Article: Trump and the Anti-Semites

Here is how law professor David Cohen, quoting an earlier source, explains what Trump is doing: he is using language "to incite random actors to carry out violent or terrorist acts that are statistically predictable but individually unpredictable." The technical term for this behavior is "stochastic terrorism." Stochastic refers to generating statistical probabilities. One of the possible consequences of this sort of rhetoric is explained by Tara Culp-Ressler, senior editor of ThinkProgress: "In this scenario, a lone wolf terrorist wouldn't be explicitly instructed to commit their crimes, but they would be encouraged by rhetoric that appears to normalize that type of activity." It is unlikely that Donald Trump realizes what he is doing in these terms. He probably stereotypes his own behavior as necessary and correct just as he stereotypes the behavior of those who disagree or oppose him as wrongheaded and personal (rather than principled). Most likely, he behaves as he does in an almost instinctual way. He is a born-and-bred bully. Finally, if we are to probably contextualize the consequences of President Trump's rhetoric, we must also note that it not only plays to "lone wolves" and white supremacists, but also resonates with longstanding themes of conservative Republicans and American Christian Fundamentalists. Both of these large groups espouse a white mono-culture wherein Jews, among many others, are outsiders. Trump, for all his anti-racist protestations, seems to to draw these people to him and comfortably walk the same road as they do. Part IV -- Conclusion In the first chapter of Plato's masterpiece, The Republic, there appears a character named Thrasymachus. Socrates engages this character in a debate about the nature of justice. Thrasymachus argues that justice is ultimately whatever the stronger party says it is, and he tries to bully Socrates into agreeing with him. He is uninterested in Socrates' opinion or the logic of his argument while intent on dominating the conversation. When Thrasymachus is unable to get his way he becomes sullen and rude. Plato's effort to construct an ideal state, governed by so-called "philosopher kings" -- that is, people who, in Plato's opinion, have the ability to accurately understand the world -- can be understood as a reaction to a world that has become governed by the likes of Thrasymachus. Donald Trump provides us with this same sort of challenge, for he is our modern day Thrasymachus: a self-centered bully uninterested in any other point of view but his own. In our case, such a man has indeed attained power and in doing so has also liberated the boorish element of the population who mimic his approach to the world. Thus it is you, Mr. President, who may well have set loose the anti-Semites.

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