With the Democratic presidential contest heating up, along with Donald Trump’s rhetoric, now is an important time to revisit a difficult truth: we all need to continuously purge ourselves of unacknowledged Trumpism.
Trumpism is built around a few key hurtful tenets:
• that it’s OK to present information out of context if it gets you what you need or want
• that self-glorification, self-protection and self-interest are more important than self-dignity, self-examination and self-reflection
• that all of life must be seen through a lens of constant victimization, always counter-punching, and always blaming every mistake, bad decision or affront on what someone else did first
• that apologies make you weak.
The political discourse in our society tends to rub off on the rest of society — or is it the other way around? Whatever the case, nasty political discourse and dysfunctional daily interactions walk hand in hand. The attitude you bring to your life is the same attitude you bring to the ballot box.
The first and biggest step to ending the ethical slide of Trump is to reject his ethics in our daily lives. In our interactions with our spouses, partners, friends, enemies, employers, underlings, your colleague on a nonprofit board, the fellow community member you hardly ever see, the customer you know only through the phone, and the stranger you meet on the street.
So here’s a reminder to “clean sweep” when it comes to fighting Trumpism. Purge it from all of your life. Get rid of it. Do it now.
