I’ve got one more Donald Trump theory.
In all fairness, it isn’t entirely mine, but rather something I have heard others touch on, especially over the last few years, as we try to understand the Trump phenomenon.
So I have put some serious thought into the very real possibility that we are all responsible for the sudden rise of Trump, and others like him.
Let me try and explain, so that we can avoid a repeat in future!
Trump represents a group of people who for many decades have been the butt of cruel, condescending jokes.
These are people who we all ridicule as poorly educated, not particularly intelligent and socially backward.
The mainstream media, movies, in fact popular culture as a whole, mock them and laugh at them to their faces. In short, we bully them for not being very smart.
Trump is their revenge; the personification of their anger, in that he has found a way to weaponise it for his own benefit.
But he isn’t just a master manipulator who was able to identify and use feelings that have been bubbling under American society for centuries, he is also a victim of circumstance.
While he was born into riches, it doesn’t look like he was ever able to crack the respectable circles that he craved to be part of.
He was often the butt of jokes and he was never seen as an intellectual, or even the successful businessman that he pretended to be.
In fact, he felt that he had to lie about the amount of money his father “loaned” him, just so his business achievements could appear more impressive than they were.
It was this combination of events that drove Trump to set his sights on the highest office in America.
And then came the straw that some believe broke the camel’s back. That time in 2011 when Barrack Obama poked fun at him in a crowded hall of journalists and it was broadcast to the entire world.
If Trump can peddle hoax theories, then it’s equally plausible that it was that very moment of public humiliation that created the Trump that we have today.
And, of course, the world and the media hasn’t stopped the endless teasing.
It is not even above CNN in how they choose to repeat what it is Trump has said or failed to say. There is always a mischievous undertone that implies Trump (and those who idolise him) is an imbecile.
I believe he is smart enough to notice and it fires him up even more to continue doing and saying questionable things.
The reason why so many Americans believe hoax theories and what has become known as “alternative truths,” is because it’s an opportunity to stick it to the intellectual elite; those who have for years been rubbing their superior knowledge in their faces.
And Trump is their champion; out to teach the know-it-alls a lesson on their behalf.
He is living his fans’ wildest fantasies. By calling leading professionals and experts idiots, Trump says all the things they have always wanted to say to those smart a**es out loud.
And as the president, he doesn’t only give voice to their frustrations, but he also gives credibility to their feelings.
The only way we turn this around is to continue to educate ourselves on the truth and to expose it for others to see.
Laughing at people who believe nonsense, may just cause them to dig in their heels and even act on their beliefs.
You’ll be surprised how many of your own friends and family believe things that are blatantly not true, and live their lives accordingly.
It only comes out when they meet others who have the same beliefs.
Our job is not to tease and ridicule them, but rather to use convincing arguments to help them correct their flawed logic.
Because if we don’t, they may one day vote someone into power who embodies all the ignorance… and encourages more of it.
In this story, we have to accept that we are collectively the Dr. Frankenstein. And Donald Trump is our monster.