The power of stupidity

Text by Aria Novosedlik 
Illustrations by Will Novosedlik

It’s impossible to ignore the gong show of American politics, especially when democracy itself is on the chopping block. 

When, at a recent town hall, CNN’s Anderson Cooper asked Kamala Harris directly if she thinks Trump is a fascist, she answered: “Yes, I do. And I also believe that the people who know him best on this subject should be trusted.”

She was referring to former members of Trump's own administration, like former White House chief of staff General John Kelly, who called Trump a fascist in a New York Times interview, or former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley, who called Trump “the most dangerous person to this country.”

Yet Trump – running on a campaign of idiotic dance moves, ‘love fest’ town halls, mounting threats of retribution and an unapologetic embrace of fascism – is neck and neck with his opponent Kamala Harris. How is it that Kamala—presumably the voice of reason, emerging from Biden’s shadow and swept onto the scene with a remarkable surge of popularity—is now in a dead heat with  a candidate who has openly expressed his admiration for Adolf Hitler?

It's pretty simple: Trump has been building his brand for four decades. As a thirty-something I was slightly surprised to find out that his first go at building a political profile was back in the Y2K era, when I was just was a single digit. He has run for president four times: 2000, 2016, 2020, and 2024. Since the 80s he has appeared in no less than 13 films, from short documentaries to features like Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, and been on television countless times, including his so-called ‘reality’ TV show The Apprentice. He has been in the news constantly. He trademarked ‘MAGA’ in 2012, another demonstration of his keen marketing instincts. 

And Kamala? No one knew who she was until three months ago. She just hasn't had time to develop her own brand. Being veep doesn’t help; she is by definition in the shadows. And the fact that she's female, Black and South Asian raises the bar that much higher. When Biden dropped out, she came in hot. But her fledgling brand is having difficulty in the face of Trump’s juggernaut of bullshit, threats and condemnation.

It used to be considered hyperbole to compare Trump to Hitler. But now that he has come right out and expressed his   admiration for the most evil leader of the 20th century, it's no longer a stretch. 

Which brings us back to the Hitler thing. When it comes to campaign rhetoric, Hitler had five simple rules, and Trump has followed them religiously:

1. Avoid abstract ideas – appeal to the emotions.
2. Constantly repeat just a few ideas. Use stereotyped phrases.
3. Give only one side of the argument.
4. Continuously criticize your opponents.
5. Pick out one special "enemy" for vilification.

Anyone who has been following the 2024 US election can easily recall several instances in which Trump has employed these simple rules. They're part of every dictator’s playbook. You could insert the name of any authoritarian ruler or would-be ruler here, past or present. Pierre Poilievre comes to mind. Tired of hearing the phrases "Axe the Tax, Build the Homes, Stop the Crime" yet?

Recently, while watching Trump’s bizarre McDonalds promo, I realized there is no clear differentiation between him as a brand and him as an actual human. Ironically, this gives him a superpower that every brand dreams of: authenticity. What you see is what you get. There’s nothing behind the curtain (except maybe Elon Musk). 

Trump's former chief of staff John Kelly told the New York Times that Trump “fitted the general definition of a fascist” and said he would rule as a dictator if elected again.

Trump is the embodiment of the Dunning-Kruger effect, a cognitive bias in which people with limited competence in a particular domain overstate their abilities. He constantly casts himself as the greatest – and most persecuted – president ‘in the history of this country’. But here’s where I divert from popular democratic opinion: I don’t think he’s aware of how evil his actions are. People call him a liar, but he is also something else. As pointed out in a recent Guardian article, a liar is someone who deliberately circulates a falsehood. He knows he is lying. The bullshitter, on the other hand, doesn’t care whether what he says is true or not. He just makes shit up to suit his purpose. He drinks his own kool-aid. Trump’s a bullshitter and a liar.

German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer: hanged for speaking against the Nazis. You could also say he was hanged for crimes against stupidity.

And for half of American voters, it works. Trump’s populist brand is fuelled by stupidity, both his own and that of his uneducated base. As the great German theologian and anti-Nazi activist Dietrich Bonhoeffer once argued, stupidity is more dangerous than malice. He called it the most dangerous force in the world and the biggest threat to our collective survival. And here is where Kamala’s voice of reason is at its weakest: facts don’t stand a chance against stupidity. Facts that disprove a stupid person’s beliefs are simply dismissed as false or pushed aside as inconsequential. It almost seems like you’re not arguing with an individual but with a grab bag of slogans. And the dangerous part is that stupid people are easily irritated, leading to violent behaviour. January 6th, anyone?

In a book entitled The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity, Italian economic historian Carlo Cipolla argued that a stupid person is someone who causes harm to another person or group while they themselves do not benefit from it – and may even suffer losses because of it. Remember the MAGA pushback against Covid vaccination? The mindless refutation of scientific fact? A million Americans died from that attitude. More Covid deaths per capita than any other country in the world. Non-stupid people were incredulous, but as Cipolla also pointed out, non-stupid people always underestimate the damaging power of stupid people.

Trump has the magic mix of grabbing people who feel wronged and making them feel strong by playing the role of victim himself. And by making himself look every bit as stupid and vulgar as his adoring crowd. When asked why they love Trump, they almost always respond with “Because he looks and sounds like us.”

Non-stupid people beware. We may soon be ruled by a confederacy of dunces.

Aria Novosedlik is a Toronto-based designer, writer and researcher. Will Novosedlik is a writer, designer, and industry observer, known for a critical perspective on the socio-economic impact of design, brand, innovation and business.