Voices: Donald Trumps Civil War bombast is bad enough. Democrats …

Donald Trump (Getty Images)

Donald Trump treats politics like a WWE eventall boasts, bombast, and threats of violence. Its tempting for his political opponents to respond in kind, matching bluster with bluster and chest-thumping with chest-thumping. Unfortunately, the nonsense testosterone posturing is part of a toxic masculine spectacle of violence and hate that ultimately benefits Trump himself. You cant beat Trump at being Trump. If everybody tries, everybody loses.

Rep Eric Swalwell, Democrat of California, was the latest to fall into the ugly mire of anti-Trump Trumping. This weekend, Trump irresponsibly shared a call for Civil War on the social media network Truth Social. Swalwell, who often (and rightfully) denounces Republicans on Twitter, was quick to respond. Donald Trump is calling for Civil War. Of course, like Vietnam and the walk to the Insurrection, he wont be man enough to fight it, he declared.

Trump has been credibly accused of making up health problems to avoid the Vietnam draft. Swalwell is trying to highlight the contrast between Trumps militant rhetoric and the former presidents determination to avoid military service.

But would Trumps call for Civil War be somehow acceptable, reasonable, or admirable if he had fought in Vietnam or in some other war? If Trump had marched on the Capitol with the insurrectionists himself, that wouldnt validate the insurrection.

Republicans in general, and Trump in particular, revel in hollow displays of toughness and crass masculinity. Trump loves to present himself as a mean-spirited patriarch, violently suppressing lesser, weaker opponents.

In a rally in 2016 he complained that people like himself were no longer allowed to punch protesters in the face and suggested that those disrupting his speech should be carried off in a stretcher. In 2017, as president, he boasted about dropping the Mother of All Bombs on Afghanistan. He reportedly wanted missile strikes against drug cartels in Mexico. During the George Floyd protests in 2020, Trump suggested that police should shoot protesters in the leg en masse to subdue them.

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Threats of hyperbolic and irresponsible violence are central to Trumps political persona, and to his appeal. Whether Trump would actually pick up a gun and go off to war is irrelevant to his followers; its like telling a Marvel fan that Kevin Feige doesnt really have super powers. The audience isnt asking for that kind of authenticy. They want someone who can give them a fantasy of violence. Trump delivers.

The MCU is clearly labeled as fantasy, of course. Trumps vindictive dreams are headier, in that they are meant to affect and be instrumentalized through politics. Trump is the great man, the Chosen One, who will direct the forces of purity and hate and exterminate the protestors and vermin who resist.

Swalwell is trying to undercut this by pointing out that Trumpdraft-dodging real estate heirisnt actually the manly man he claims to be. And its true that Trumps image as a mighty warrior and Trumps reality as a whiny toddler are wildly out of sync.

But Trumps fans, who mostly arent courageous warriors either, like the fact that Trump gives them leave to pretend to great virtue while sitting behind their keyboards and shaking their fists at clouds. Moreover, once youve agreed that our leaders should be violent manly men who smite their enemies, youve mostly lost the argument.

If the ideal leader is a violent man, the party of violent masculinityand the party which tends to be dominatedby men in leadership rolesis going to come out ahead. Swalwells tweet suggests you need to be man enough to be a good leader. But where does that leave women, nonbinary, and gender nonconforming people, all of whom should be welcomes as leaders by the Democratic party? Mocking someone for not being as tough as their rhetoric is not helpful if you want a public discourse that doesnt reward aggression, hollow or otherwise.

Yes, Trump is not, personally, going to take up arms. But thats not the main problem with his call for Civil War. The main problem is that he has followers who may, like the case of the Buffalo shooter, decide to kill those they perceive as political enemies. When Trump frames opponents as traitors worthy of brutality and extermination, hes encouraging political divison and political violence. He does that in part by equating leadership and manly brutality. Democrats like Swalwell shouldnt help him do that.

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Voices: Donald Trumps Civil War bombast is bad enough. Democrats ...