How to stop a bully? Remember the moment Trump’s biggest divisive trick got shut down | Opinion
Too many commentators to count have spotlighted Donald Trump’s use of divisive language. His objective is and always has been to drive a wedge between Americans, between his supporters and his critics. To this end, his capacity to bully and make nonsensical and divisive statements is bottomless, from suggesting injecting disinfectant into people’s bodies to combat COVID-19 to his recent claim that immigrants are eating dogs and cats.
His intent to divide us is repetitive, transparent and vacuous. It’s his only device. After every new ludicrous remark he makes, I’m reminded of what my parents taught me: You can’t control the behavior of others. You can only control yourself.
On the eve of the election, Americans would do well to recall a moment in 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic when journalists did just this, controlled their response and came together in the face of Trump’s abuse. It was at a May 11, 2020, White House press conference addressing the coronavirus.
Trump stood at a podium buttressed between two billboards that read, “America leads the world in testing.” CBS reporter Weijia Jiang asked a simple question, why leading the world in testing should matter.
“Why is this a global competition to you,” she asked, “if every day, Americans are still losing their lives and we’re still seeing more cases every day?” Trump responded by telling the Chinese American reporter to “ask China,” then dismissed her question as “nasty.”
As usual, the American media focused on Trump’s response, calling it racist, sexist, rude, pathetic and ugly — in essence, divisive. And yes, while these descriptions are accurate, Trump has demonstrated repeatedly his capacity for this kind of language, and the fact remains that his boorish behavior is an asset to him. It is what his critics dislike about him, and what his devotees love — the very characteristic that his supporters pray will help this “outsider” presidential candidate dismantle a system that’s rigged against them, that counts them out. So, frankly, one more loutish word from Trump is never interesting.
What was interesting in that moment was the way most journalists handled it. They did exactly what psychologists say is the best way to stop a bully. They “activated bystanders” and came together in support of the woman Trump was trying to bully. Rather than compete against one another to curry favor so the president would call on them to ask the next question, they chose a different response. They united in their support of Weijia Jiang, allowing her the courtesy of a follow-up question — and this exposed Trump’s shallow and simplistic mode of operation.
Trump’s sole method to get what he wants is to sow division by bullying, to divide and conquer whomever and wherever he deems it necessary, a method at least as old as Rome and expressed in the Latin adage, “Divide et impera.”
But Trump’s modus operandi is losing effectiveness. It’s getting thin. It’s run its gamut. And this press conference put Trump’s weakness on display. The strength and solidarity of journalists Weijia Jiang and Kaitlan Collins, among others, exposed the impotence of Trump’s sole tactic.
Near the end of the press conference, Trump was flustered. He could do nothing but retreat, escape before the situation got worse for him, but this revealed him as the one-trick pony he is. Divide and conquer is his only scheme. He grows agitated when it fails and, as inconceivable and frightening as it is to witness, he retreats also, because he can’t offer anything substantive.
Gregg Primo Ventello is a former tax accountant, corporate auditor and university administrator turned English professor. He lives in Lawrence.
