If someone had predicted 10 years ago that a mainstream candidate for the U.S. presidency would have called for an outright ban on members of a religious group, I wouldn’t have believed it. In fact, if someone had predicted it 10 minutes before a Republican hopeful released his policy statement on Muslims, I wouldn’t have believed it.
If it had been Purim, not Chanukah, it would pass as a Purim spiel, albeit not very clever and more than a bit offensive. But GOP aspirant Donald Trump was serious when he called for a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.” More chilling still was the boost in the polls the statement gave him. While many people in the Unites States and abroad, and across the political spectrum, denounced his blanket scapegoating of all Muslims, the bump in the polls is deeply disturbing. Although the presidential primaries are still a way off, I suddenly understood how a power-hungry demagogue with not much to offer but narcissism could play the fear card to put himself in power through democratic processes.
Many Jewish groups joined in condemning Trump, as they should – as we should. I was reminded of the oft-quoted statement of the anti-Nazi Lutheran German pastor, Martin Niemöller, whose politics shifted once he understood the nefarious nature of National Socialist ideology. “First they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out, because I was not a Jew. Then they came for the Communists, and I did not speak out, because I was not a Communist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out, because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak out for me.”
In fact, Muslims join a growing list of categories of folks that Trump would ban outright from the United States, or whom he dismisses disrespectfully when their views collide with his own, or about whom he promulgates stereotypes. While Jews aren’t first on his list of enemies, Niemoller’s statement can serve as a caution for where Trump’s rhetoric may land if they – if we – don’t call him on his bigotry. His crude rhetoric of hate and scorn has taken aim at Mexicans, the disabled, women, veterans, professors, the poor, and many, many others – yes, Jews, as well (although the Anti-Defamation League has officially pronounced his recent remarks about Jews as negotiators and money-wielders to fall short of anti-Semitism).
Disturbingly, Trump isn’t the only power broker who plays the politics of fear. The sort of heightened rhetoric and irresponsible pandering to insecurities and prejudices that Trump employs has become increasingly part of the political arsenal of those aspiring to power, or holding on to it in countries that define themselves as democratic, diverse, and ethical. This not only cheapens the civic discourse. It pits people and communities against one another, polarizes them and fans the flame of discord rather than lowering the temperature. In the guise of fighting extremism, such rhetoric fertilizes it and entrenches its roots.
Soon after Trump called for a ban on Muslims until such time as some unnamed Americans “can figure out what is going on,” spoofs began to appear on the web. One satire announced that the Canadian government has declared a ban on Americans, sealing its borders with the United States because “it is impossible to vet them, know where they’ve been or what they really think.” Another suggested that since white supremacists have been a source of violence, white people should be banned from America. J. K. Rowling compared the GOP hopeful to Lord Voldemort, Harry Potter’s evil nemesis.
Perhaps laughter is the best strategy, pointing out the absurdity of a would-be president. Comedy can be deadly serious. To quote Jack Nicholson’s line in the movie As Good as it Gets: “Sell crazy someplace else. We’re all stocked up here.”
