“The first set of mistakes we make with strangers-the default to TRUTH and the illusion of transparency-has to do with our inability to make sense of the stranger as an individual. But, on top of those errors, we add another, which pushes our problem with strangers into crisis. We do not understand the importance of the context in which the stranger is operating”-Malcolm Gladwell (Talking To Strangers: What We Should Know About The People We Don’t Know)

While I know very little about US politics, I know with complete certainty that my intrigue with their system and players reaches far beyond any inkling of interest I have in our Canadian structure of government. I suppose that it’s grossly related to the media flooding we receive daily from American outlets. Even as a child I remember seeing President Reagan on television and can recall enough to know for certain that he had some association with the Iran Contra Affair. Now, I have no idea of the specifics of those events without a Google search, yet it would be a struggle for me to produce the name of our Canadian prime minister during this same period of time. Yet, even at a young age, I was taken with some aspect of this excitement. There were some shifty things happening in the United States and someone named Oliver North and Reagan were involved. In the 80’s, my input consisted of television and radio. Obviously, there must have been a steady enough stream of information coming from the US about this that 40 years later I still remember the names of the people involved. 

My curiosity about US politics goes deeper than this though. Over the past few years it has evolved into a major area of interest. Actually, “major area of interest” makes it sound too well intentioned. As if I’m expanding my palate by incorporating American politics into my repertoire. Perhaps a better way to describe it would be a downward spiral into an attempt to understand society. It’s a fixation lately-a bit of a compulsion towards a deeper grip on Donald Trump and his effect on people. I am baffled and find myself sinking deeper into wondering about the ways in which this man’s popularity is signifying a disturbing change in humanity’s ability to think rationally. 

To be clear, I have no educational background in human psychology or any other firm foundation to base any of these opinions on. These are only the musings of someone searching for a way to explain the decline in the common and reasonable judgement among a large number of people. Additionally, these people really can’t be even labelled as American people because there are crowds of people worldwide who have also fallen into this category and, unfortunately, under Trump’s spell. It’s mystifying. It reached a turning point for me this past week when I spent hours upon hours of my day glued to the television for the Iowa caucuses. I realized that I had spent my one day off preoccupied by media coverage of events in another country. Why was I so obsessed? At one point I found myself rewinding to a clip of Trump instructing Americans to vote at any cost (“even if you vote and pass away, it’s worth it”). I rewound this clip a few times. I still can’t really articulate why. Initially it was the shock of his directive. Then I found it funny. I then began to feel afraid after seeing the results add up in his favor. It spurred a feeling of absolute disbelief and simultaneously attempting to make sense of what seemed incomprehensible. 

In the four days since the results in Iowa, this is my theory. What makes us human-separates us from animals-the higher level thinking (among a plethora of other things) is being eroded. We are lost. All of us. Some more than others. Like lumps of play dough waiting to be kneaded out into whatever shape someone else decides. At the mercy of being inundated by media of all forms. It’s as if humans are self destructing (slowly) and no one has yet realized that is what’s happening. Because we are losing our compasses, we are constantly searching for someone/something to instruct us. Tell us what to do-tell us what to think. Discernment is fading.

When I first read Gladwell’s book (Talking To Strangers), I was caught off guard by his thesis wherein he articulates that we (people) are not good at making sense of people (strangers-or, in other words, people we are not familiar with). Gladwell also talks about a “default to truth” whereby people are choosing to believe that the stranger they are trying to understand is coming from a place of honesty. This revelation also shocked me. 

When I reflected on this information as it relates to Trump though, I felt some semblance of clarity with what might be happening. Basically, we are stumbling around life more and more these days. We are overloaded with everything and being incessantly slammed with information in every format we can think of. Much of it biased information (if it’s coming from mainstream media). We see someone on television. Repeatedly. Like I did with Ronald Reagan when I was 9 years old. Reagan becomes someone “familiar” to me because I see him consistently on television and hear about him on the radio. I think I know him. I don’t. He is a stranger. And this is back in the 80’s when the slamming of media delivery wasn’t nearly to the level it is now and in the ways it is now.

The same can be applied to Trump. This man has multiple lawsuits against him. He has 91 felony charges (in 4 different states). He is currently undergoing a civil suit in which he has already been convicted of violence against a woman. He is essentially unable to make any sort of intelligible statement on any topic without sounding like a child. And when you watch any interview where a Trump supporter is being asked why they value him as a leader, they are usually unable to produce any factual information to back their support. Their responses are comprised of circular reasoning. The same tactics Trump himself uses. Humans are tired of trying to think…to figure things out. Myself included. When it comes to Trump though, I think his supporters see him as the embodiment of the mixed up mish-mash of thoughts they have every day. In other words, they just want to Make America Great Again...just don’t ask them how. They don’t know nor does their leader.

So, as Gladwell says so effectively, people (in this case, Trump supporters) believe they know who they are dealing with. Yet they haven’t stopped to consider the most important point of all-he is a stranger. Infused with him 24/7 or not, he is a stranger. The context in which he is operating is only known to himself. Yet his supporters are steadfast in the belief that he is positioning himself for them. Of course, you could argue and say this is true of any politician and/or leader-their agenda will only ever be clear to them. The difference with Trump is that he has brought the standards to a new low of what is acceptable. While Canadians are upset with our prime minister’s Christmas trip to Jamaica, Americans are dealing with a presidential candidate who could possibly be the first American president to serve in office from a jail cell. 

When things are that bad, one of our softest and most compassionate traits as humans (assuming that others are always telling the truth) becomes quite possibly the biggest downfall in American history.