Political spectators had a rare treat over the last eight years to view
the types presidential candidates fall into. Since 2008 we’ve seen three
personalities emerge: The Leader, the Demagogue, and the Pragmatist.
The Leader offers us hope and a vision. The Leader will stand in front
of us and tell us the truth. But that truth is offered alongside a vision. Bad
news cannot stop us and good news means we’re soaring to new heights.
“We will succeed,” the Leader says, “because that is who we are.”
The Demagogue offers a type of hope, I guess. There’s certainly a
vision. A fearful vision. A distorted vision of the present and a horrifying view
of the future.
“We are failing,” the Demagogue tells us, “because that is what they want for us. We won’t succeed
unless we upend society. They’ve
stacked the deck against you and I’m the one to flip the table over. For you.”
Of course, the Demagogue can’t do that. The Demagogue loses if the
table flips because the Demagogue helped stack the deck. The Demagogue may
change things but it won’t help the Demagogue’s followers.
Make no mistake, though. The Demagogue has created an “other” to face
blame and those poor people will surely suffer. Getting rid of the scapegoats
won’t solve the problems, of course. Maybe reality will set in among the
Demagogue’s followers. More likely, the Demagogue will just change to some
other unfortunate people and the cycle will begin again.
This is how the Demagogue stays in power.
Finally, we have the Pragmatist. The Pragmatist is honest and truthful.
The Pragmatist will stand before us and tell us what is happening. While the
Pragmatist lacks a soaring rhetoric, there is a vision. That vision and the
Pragmatist’s passion are tempered, though, by a realistic plan.
In lieu of hope, the Pragmatist offers diligence. A Pragmatist will
dream of things that never were and, instead of asking “Why not?” will ask “How
can that come to be?” The Pragmatist wants to create that roadmap.
In 2016 we saw a Demagogue narrowly beat a Pragmatist. Despite my
excitement for the first Madam President, I’m willing to admit Hillary Clinton
rarely spoke to my heart. Hillary Clinton told us the truth. Despite popular
opinion, she talked to us about jobs. She told us how she wanted to build jobs.
She set out a roadmap for that future.
Unfortunately, some of us didn’t want that future. Instead, they bought
a miracle cure from a Demagogue. Donald Trump offered us a miracle elixir to
preserve the status quo.
“This oil doesn’t just cure the status quo,” he said. “No, this elixir
will reverse history.”
Donald Trump went to coal country and sold a snake oil cure for change.
He went to the rust belt and offered a magic pill that would claw jobs back from
overseas and undo automation. He would undo history.
He sold us this cure for the future based on outrageous lies. He lied
about the economy, he lied about crime, and he lied about Hillary Clinton. Most
of all, he blamed every demographic group—except white people—for our faults
and the coming catastrophes.
Demagogues can’t undo the past and there’s no remedy for the future. Only
a Leader and a Pragmatist will plan for the future instead of pretending it won’t
happen.
Change marches to the beat of profit margins. When history keeps
unfolding and his followers are left behind, what will they do? They were
spared the wrath of the Demagogue before. But a Demagogue leads through fear.
Eventually, his eye will have to turn somewhere.
