The Politically Correct Presidency of Donald Trump
During the 1990s and again over the last several years, the United States engaged in an intense, wide-ranging argument about the contested concept of political correctness. For its most incisive critics, political correctness was a problem insofar as it elevated deference to political sensibilities overstating or acting on the truth.
Last year, numerous supporters of Donald Trump declared over the course of the presidential election that they supported the billionaire in part because they were tired of political correctness, a phenomenon they associated with the political left. A small portion of those voters were itching to engage in hateful speech. In contrast, many others merely hoped that if elected, Trump would govern as a hard-headed businessman who spoke plain truths about problems that the United States faces. No longer would politically tinged falsehoods shape the president’s words or actions.
Alas, that isn’t what happened.
Yes, President Trump is gleeful in offending the political sensibilities of his opponents on the left and right. Sometimes, as with his attacks on the Iraq War, his irreverence is even useful. But Trump’s lodestar isn’t truth. It is an alternative dogma shaped by his peculiar coalition. And it distorts his words and actions as much as any Washington politician. Rather than address the problems that face America, political correctness be damned, Trump constantly utters falsehoods to gain political advantage, coddles Vladamir Putin, and panders to the sensibilities of Breitbart News, the website formerly run by Steve Bannon, his chief strategist.
