Education Matters: The Authoritarians' Playbook of Cultural Manipulation

Trump promised to begin mass deportations with Haitians living in Springfield, Ohio

Springfield, Ohio, water tower (photo Cindy Funk, CC)

This week, Donald Trump promised to begin mass deportations with Haitians living in Springfield, Ohio. He added this would be "the largest deportation in the history of our country." His followers wouldn't understand such an announcement without Trump having carefully prepared the ground for supporting such a policy.

Just days earlier, he had said to tens of millions of Americans watching the presidential debate that Haitian immigrants in Springfield were abducting and eating pets. This inflammatory rhetoric didn't emerge in a vacuum; it was the culmination of a campaign of misinformation and fear-mongering that had started last month when neo-Nazis created the tensions Trump has been exploiting and advancing.

One of the leaders of the "Blood Tribe" organization said Jews should be blamed for the influx of migrants in Springfield that had been taken over by "degenerate third worlders". As Heather Cox Richardson reported, the "Patriot Front" then protested against "the mass influx of unassimilable Haitian migrants" on September 1. Meanwhile, Trump's running mate, JD Vance, reposted a post from a private Facebook group about Haitian immigrants butchering a neighbor's cat for food.

Within a month, the activities of some obscure neo-Nazis in Ohio and a debunked racist claim on a private Facebook group made it to a presidential debate and then to a campaign promise to start mass deportations of Haitians in Springfield.

Trump is to blame for fanning the flames of racism. The result so far is schools, businesses, City Hall, and hospitals in Springfield closed or in lockdown due to bomb threats. The ultimate price is regaining Senate control for the MAGA Republicans and a second presidency for Trump.

Authoritarian regimes have consistently used a similar sinister strategy like Trump is using today to consolidate power: exploiting cultural differences to create divisions in societies. History has shown that even established democracies are not immune to such divisive rhetoric.

Lessons of history

As a European, I grew up in a society that warned at school against falling for baseless conspiracy theories and the kind of propaganda used by authoritarian regimes to dehumanize targeted groups; we were taught to learn from the lessons of history. So, when Katie Sibley, a history professor at St. Joseph's University, pointed out in a recent interview that the language used against Haitians in Springfield echoes antisemitic blood libel myths dating back to the Middle Ages, this was a familiar historical parallel for me. These myths, which accused Jewish people of ritualistic sacrifice of Christian children, were later weaponized by Nazi propagandists to devastating effect.

It's easy to see the parallels: a marginalized group is portrayed as a threat to the fabric of society, and their supposed actions are framed as an assault on cherished cultural values.

Trump's outrageous claims about Haitians are not an isolated incident but form an essential part of his fascist playbook to take over the White House, and this time indefinitely. Throughout history, authoritarian regimes have manipulated cultural differences to create an "us versus them" narrative based on religious, ethnic, or even culinary grounds.

Echoing Nazi language

The Nazi regime's propaganda machine portrayed Jews as vermin and parasites to dehumanize them in the eyes of the German public. Trump also recently used the word "vermin" to describe his political opponents. During a speech on Veterans Day in New Hampshire, he said he would "root out the communists, Marxists, fascists, and the radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country." Historians and even some Republicans have criticized the use of this term. President Biden also directly addressed it, saying Trump was echoing Nazi language.

Similar tactics have also been employed in other contexts. For instance, during the Rwandan genocide, Hutu extremists referred to Tutsis as "cockroaches" on popular radio broadcasts, priming the population for violence.

History has taught us to be vigilant; such propaganda is powerful since it can tap into deep-seated fears and prejudices. Trump's framing of cultural differences as existential threats comes straight out of the tested playbook of authoritarian leaders who create a false sense of urgency and unity among their base. Such a manufactured crisis then justifies increasingly draconian measures against the targeted group. The Springfield case shows this: one rumor on a private Facebook group is a month later used by a presidential candidate to promise mass deportations of black immigrants in Springfield.

Sting’s plea for humanity

People's love for pets and children is a universal sentiment that should unite us across cultural divides. Sting captured this powerfully in his 1985 hit "Russians," singing, "I hope the Russians love their children too." His plea was for common humanity in the face of nuclear threat. However, Trump is not Sting; he shows how easy it is to manipulate such deep-seated emotions to sow division and twist even our most unifying instincts into tools of alienation.

Trump's conspiracy theory about immigrants allegedly eating pets exploits not only our affection for animals to stoke fear and resentment; he also uses the cultural value of food. I have seen in Europe how eating culture can be a powerful tool to unite a diverse population. Growing up in the Netherlands, I knew little about food culture. After decades of traveling the world, I still can't name a Dutch restaurant outside our borders offering more than pancakes. But when I visit the Netherlands today, I see a fantastic choice of various restaurants presenting delicious food from all over the world. Diverse people brought much-needed diversity to our food culture.

But in the authoritarian playbooks, food has often been a potent tool in their divisive arsenal. The Nazis, for instance, promoted specific foods as "Aryan" and healthy, contrasting them with supposedly "Jewish" foods deemed unhealthy or foreign. Such culinary propaganda served to reinforce racial hierarchies.

Similarly, Trump's and Vance's unfounded claims about immigrants capturing, killing, and consuming pets are calculated to provoke disgust and outrage. Pets are deeply embedded in American culture as beloved family members. Presidents' cats and dogs in the White House are often celebrated, humanizing the nation's leaders and creating relatable moments for the public.

Interestingly, Trump was the first modern American President in over a century not to have a pet in the White House. It makes me wonder if his sudden apparent concern for the plight of cats in Springfield, Ohio, as a presidential candidate might be politically motivated.

Dehumanizing language often precedes violence

The dangers of Trump's rhetoric extend far beyond mere words. History shows us that dehumanizing language often precedes violence. The evacuation of Springfield's City Hall due to a bomb threat referencing the Haitian immigrant conspiracy reminds us of how quickly words can escalate to actions.

These divisive tactics can also have long-lasting effects on policy and social cohesion. As Professor Sibley notes, the xenophobia directed at Chinese immigrants in the early 20th century led to discriminatory laws like the Chinese Exclusion Act. Similarly, the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II was preceded by rhetoric comparing them to vermin.

It is not the first time that I draw comparisons between Trump's policies and authoritarian leaders, including the fascist leaders in Europe in the 1930s and '40s. I wish I didn't have to. But as a European, following developments in the US from a certain distance, I can't stay silent when I see the US slipping away into the dirty claws of fascism.

This time, the situation is direr than in 2016; Trump knows what to do when he's back in power. He has spoken openly about his plans for an America where elections are no longer needed. It can mean only one thing: the end of democracy. The parallels with the dark days of history are too obvious and too relevant to ignore. Fascism is pure evil, and so are its leaders. We had our experience last century; let that lesson be a warning not to try this again anywhere else.

Democracy needs protection

All of us should resist the urge to demonize entire communities based on unfounded fears. And some of us may forget that this includes the MAGA crowd; their leaders may be pure evil since they know better, but for Trump's cult followers, it's necessary to understand the complex factors that shape political views. I do believe each voter bears responsibility for their beliefs and actions, but we should also recognize that they are a product of the society in which they grew up. Bad education creates a vulnerable democracy, and uncontrolled media in the hands of corporations and billionaires makes voters pawns in a bigger and more sinister game.

A democracy needs protection and thrives on a more constructive approach that promotes critical thinking, media literacy, and respectful dialogue across political divides. Such a policy can address the root causes of misinformation and polarization while holding people accountable for embracing extremist or discriminatory views. 

Such an approach requires a well-functioning democracy. Once an authoritarian leader abolishes democracy, there is a point of no return since those reasonable policies don't stand a chance. Only a genuinely inclusive democracy is fully resilient. The next few months will prove if the US was just in time to save democracy from the claws of anti-democratic forces.

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Notes:

https://www.columbian.com/news/2023/dec/16/schram-making-presidential-debates-relevant-at-last/

https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/blood-libel

https://www.phillyvoice.com/trump-immigrants-eating-pets-springfield-conspiracy-theory-racist-history/

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September 14, 2024

Photo: Cindy Funk, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons