[Special Feature: The Presidential Election and the Future of America] Toru Suzuki: What is the Most Dangerous Aspect of the Trump Phenomenon?

It may be unavoidable that the world is thrown into confusion as the possibility of a second Trump term becomes a reality. However, it is also important to define the significance of the Trump phenomenon from a longer-term perspective. If we are too distracted by short-term movements, we risk losing sight of the serious problems progressing behind them. I particularly want to call attention to the unexpected risk inherent in the phrase "Make America Great Again," which Trump has used frequently since his first election campaign and which can be called his trademark. While this slogan appears harmless, many Americans do not realize that it actually leads to a way of thinking that should be called anti-Americanism, contrary to the "America First" policy he advocates. The intelligence to see through the "fake patriotism" lurking behind these words is one of the things America needs most in the future.

To begin with, the United States started by putting forward ideals that had not been achieved in reality. When the Declaration of Independence, which proclaimed liberty and equality, was issued in 1776, slavery still existed firmly. By challenging a new political model that no Western country had been able to realize and tasking itself with the destiny of somehow bringing reality closer to the ideal, this country was born as an experimental nation—an ideal-driven nation.

In fact, people during the Revolutionary period were intensely aware of their country's incompleteness. The passage in the preamble of the U.S. Constitution stating that it was established to achieve a "more perfect union" embodied the idea of reconfirming that they had not fully overcome the divisions within society, while conversely converting the country's incompleteness into a driving force for the nation. America was to be completed in the future, and being able to contribute to that endeavor became a source of pride for the American people.

So, has the project called America been completed? When looking back at this country's past, what emerges instead is a history of repeatedly experiencing a serious reality far from the ideal, and yet, a history of trying to encourage people to rise up toward the future by reinterpreting such national immaturity as a passing point on the way to completion.

President Lincoln, during the Civil War that caused more than 600,000 deaths due to conflict over slavery, gave the famous Gettysburg public speaking in 1863 at the dedication of a national cemetery for the war dead. There, he stated that even with a tragic war, the ideals of the Revolution had not yet been achieved, and that the deaths of the soldiers must not be in vain toward the completion of the "unfinished work" of realizing liberty and equality. Exactly one hundred years later, civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., standing before the memorial of Lincoln in the capital, lamented the reality of racial discrimination against Black people that had not been rectified at all, yet gave his famous "I have a dream" public speaking, stating that this country would one day establish its ideals.

This country, having repeatedly faced tragic realities and divisions, has acquired a mechanism—even in its short history—to replace social crises with passing points on the way to completion and to convert the country's incompleteness into a driving force for the future. In light of today's serious state of division, it is hard to say that the project of America is complete; instead, as a "country in the middle of a story," it has acquired a safety-valve-like cultural apparatus to continue walking toward the realization of its ideals.

On the other hand, the slogan Trump advocates deviates from this tradition. Unlike the position that the ideals of America—as an unfinished experimental and ideal-driven nation—will be realized in the future, it suggests, as symbolized by "Again," that this country has already reached the height of its glory and that America's ideals lie in the past. It lacks a fundamental understanding of the history of this country, which has sought to gain momentum by reinterpreting a reality far from the ideal as a passing point toward completion and by being intensely aware of its incompleteness. To begin with, he has not even clarified exactly which era of America was great. Where in the imperfect past does he intend to return, even though this country is still far from its ideals?

From the perspective of Indigenous peoples who are still assigned an ambiguous political status like a nation-within-a-nation on reservations and have not been sufficiently compensated for past invasions and cultural destruction; Black people who continue to be exposed to unjust police violence; the people of Puerto Rico who cannot send representatives to Congress or vote in presidential elections; and women who have suffered from sexual violence and wage gaps, the moment when this country can boast of being great by realizing its ideals has not yet come. In other words, this slogan actually lacks significant consideration for such people, and casually repeating it rubs salt in the wounds of those who have not fully received the benefits of liberty and equality. The fact that Trump himself cannot clearly state which era of America was great should be said to expose the fact that it was not actually so.

In addition, the danger of this slogan is not limited to the issue of historical perception. The misuse of this slogan while it remains unclear which era of America was "great" makes the signifier "great" itself ambiguous as to what it represents. It also blurs the boundary between "being great" and "not being great." If the meaning of "being great" becomes unclear, it becomes impossible to distinguish it clearly from "not being great." The inability to determine the meaning of "great" could even paralyze ethical sensibilities. This is because if the concept of greatness is hollowed out, respect for others may also be lost. The fact that Trump makes many remarks lacking courtesy toward others that are unsuitable for public settings suggests that these risks are manifesting to a considerable extent.

The phrase "Make America Great Again," which seems harmless at first glance, not only paralyzes the sense of national incompleteness that has been the source of this country's patriotism but is also a breeding ground for false historical perceptions and aggressive behavior toward others. In the sense that it violently destroys the mode of thought that has been the driving force of this country, it is actually anti-patriotic and even anti-American, contrary to America First. Furthermore, it entangles people in the fiction of searching for the culprit who caused America to lose its greatness, bringing about a society where citizens relentlessly attack each other unnecessarily and without courtesy. What is important is not "making it great again" but "making an unfinished nation greater," but this slogan buries such recognition and instead triggers a chain of self-harming behavior.

During the last three presidential election periods in which Trump was a candidate, I have watched with interest to see who would make a major issue of the dubiousness of this slogan. However, even the Democratic side, which fielded opposing candidates, bypassed the points mentioned above, and the dangerous slogan was simply allowed to flow unchecked. At the very least, it should have been quite possible to expose the dubiousness of Trump's slogan by developing a campaign asserting that "Make America Greater" is what is truly important (if I were a strategist for the Democrats, I would have certainly proposed this), but even that failed to materialize.

Why can the American people not sufficiently recognize the self-harming risks of this slogan? The core of the problem of the Trump phenomenon seems to lie here. In a sense, it might be rephrased as a crisis of intelligence and sensibility in American society.

To begin with, America has a strong climate of anti-intellectualism. This may be due to the circumstance that, in order to counter European culture and tradition, they had to deliberately find value in something else. The history of the Western frontier, where experience and practical knowledge mattered more than high education, may have also accelerated this. The fact that the power of ordinary citizens to disseminate information has increased with the advent of the information society can also be said to have strengthened the climate of anti-intellectualism. Indeed, one reason for Trump's popularity can be said to lie in his behavior, which seems entirely unrelated to high education.

Anti-intellectualism may have had a certain meaning in the process of this country achieving cultural independence, but in the context of how to behave as a responsible member of the international community, it can become a hindrance in situations where calm judgment is required. It is a matter of concern that the American people have left the dangers of this slogan unchecked—dangers that should be easily seen through with the intelligence to look back at their own history and a certain sensitivity to language.

This seemingly patriotic slogan actually erodes the foundation of this country's patriotism, which has faced incompleteness head-on, and harbors the risk of further fueling division while paralyzing both historical sense and ethics. The dulling of the sensibility to convert a serious reality into a step toward the realization of an ideal makes the cause itself invisible, and an unfinished superpower risks running wild toward a shameless absolutization of itself. This is equivalent to burying the important cultural tradition that this country acquired even in its short history: converting the direct confrontation with incompleteness into a driving force. What can be glimpsed from the Trump phenomenon is the image of an America that has begun to fall into a dimension that can be called self-harm, dancing to an empty slogan without exercising the intelligence to expose its dubiousness. A sensibility that does not turn away from the country's incompleteness and its great cause is exactly what this country needs.