Angst, authenticity and the absurd. The existential Donald Trump
I read a lot of philosophy when I was an undergrad at UCLA, even got tutored in Existentialism by Angela Davis, the star of the Black Power movement in those days.
I still grapple with essential issues of existential philosophy, which largely focuses on our search for meaning during the brief amount of time we get to be in this world.
I suspect that wondering why we’re here is a universal part of life. It was even alluded to among the ancient Greeks by Socrates, who said “the unexamined life is not worth living.”
I believe the existential challenge, the search for meaning, has been alive and stirring in people’s souls since way back when, “way back when” being that moment when thought was born.
Which, in what is probably the non sequitur of the century, brings us to Donald Trump.
I don’t really care what he thinks about life or his particular sense of mission or meaning. I do wonder, though, how existentialists see Trump through their collective lens that looks for meaning in a world that is inherently absurd, authenticity in a world that is full of phonies, full of the power-obsessed seeking leadership by appealing to easily stirred up mass anxieties, not by seeking the truth.
My search includes the use of artificial intelligence – the Cliff’s Notes of our time. Some of the following is a collaboration between me and AI, which I used for general sourcing. The specifics about how philosophy applied to Trump and his policies are all mine.
From a field crowded with some of the greatest thinkers ever, I picked the two standout existentialists that I recall most quickly from my studies, Albert Camus and Jean Paul Sartre.
First comes Camus and the spectacle of the absurd. Camus would view Trump as an absurd political figure, created by media culture, treating reality as a stage production or reality show. Camus believed that values are created through a genuine commitment to freedom and responsibility. Trump’s self-referential and transactional style are so self-focused that they can’t be the source of real interaction with people and the subsequent discovery of collective values.
His ham-handed and failed approach with Iranians can’t understand that these people are not deal makers. Stake-raising threats from Trump only solidify the Iranian regime’s resolve. Trump doesn’t seem to get that and he’s mired, along with the rest of us, in his own absurdity. Putting a practical face on it, paying more than four bucks a gallon for gas that should be costing us maybe two-fifty is not only absurd … it’s damn expensive.
Next is Jean Paul Sartre and his thoughts on authenticity. Sartre deplored bad faith, which I think is the essence of Donald Trump’s defining and self-deceptive fantasy: that he’s a consummate deal-maker. He’s been trying to push that persona off in the Persian Gulf and you can see where it’s gotten us. Meantime, he’s so badly botched his deal-maker’s fixation on tariffs that our farmers are getting hammered by the loss of foreign markets and expensive inputs. Our consumers are paying up for imported goods every time they go to the store. Trump is kidding himself but the joke is actually on the rest of us.
Existentialists believe that anxiety, which is caused by the endless choices that individuals face, is just a fundamental part of the human condition. On an individual scale I never could go along with that. I believe ultimately there’s a resolution of choices for most people and that they live in a state of resignation or contentment, not necessarily anxiety, depending on how their choices play out.
On a collective scale it’s a different matter. Trump is the source of collective anxiety, not so much as measured by visits to therapists, but as measured in broad behavior categories, especially as they play out in the economy. The consumer confidence index has been sloping down steadily since mid-2024, a reflection of the anxiety that accompanied Trump’s ascension to power and his institutionalization of absurdity.
John Tsitrian is a businessman and writer from the Black Hills. He was a weekly columnist for the Rapid City Journal for 20 years. His articles and commentary have also appeared in The Los Angeles Times, The Denver Post and The Omaha World-Herald. Tsitrian served in the Marines for three years (1966-69), including a 13-month tour of duty as a radioman in Vietnam. Republish with permission.
Photo: public domain, wikimedia commons
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