. How far down we have to go before we go up is anyone’s guess and no one knows. Planet ecological decline, the US’s wars in a multitude of countries, massive amounts of money pouring into military industries do not bode well.
3 Comments
As usual, Noam Chomsky has shown enormous insight, wisdom, knowledge, and logic, demonstrating clearly how Trump’s so-called economic boom is an utter sham in which the vast majority of Americans have suffered severely from the increasing inequality of wealth and income, whereas the one percent, including the corporate sector’s wealth has skyrocketed astronomically. Ironically, in the richest country in the history of humankind, the quality of life has declined enormously in its inequality of wealth and income, including other aspects of the human development index like health care, education, housing, vacation, sick leave, and so forth; whereas the other developed liberal democracies like those in western Europe, including Australia, New Zealand, Iceland, and Canada have a much higher quality of life that continues to improve substantially.. This is so shocking, sad, and tragic which we must reverse,. Since we are at a tipping point, we must not ignore that existential reality before it becomes too late..
Second paragraph where it says “…the group has not reached two dozen…” should read “…has now reached two dozen…”
Noam Chomsky for many many years has been proven to be right about a broad and deep range of issues. I wish I could argue that he has not gotten it right about these latest comments, but alas, he’s hit the nail on the head again, I fear.
At first I thought the plethora of Democratic candidates seeking the presidency might be a sign of vigor and newness, but as the group has not reached about two dozen, I think this array illustrates a deeply divided, energy-sapping, in many ways powerless party against the ultra-conservatives that support Trump, especially the evangelicals and the rich who seem to see the presidency as a means of getting what they want regardless of the results and injury to most.
We may be at an historic turning point and we have to go through all of this to find something better. How far down we have to go before we go up is anyone’s guess and no one knows. Planet ecological decline, the US’s wars in a multitude of countries, massive amounts of money pouring into military industries do not bode well.