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LostInParadise's avatar

Does Donald Trump vindicate Nietzsche?

Asked by LostInParadise (32215points) March 28th, 2017

I have yet to find a better explanation of how Trump gets away with constant lies. The terms post-truth and alternative facts rang a bell for me. Post-modernism? No, it had to be something else. Then it hit me. It must be Nietzsche, and I certainly could not be the first person to think of this. Welcome to the new era

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18 Answers

Sneki95's avatar

How exactly is Nietzsche being vindicated here?

LostInParadise's avatar

Yes of course. Trump is not really lying. He is just mocking those liars who are accusing him of lying. I am going to have to draw a diagram to keep track of all of this.

Strauss's avatar

Its more Orwellian than Nietzsche-esque.

tinyfaery's avatar

I would say that Nietzsche (Shit, I can still spell this without looking it up.) and his concepts of “Will To Power” and “The Ubermensch” can describe the “morality” of Donald Trump. BUT, Nietzsche wrote “Genealogy of Morals” as a response to religion, in a time where religion was being subsumed into modernity and enlightenment philosophy. He was completely against this. To him, religion should be destroyed, because it’s morality was subjective and; therefore, false, and that was what he was writing in response to. (He was also critiquing Wagner and other cultural norms)

Today, these ideas are taken out of context because religion has been able to separate itself from Postmodernism. We cannot vindicate Nietzsche out of context.

(I took an entire college course on Nietzsche a long, long time ago. I think Savoir Faire could better answer this.)

stanleybmanly's avatar

New era indeed! If an ingrained habit of open, habitual and deliberate lying is no impediment to political success, we are in for some interesting times. Trump sits at the absolute apex of power in the world and is the great testimonial to your children and mine that integrity is irrelevant to matters of ambition. He should not be allowed to appear in public without loud hoots of “LIAR” dogging his every step.

Zaku's avatar

Does a two-year-old throwing food from his high chair vindicate Sir Isaac Newton?

Zaku's avatar

@stanleybmanly I frequently read Trump-soft forum posters (elsewhere) trying to argue that criticizing Trump for lying is not important on the grounds that they feel all politicians lie regularly.

stanleybmanly's avatar

Sure they do, or it is assumed they do. But prior to Trump, it was considered distinctly disadvantageous to get caught lying, and unthinkable to spin lies which are on their face outrageous and demonstrably false. Trump’s lies are more than untruths. They are deliberate and taunting insults to all who hear them. He is in effect declaring those listening abject fools.

filmfann's avatar

“Blow it out your ass, Howard! Here comes Mongo!”

kritiper's avatar

“If you can’t dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bullshit.”

Zaku's avatar

@stanleybmanly I agree. I’m just mentioning what the frequent noise of Trumpers is when the BS gets pointed out in other forums.

flutherother's avatar

Trump is a vindication of nothing, how could he be? Trump’s complete lack of integrity means he doesn’t even vindicate himself.

Strauss's avatar

So does that make it Neo-post-modernistical?

Sneki95's avatar

^ *post-modern.

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Brian1946's avatar

@Strauss @Sneki95 According to Dubya Bush, it’s past-modernamanistical.

stanleybmanly's avatar

Trump vindicates Barnum. Here’s an example: Early in his career, Barnum acquired a boatload of various species of throwaway trash fish from a fleet of salmon fishers. The dubious pedigree of the fish was no impediment to P T’s immediate effort to sell the fish to canneries as “white tuna”. On the discovery that no cannery would buy the trash fish, Barnum immediately contracted to have the fish canned under his own label. The label read : “White Tuna: guaranteed not to turn pink in the can”.

Strauss's avatar

P.T. Barnum, one of the best known hucksters in history, is purported to have said:

There’s a sucker born every minute!

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