Trump should be considered a dilettante despot, the Roman emperor of reality TV. Is anyone surprised that the man who ended every episode of The Apprentice with a ritualistic shooting would orchestrate humiliating spectacles in the Oval Office? After publicly rebuking Zelensky, the leader of a U.S. ally and a country at war, Trump himself said the episode would make “great television.”
By Nina L. KHRUSCHEVA
US President Donald Trump has taken another leaf out of the authoritarian book. His verbal attack on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in front of a camera-wielding media in the Oval Office was exactly the kind of ritual humiliation that autocrats have long used to elevate and amuse themselves — and to intimidate everyone else. One of history’s most notorious dictators, Joseph Stalin, routinely belittled my great-grandfather, Nikita Khrushchev, and his Politburo colleagues. As Khrushchev recounted much later, Stalin once made him dance the gopak, a Ukrainian folk dance, in front of several senior party officials. “I had to roll up my sleeves and stick out my legs, which frankly wasn’t very easy for me,” he recalled. “But when Stalin says dance, a wise man dances.”
In orchestrating such spectacles, Stalin was certainly motivated by a desire to keep his subordinates in subjection. But it was not all politically motivated: as Khrushchev noted, Stalin found the humiliation of others “entertaining.” How could a megalomaniac dictator not enjoy the sight of the most powerful men in his empire voluntarily humiliating themselves to please him—the one figure who towered above them all?
Stalin’s own children were not exempt either. During a recent New Year’s Eve party, a drunken Stalin ordered his daughter Svetlana to entertain his guests by dancing in front of them. Khrushchev described the scene: “Stalin grabbed her by the forehead with his fist and pulled her away.” Despite “her face turning red and tears welling up in her eyes,” he “pulled her closer,” dragging her back onto the dance floor.
Ritual humiliation was also a specialty of Mao Zedong. He forced Zhou Enlai – an architect of Chinese communism and the longest-serving premier of the People’s Republic – to perform self-deprecating “corrective” monologues. These usually ended with Zhou exclaiming at Mao’s wisdom, which he had been too blind, or too morally corrupt, to see. But no matter how much Zhou humiliated himself, it would never be enough for Mao, who ultimately denied Zhou cancer treatment. Of course, Trump is no Stalin or Mao, who were dictators with wild and serious intentions, bent on dragging their countries, kicking and screaming, to the summit of world power. (The other great dictator of the twentieth century, Adolf Hitler, reserved his cruelty for those his racist ideology deemed inferior, while often serving as a marriage counselor for the Nazi elite – he was even best man at the wedding of Joseph Goebbels, his infamous propaganda chief.)
Trump should be considered a dilettante despot, the Roman emperor of reality TV. Is anyone surprised that the man who ended every episode of The Apprentice with a ritualistic shooting would orchestrate humiliating spectacles in the Oval Office? After publicly rebuking Zelensky, the leader of a US ally and a country at war, Trump himself said the episode would make “great television.”
Zelensky is not the only world leader Trump has publicly disparaged. He recently mocked outgoing Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, calling him the “governor” of the “great state of Canada.” Trudeau’s newly confirmed successor, Mark Carney, should brace himself for similar mockery, which under Trump appears to be a new tool of American diplomacy.
Predictably, Trump has directed a lot of random cruelty at his opponents and enemies in the United States as well, performing insulting impersonations and throwing insults out in public. Trump seems to delight in little more than the kind of nicknames you might hear at a fraternity house: “Sleepy Joe” for former President Joe Biden, “Comrade Kamala” for former Vice President Kamala Harris, “Ron DeSanctimonious” for his main Republican rival, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. But like Stalin and Mao, Trump also delights in humiliating his closest colleagues. His first cabinet meeting was a charming carnival of some of the most powerful men in the world (and they are almost all men, although Attorney General Pam Bondi can stand up to the best of them). Meanwhile, Elon Musk, the richest person in the world – apparently aiming to set himself apart from the crowd – positioned himself behind the table, wearing a “tech support” T-shirt and making no bones about Trump’s wisdom and leadership.
At a later cabinet meeting, Musk appeared somewhat chastened: this time, he wore a suit, at Trump’s request. But he was also allowed to attack Secretary of State Marco Rubio for failing to fire enough staff, implying that everything Rubio has done for him is “good on TV.”
No one wants to be belittled in front of their colleagues, let alone television cameras, weeks into their new job — especially by someone who doesn’t belong in the first place. But if Republicans have shown anything, it’s that they’ll swallow any indignity to stay on Trump’s good side.
They arise, submit, and fall silent—no matter how unjust and destructive his plans. Republicans in Congress cheer as the president abandons what they once championed, from economic openness to support for NATO to funding for basic science. Much of the American media has also succumbed. Jeff Bezos, the world’s second-richest man (or third, depending on the stock market), has destroyed the reputation of The Washington Post, which he owns, by announcing that the editorial page would effectively become a MAGA mouthpiece. ABC News, for its part, has made its own dent through its lawyers, settling a defamation lawsuit it almost certainly would have won.
With Trump’s actions under increasing judicial scrutiny, the courts are almost certain to feel the fever of Trumpian intimidation. If the judiciary is also tightened, US democracy is likely to follow.
