How Should We Look at Trump

Now we look at Trump as a legendary figure—regardless of your opinion of him—and, with his recent win in the 2024 election, we all wait to see his next course of action. Will he ruin the United States with his “novel” ideas about the economy? Will he revert to isolationist policies and change global diplomacy forever? Will there be another BLM movement because of him? Or will he do absolutely nothing? Many believe the answer to these questions lies in understanding WHO Trump is. Is he an egotistical dictator—someone who will carry out wild plans that ruin the U.S. and the world? Is he a cynical liar—someone who will deliver false promises for votes and exchange them for his own gain? Or is he a backward racist—someone who will further divide America before fully isolating it from other countries?

Before the election, Slavoj Žižek wrote in his blog that Trump has become a fetish—something transformed into what it is not. By saying this, Žižek not only applies his well-aged understanding of Lacan but also Hegel. In doing so, he achieves something crucial: abstracting Trump from Trump himself. Why should this matter? Because, traditionally, we evaluate a person by their character. Does not the evil act according to their nature? Do not the good benefit others? In theory, yes. But in practice, the real question is: how do we know Trump’s character?

We don’t. Sure, we can get a good shot about one's action from one's character, meaning the converse, we can get a good shot of one's character from one's action, logically make sense. The problem is, however, with Trump, as demonstrated with his assassin at Philadelphia, a we are going to need much more than a good shot. The issue here isn’t morality. The will of a person does not absolutely determine their actions, particularly for a politician. So what is the right way to look at Trump? Perhaps it’s time to stop perceiving Trump as a “person of” something and start seeing him as an organ—a “something” rather than a “someone.”

The point is that politicians are an aggregate of different identities, and this aggregate cannot be reduced to a single identification. This makes it difficult to predict Trump’s actions if we view him solely as a human being. Instead, we should perceive Trump not as Trump but as a set of potential interests. Only then can we begin to understand his actions correctly.

It’s time to abstract Trump from his own personhood.