DERANGEMENT OR INSANITY?

Ten days ago, I wrote an open letter to Donald Trump and posted it on Facebook. It was (in my opinion) an even-handed letter that contained both earned praise and mild criticism of his performance as president. Readers have shared it 2.3K times so far, and it is still going on. But not everybody liked it. I got blasted, cursed, scorned, and mocked mercilessly by a percentage of readers (less than 3%) which let me know that Trump still evokes outrage by a maniacal contingent.

If the number of detractors didn’t bother me, the acid tone of their posts did. They put up obscene memes and gross pictures, they conjured up hypothetical analogies, they used the most degrading words listed in the urban dictionary and they accused me of idiocy and cultic behavior. Their pure vitriol immediately served me notice that they had no interest in reasoned argumentation or respectful discourse. I was not a fellow citizen to disagree with; I was a dastardly enemy to be shamed, vilified and destroyed.

I tried to engage several of these dissenters in light debate. Bad idea. Every point I made elicited insults, defamation of my character (I knew none of them personally) and instructions on what scary things I could do with my viewpoints. If I didn’t agree with them on the worthless and bottom-feeder imposter of a president that Donald Trump was, my voice didn’t deserve the time of day. Derangement doesn’t fully capture the mental and emotional state of these haters because that word indicates confusion, instability or madness. The more accurate term is insanity. If it is possible to become so obsessed with an opponent that one becomes irrational and loses all sense of reason, then many Trump haters have fallen into the pitiless pit of insanity.

Let me also set the record straight by saying that the vast majority of us do not have Trump on a pedestal. We have never regarded him with adulation, worship or perfection. He is not seen as a spiritual icon or as a role model as though he serves as our pastor, priest or rabbi. In fact, that’s not why any president is elected. We do like his policies and we believe he has led the country in a pragmatic positive direction economically, patriotically, and militarily. Of course, we’re talking politics here and people can argue ad infinitum ad nauseum on the details.

But, for the sake of argument, let’s say that the Trump nemeses are not insane. They’re just guilty of some simple debate fallacies. A listing of common fallacies may prove to understand them. Here are some of them with my explanation of how they apply to Donald Trump.

1. Ad Hominem Fallacy. (Trump is wicked, gross, imbecilic, and stupid.)
2. Strawman Argument. (Many people do not like Trump; he is a white, septuagenarian male; therefore he is a bad president.)
3. Appeal to Ignorance. (Trump is a racist, a Russian agent, and he advocated drinking bleach.)
4. False Dilemma. (Trump destroyed the economy through the Coronavirus.)
5. Slippery Slope Fallacy. (If Trump mismanaged the pandemic, what worse things is he capable of doing?)
6. Circular Argument. (Trump caused unemployment by letting the virus spread which caused people to lose their jobs and ruin the economy.)
7. Hasty Generalization. (Trump caused criminals to commit crimes.)
8. Red Herring Fallacy (ignoratio elenchi) (Trump called the investigations a hoax just to draw attention away from his failed tariff policies and other missteps.)
9. Tu Quoque Fallacy. (Trump attacks the press instead of answering their questions.)
10. Causal Fallacy. (Trump’s rhetoric foments racial strife.)

“Logical fallacies are like landmines; easy to overlook until you find them the hard way. One of the most important components of learning in college is academic discourse, which requires argumentation and debate. Argumentation and debate inevitably lend themselves to flawed reasoning and rhetorical errors. Many of these errors are considered logical fallacies. Logical fallacies are commonplace in the classroom, in formal televised debates, and perhaps most rampantly, on any number of internet forums. But what is a logical fallacy? And just as important, how can you avoid making logical fallacies yourself? Whether you’re in college or preparing to go to college; whether you’re on campus or in an online bachelor’s degree program, it pays to know your logical fallacies.” www.thebestschools.org

My unsolicited, unwanted, and most likely ignored advice to Trump haters is this: Your vicious, excessive, and crude attacks against President Trump have no merit or no effect on his fans. Your sarcastic memes, lewd pictures and four-letter words ring desperate and hollow. You would much more effectively spend your time and effort if you marched out reasoned arguments with credible documentation and proof texts accompanied with plausible and workable alternative strategies.

That may be asking too much for the insane or even deranged, but it may be extremely helpful in persuading Trump supporters to switch sides. Eh. I don’t know. I guess the problem is that this may be mission impossible. But you certainly are welcome to go ahead and try. I do thank the 97% who liked my letter. I hope all 100% at least will pray for our president.