In order to discuss Donald Trump, we must first define revolutionary social work, and understand neoliberalism.
Revolutionary social work concerns a common struggle against an unsustainable neoliberal world order that has resulted in increasing inequalities, conflicts, and social and ecological problems. The neoliberal capitalist system is not capable of solving challenging socio-economic, political and ecological problems, and humanity needs an alternative system beyond the marketisation of every aspect of human existence (Bristol University press) And this is why we need revolutionary social work.
In essence, revolutionary social work is the fight against neoliberalism.
But what is neoliberalism? : a political approach that favors free-market capitalism, deregulation, and reduction in government spending. (according to oxford dictionary) To me, neoliberalism reflects an ideology that favors the wealthy, and pulls resources away from the oppressed, and vulnerable.
Neoliberalism almost strictly benefits the dominant class – the rich and white.
Global Policy Journal wrote, “Neoliberalism justified and promoted the introduction of purely economic and hierarchical principles in the political life. While it maintained the pretense of equality (one-person one-vote), it eroded it through the ability of the rich to select, fund, make, and elect the politicians friendly to their interests. Until Trump came to power the invasion of the political space by economic rules of behavior was concealed. There was a pretense that politicians treated people as citizens. The bubble was burst by Trump who, unschooled in the subtleties of democratic dialectics, could not see how anything could be wrong with the application of business rules to politics. Coming from the private sector, and from its most piracy-oriented segment dealing with real estate, gambling and Miss Universe, he rightly thought—supported by the neoliberal ideology—that the political space is merely an extension of economics.” (2022)
Many people use the term ignorance when discussing Donald Trump. But I would argue he knows exactly what he is doing. He gives the impression that he does not believe in democracy, or the constitution, or the US government. Instead, he runs things the way one would run a company.
“The rules with which he is familiar are the rules of companies: “You are fired!”: a purely hierarchical decision, based on power consecrated by wealth, and unchecked by any other consideration.”
“A political leader in denial of his trauma may be so little able to bear his core pain, fear and weakness that he will identify with the powerful, disdain and attack the vulnerable.” – Stephanie Hollington-Sawyer
If we dig deep into anyone’s past, we are better to understand why they are the way they are. People are not born evil, they are not born narcissistic. They are not born a republican, or a democrat. Neoliberalism does not run through someone’s DNA. So when we are discussing Donald Trump, it is interesting to think back to what made him the way he is? Did his fortune get to his head? Or did he have a traumatic childhood? Maybe both? Now once you consider this… Does this make you have more or less respect for Donald Trump?
This same method of looking into someone’s past to better understand them can reveal a lot about a client. Especially if you are having a hard time with a client.
As social workers, we are often faced with ethical dilemmas. We may be asked to work with individuals with whom we find morally reprehensible. But I would argue that going into the social work field one should be prepared for a situation like this. I would also argue that that is just life. We often have to interact with people we don’t necessarily like. Learning how to accept a person as they are, and see their entire person, is a really important task in the field of social work.
It is inherently important to recognize that our clients have their own values, and while they may or may not align with ours, they supersede them.
Comments
10 responses to “YoU aRe FiReD!”
Kaia!
Okay – you totally nailed this blog post! Donald Trump has become a polarized topic, and his name can cause a physical reaction for some people (myself included). However, after reading your post, I had a different take on how I view Donald Trump and thought you brought up powerful points. Specifically, asking what happened to make him the way he is and the reminder that everyone starts as an innocent soul. As you addressed, we will be faced with working with people that we don’t understand or connect with ethically but shifting our thinking into a “what happened” approach is revolutionary. The past month I’ve had to do this a lot with a particular person on a personal level. Your blog post reminded me that, it’s human and a part of life to not like everyone, but that we have a choice in how to process it. For me, thinking in terms of what happened to this person to make them the way are, creates space for empathy and understanding.
As far as Donald Trump, your questions helped my mind shift from labeling him as a bad person to a person who may be struggling from trauma and that could be a reason why he craves power. It also has me asking questions like, what is it that makes people attracted to Trump as a candidate? Instead of labeling them in negative ways as well.
Thanks Alexa!
I really tried to make this blog not political but I guess that would defeat the point right? I definitely am not cheering Trump on in any way shape or form. But the article provided to us about Gabor Mate’s take on trump really had me blindsided. I think it was the first time I really took the time to learn anything about Trump Haha.
To address your question about why people are attracted to Trump as a candidate… I have no idea. But I can say that I think that if this article was more publicly known people might view Trump a little different. Its like in all the movies when you hear about the villain’s past and it makes you feel sad for them?
Oh my gosh, yes, you’re so right! I always end up feeling bad for the villain after hearing the background. The first movie that comes to mind is the new, Cruella Deville.
I found myself very uncomfortable watching the apprentice back in the day. I don’t like conflict and will find almost any way possible to avoid it. ( With the exception of MMA- which I love- and miss greatly. Alas, I am not as young as I used to be, and responsibilities are still looming if I get hurt.) But back to Trump – When he announced the first time that he was running for office, I plainly couldn’t believe it. I told my wife, “This guy will never win. He has all the polish and poise of a hand grenade, and almost as much empathy. Wow, was I surprised.
I think one of the reasons that Trump seems to be the messiah to almost 30% of the U.S. and an additional 20% consider him the lessor of 2 evils, is because people feel attacked and un-represented. I myself feel this keenly, though I have never been a trump supporter and couldn’t bring myself to vote for him. In my own work place, I have seen people almost fired for mis-stating someone’s preferred pronouns. While that same person who was “mis-labelled” consistently and openly reviles anyone who is a Christian. Go broader: If you want to be fired, especially if you are in the public eye, or work for a company that is, the quickest and easiest thing you can do to put your employment in jeopardy, is admit to being some form of conservative.
So in my opinion, people who felt marginalized by the new rules post 2010, looked for someone who was willing to fight the system, and Trump found an untapped market.
Great post – very thought provoking.
Hello Kaia,
Really enjoyed your post. Living in a “Red state”, talking about trump or disagreeing with his antics is like talking bad about God and usually if I say anything that I disagree with the people I’m talking to go straight to “what about Obama”. I think your remark about running the nation like a company hits the nail in the coffin. When running businesses people are usually viewed as numbers and resources and this obviously goes against the Social Work Values. I also liked the point you brought up about knowing history and what happen to him in life to understand why he is the way he is. We often only hear the story of his father giving him a 1,000,000 dollars and him turning it into billions but I wonder how involved was his mother in father in his upbringing. Were they around a lot or did he have a Nani to take care of him? And if he did maybe that would taint his view of family or cause some type of pain or trauma in regards to family.
Hi Olanda! Thank you for sharing your experiences.
I really liked the way you pointed out that when you run a company people are just numbers. That’s totally accurate! And may I add – uncompassionate. I think this is totally against social work values like you said. I really believe that everyone should be valued, and cared about. When you run a country I think it is unethical to view our citizens as just numbers, but hey – I haven’t ran a country so what do I know?
Hi Kaia, nice blog. I also think that Trump runs whatever he can just like he runs his own businesses. Look at what he did right when he got in the WH. “You’re Fired.” Nice title by the way. Nice definition of neoliberalism and thanks for sharing.
I like that you included that social workers are faced with ethical dilemmas. I feel like for me that is exactly what Donald Trump is, an ethical dilemma. For me, he knows business and he actually was trying to help the economy but every word that came out of his mouth was so offensive. This is not someone who I want representing the whole US. He is not someone who represents my beliefs, integrity or me in general. He is a moral dilemma. Great post!
Hey Kaia, I enjoyed reading your thoughts about this and how you were able to connect it with social work. To answer your question in the blog, would knowing Trump’s background change the way I see him, I think yes. It is like when you think someone is really mean or rude but then you come to find out they were just having a bad day or they lost someone that day you feel bad for thinking so low of them because you didn’t understand the backstory of why they were acting that way. I think this is true for so many people though, you never know what someone is going through so it is unfair to judge someone based off of what you can see from afar. I also think that being president causes so much stress and every single person is looking at you every hour of every day for four years so it has to be super hard to know what to do as president. I also liked the George Washington quote you put about disagreeing with someone about a belief is nothing to lose them over. I really like that and I have met quite a few people who don’t think like that and it is sad to see them isolate themselves. Great post thanks for teaching us!
I have been torn on how I feel about Donald Trump. At first, I loved how straight forward he was. He did not have the ability to hide behind pretty words. He said exactly what was on his mind. I believe this is why so many people flock to him. He talked. You knew exactly where he stood on subjects. In a way, he reminded me of my son with autism. My son does not have a filter. It can be refreshing after so many people never coming out and saying what they meant or what they are going to do. You can see that now with IVF. So many politicians were against IVF. There are interviews of them saying as much. Now with so many people upset about the ruling over embryos being children, the IVF clinics are now shutting down because of possible legal push back. The same politicians that were against IVF are now saying they never had a problem with it, which would be a lie because they previously said they were.
Anyways, I love how you brought up trauma. People do require certain things because of trauma. It does bring up some interesting thoughts. If you do not consider trauma, it can cause you do hurt the people you are working with. Trauma does come out in different ways.