Thursday, November 7, 2024

A Crazed Society - The Parallels between Mao's Cultural Revolution and Trump's Vision of a Nihilistic Despotism


A Crazed Society

The Parallels between Mao's Cultural Revolution and Trump's Vision of a Nihilistic Despotism

By Kai Chen. 11/7/24

Having grown up during the most violent turmoil of Cultural Revolution in Mao's China, I cannot help but notice the most pronounced similarities and parallels between today's America with the Orange Fuehrer's vision for the US and that miserable and murderous time I have gone through. With unprecedented/unchecked concentration of power today in the hands of a nihilistic psychopath in American political structure, I am extremely alarmed.
The roads to serfdom can be various and many. So are the roads to a Nihilistic Despotism. The Maoist despotic society followed the great leader's motto of "everything is coming from the muzzle of a gun" to reach that crescendo of madness through absolute power. The Trumpian crazies have just gone through a legitimate election process to grab the almost unchecked power to shape society after 11/5/2024. The ultimate test for the strength of American Constitutional Republic is coming, right in front of our faces. Are we able to keep this "Shining City on the Hill" to guide the world toward light, hope and freedom, or we are going down the road toward just a "walled-in tribe" with only borders, worrying only about our pocket money, living space and physical existence, same as just another "fading away" old culture/empire like so many before our time? The answer is still out there.
Let's just list the unmistakable similarities and parallels between Mao's vision of a communist heaven and Trump's illusion of a culturally clean, nihilistic future American despotism, so pronounced that I, as someone who lived and suffered through that Mao's chaotic era notice:
1. Both Mao and Trump want absolute power through any means they can, legitimate and illegitimate, insidiously quiet and outright violent. Dignity, liberty, justice and happiness are never in their vocabulary. What they want is actually - vanity and Nothingness. Power thirst is only the cover for their own innermost silent despair - they are nothing but dust like everyone, nothing special. The illusory satisfaction of seeing everyone kneeling down in front of them gives them the momentary fake meaning: They are still here.
Mao's belief in communism was as much as Trump's belief in the Bible - a tool to use fear and ignorance to subdue, deceive and scare his followers and masses. Mao had never read "The Capital" by Marx. On his bed, he left many books of classic Chinese ancient literature about power usurpation and deception. You will laugh if anyone says that Trump reads the Bible. But there is evidence that he flipped through Hitler's "Mein Kampt" obsessively and thoroughly seeking the wicket advice as to how to seize the absolute power through a political movement from the infamous mass murderer.
2. Both Mao and Trump use mass grievances resulted from their own making to paint themselves as victims of someone else, and later on to establish themselves as the Saviors of the masses from their misery and suffering.
Mao was almost sidelined during the 1960s, after the disastrous "Great Leap Forward" in which as least 40 million people died of starvation. He was criticized by some of his colleagues and retreated to an obscure mountain valley to plot his revenge. Trump was criticized and discredited through his disastrous handling of the Covid - 19 crisis during which more than a million Americans died from the disease. He was thrown out of the White House in the 2020 election, retreating to his home plot the comeback and revenge. Mao came back in the mid 1960s to purge his enemies, blaming his failures on the natural disasters and the USSR's withdrawal of aid to China. He became the ultimate Savior of the Chinese nation and the masses from the imminent peril of foreign and domestic enemies. Trump returns to the White House, riding the wave of dissatisfaction from American society. He collects all the grievances from all aspect of American life to blame on the manufactured enemies, namely the invasion of foreign migrants, the free media and a Woke culture by American left. The voters of the Orange Fuehrer indeed view him as their God-sent Savior to fix everything not right in their lives. The Donald is just willingly/gladly to accept the title.
3. Both Mao and Trump use cultural issues, not economic issues, to rile up the masses with anger and hatred, diverting attention from their own disastrous failure which is the cause of deaths and sufferings.
Mao knew nothing about economics and building wealth. Trump is a laughing stock in the business community, having failed and bankrupted so many business ventures, including a casino. They can never use economic issues to gain credit and trust from the masses. Then they devised the clever one - finding support through the cultural issues. Mao started to blame the old cultures for his failure to achieve communism. People smashed everything old in the Cultural Revolution. Everything else from the West (arts, music, literature...) was labeled Bourgeois. Even things from the USSR was labeled revisionist (besides Leninism). Young couple holding hands can be struggled and tortured by the masses as obscene and corrupt. The society was clean indeed without even money, since everything was rationed by government coupons. The society was clean indeed without religions since the only religion is Maoist communism. The society was clean indeed without sex and porn, besides of course Mao's countless concubines. Trump starts his comeback and revenge by magnifying the the intolerance toward LGBTQ community, blaming "a moral decay" in America which endangers children. Religious folks follow him to clean up the society through misinformation and disinformation by today's social media. Trump's sexual and economic crimes are entirely ignored in this mass frenzy. "He is only a tool from God for us", the religious folks insist. "People are eating dogs. People are eating cats!" Trump is so afraid his disinformation hasn't fanned the craziness enough against a "foreign invasion". All outsiders, new immigrants now are viewed with suspicion and distrust. "They are not American. America only belongs to Americans", the frenzies shout on top of their lungs as if they are the ultimate judge of who are true Americans.
4. Both Mao the Trump use blue collar folks against intellectuals and government officials who had criticized them.
Mao understood that his plot to acquire absolute power was hampered by the mid-level bureaucrats and intellectuals. They followed procedures and ask questions. So he called upon the most uneducated, uninformed and susceptible crowd, the majority in society - the workers, the peasants and soldiers to rise up to crush their oppressors - the bureaucrats and the intellectuals by naming them "the enemies of the people". Books were burned and intellectuals and officials were persecuted, imprisoned, struggled, humiliated and killed. All voices of protest, objection, resistance and insubordination were silenced. The society thus was united under the absolute truth of "Mao Thought". Trump starts with the disinformation that all harms done to America originated through "deep state" and spread through "fake news", intelligentsia and the Hollywood.... People need sanitized news and information. Trump even intended to establish a government news media in his first term to spread his misinformation and propaganda. The "pincer operation" from top and bottom to crush the middle is very effective in creating chaos in which the masses in their confusion are seeking a Savior to fix everything, not knowing the confusion and chaos are created by the very Saviors themselves in the first place for the very intended misery they are suffering under.
5. Both Mao and Trump use vulgarity, indecency and cruelty to appeal to the base urge/taste of uneducated/blue collar folks to indulge in their expression of grievances.
Indecent and uncivilized masses are the solid base for dictators. One of their major pleasures is to indulge in uncontrolled release of emotions through competition in vulgarity, cruel vocabulary and name callings. They derive a senseless satisfaction in the freedom to insult and humiliate others by their birth origin, skin color, weight, height, appearances, family backgrounds, etc. Decent behavioral norms not to do so is attacked as "political correctness". Mao's famous poem with the phrase "Don't Fart", and Trump's mimicking oral sex in public speeches are such examples. The folks love it and support them because "He is one of us". The contamination and corruption of American political culture with moral norms is immense now. What was viewed as respect now is viewed as contempt, and vice versa. It will take long time and great effort to reestablish a relatively healthy cultural and political environment after the Orange Turd is finally flushed done the toilet.
6. Both Mao and Trump are obsessed with mass rallies and military parades to fan illusions of strength and grandeur.
Mao was famous in calling mass rallies during the Cultural Revolution in which he once shouted the meaningless slogan "Long Live the People". He and all the communist leaders are obsessed with huge military parades to show national strength, actually to feed the masses with narcotic feeling of collective pride in and fear of the government. Trump wants to emulate the grandiose spectacle with just the same such illusions (pride and fear) in America. He wanted to have a huge military parade in his first term, yearning maybe he will be shouted at "Long Live Trump" as Mao did.
7. Both Mao and Trump are fixed on controlling women's reproductive organs.
In the 1950 when China and the US were engaged in the Korea War, Mao wanted the Chinese women to have more children to prepare for a bigger war. "The more people we have, the more power we have" was the slogan of the time. Myself was a product of that frantically patriotic era. Then after the Great Famine caused by Mao's murderous collective farms, he blamed that China had too many mouths to feed and started the ultimate birth control program - the "One Child" policy. Forced abortion and sterilization became prevalent. Deaths and misery upon women were everywhere. Trump wants an abortion ban in America, viewing the issue not in a utilitarian way but in a religious way. Both madmen want actually one thing - to subdue women and take away the most intimate choice in an individual's life. It is the freedom they both want to take away from an individual.
8. Both Mao and Trump are fascinated with obsession about political violence and its horrific consequences. They take the most vile, sadist pleasure seeing people suffer and die. Alas, the chickens come home to roost. They both have gone through assassination attempts on their own lives.
Unchecked power actually makes a dictator most insecure. Mao's personal chosen successor Lin Biao plotted to assassinate him. A former MAGA fan tried to put a bullet in the Donald's head. The sadists who enjoy seeing people suffering and die often face the same miserable peril. Those who live by the sword will die by the sword, indeed.
9. Both Mao and Trump are the ultimate nepotists in their ruling of the government. They want their blood children, wives and relatives around themselves in the government all the time, giving them government duties, due to a constant fear and distrust in their own comrades and colleagues.
Dictators, especially Oriental dictators, want ultimately a family dynasty to control power. Trump is following this pattern of Kim dynasty in North Korea. He is grooming his offspring to take his place after his is gone. Many MAGA participants express interests to see a Orange Dynasty running the Donald's bloodline. "I have good genes and beautiful white skin". The Donald has never hesitated to comply to this subtle request. Mao didn't have the chance with his son as an heir for taking over his own power. His son died in the Korea War and he was furious over such loss and blamed Peng the commander for it. Peng, not surprisingly, died of Mao's persecution during the Cultural Revolution. The dictators have long memories about their enemies. They always seek cruel revenge.
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The list can go on. But you get my drift from the experience I went through in China and the dangers Americans face now from unchecked power in the hands of a psychopathic, nihilistic despot. The warning shot has already sounded in November 5, 2024. Be alarmed, be vigilant, be careful and be ready to resist.
All dictators share common psychopathic traits and pathological/paranoid ruling styles, from Hitler to Stalin to Mao to Kim to Putin....
Nonetheless, the phenomenon of the "Stockholm Syndrome" never ceases to amaze me. Mao killed millions of peasants and caused unspeakable misery upon the Chinese people. Yet he is immortalized and worshiped today in China with countless statues and memorials. His image is even printed on every bill of the Chinese currency. Xi himself was a victim of the Cultural Revolution. Yet he just wants to be another Mao to do the same on his fellow human beings. Trump victimizes and demeans women in every turn. Yet it's the white females who contribute to his being elected. Trump's Xenophobia against migrant foreigners is in the open for everyone to see. Yet it's the new Latino immigrants who give him their votes. My take? When people are powerless and helpless, they seek false information from propaganda/brainwash to blame the easiest often invisible target for their misery and suffering, be Mao's accusation of foreign humiliation and Western imperialism and domestic traitors like the intelligentsia, or Trump's frantic attack on the free media and "woke". People need an outlet to vent their grievances as victims. They need the easiest targets, even if they haven't seen them. They need a great "Savior" to fix all the problems in their lives, shedding their own responsibilities as individuals. They are whipped into a frenzy by propaganda and misinformation/disinformation, usually soaked with abundance of outlandish conspiracies. In today's social media, such misinformation/disinformation is in oversupply. They will follow the Savior no matter where, even into the abyss of black hole - Nothingness.
I term the current threat to freedom in the world as Nihilistic Despotism for its single minded pursuit of power without any human values and purpose. Power for power alone, without goal, without joy, without limit, without freedom, without dignity, without meaning, without any sense of existence. It's the power of NOTHINGNESS. Yet it is immensely powerful like a Black Hole in space. It can suck everything into its insidious embrace, even light itself. Nothing is left in the end, because Nothing with death of everything is the end. We must choose now whether to live in nothingness or a meaningful existence. The choice is ours as individuals.