The Threat of “Trump-l’œil” to America Democracy

Trompe-l'œil is French for the “deceive the eye” techniques in which painters use realistic images to create an optical illusion.

It originated in high art, but has migrated all the way down to the level of cartoons. For example, Wile E. Coyote paints a fake tunnel on a rock wall, which the Road Runner nevertheless races through. Then the coyote tries to do the same, but crashes into the rock.

I would argue The Donald has mastered the art of the political Trump-l’œil. He takes real issues like illegal immigration and trade deficits and transforms them into make-believe dramas in which he promises to slay (without explaining how) the foreign dragons threatening America from without and within.

Recently, Senator Marco Rubio has tried to expose Trump as a “con man.” Rubio uses authentic documentation including the example of phony Trump University. Unfortunately, Trump has avoided a major hit. Like the Road Runner, he appears to drive right through the brick wall. No doubt, he really skirts it in a cloud of dust to deceive the voters. Unfortunately, Rubio pursuing Trump runs into the real wall, with disastrous results for his campaign.

Trump’s mastery of sleight-of-hand is fully on display in his new use of a Hitler-style “Trump salute” to pledge the loyalty of his rally supporters. Initial reactions are that this is another fatal tell in which Trump can’t help but reveal his authoritarian and fascistic tendencies. Of course, observers—especially Jewish observers—like retired ADL head Abe Foxman, who survived the Holocaust as an infant—react with horror and indignation.

But behind the scenes, Trump is manipulating appearances. Far from a spontaneous expression of his felt need to imitate Nuremberg theatrics, Trump’s pledge-and-salute are just ambiguous enough to cause Commentary’s Jonathan S. Tobin, usually an astute observer, to question whether the spectacle was truly Nazi-like. Did the audience members really offer the stiff-arm salute? Or was it more like they were pledging allegiance to the flag, public school fashion?

In actuality, the salute is just the latest example of Trump’s use of outrageous words and gestures to monopolize the news cycle by a hybrid of “bad boy” antics and seemingly brave defiance of political correctness. In addition, he puts his opponents and critics off balance, leading them to do and say things against him that may be entirely true, but which Trump and his supporters can mock as ridiculous or hysterical.

Such antics will cost him the votes of some respectable people, but they will also win the support of voters consumed by angry nihilism against the so-called “Establishment,” while frightening or intimidating some otherwise decent people into silence.

Trump is a demagogue. But that’s not the greatest concern. To coin a phrase, “one man’s demagogue is another man’s politician.” The fundamental problem is that Trump is indeed also an authoritarian with fascist tendencies—and a very clever one. If you remember the film, Mephisto, he is not the Fuhrer or Himmler, but the devilish theatrical magician and manipulator who stage manages their rise to power.