A Monstering Horror

"[A] monstering horror swallows...." That's the image with which E.E. Cummings begins his poem about the Soviet invasion of Hungary, in the dark autumn of 1956—and the United States' refusal to come to the Hungarians' aid. It remains a visceral way of phrasing it: one sees the gullet of the great Soviet leviathan opening wide, then closing down and carrying the restive smaller republic down into the silent depths. 

It's a poem I've quoted a great deal since Putin's invasion of Ukraine—seeing as both the Russian dictator's aggression and the craven acquiescence of the American right to his actions have obvious parallels to the events Cummings had in mind. But it was that first line of the poem that especially came to mind for me this evening, in seeing Trump's most recent comments on NATO. 

According to the New York Times, Trump today lurched a step further in his embrace of Putin and his betrayal of our democratic allies. Of course, Trump has long made clear that he admires Putin, approves of his invasion, and has nothing but contempt for the people putting their lives on the line in Ukraine to resist his aggression. But he has found a new, even uglier way to say as much. And in so doing, he has forced me to pay attention, as much as I wish not to (see the "principle of the bag" at work). 

Specifically, Trump added a new twist of the knife to his previously reported remarks, in which European diplomats said that he had previously pledged not to defend NATO, in the event of a Russian attack. Now, Trump himself not only declared explicitly that he would sell out our European allies, if they did not pay what he considered to be a proportionate share for the upkeep of the alliance's defenses (a number that he can no doubt vary at his own whim and convenience); he also went further, and said that he would "encourage" Putin, in that scenario, to "do whatever the hell [he] want[s]." 

And so Trump seems to be explicitly inviting the scenario in which the "monstering horror" of Putin's regime swallows its smaller and weaker neighbors. Trump seems in fact to relish the idea. Really, the comparison to 1956, then, is to do him too much justice. This is not mere cravenness or excess caution in the face of an autocratic bully. It is active support and complicity in his actions. Trump welcomes the monstering horror. He shows to Putin a buffet of the sardines at his borders and says, "here, have all you can eat!"

First Ukraine's eastern provinces. Gulp! Next, Kiev itself. Glorp! Then Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania. Slurp! Then Poland, Slovakia, the Czechs. Slupp! Down the gullet of Leviathan they go. And that is not to mention the many other autocracies around the world that would follow Putin's example. Seeing Trump's sheer indifference to democracy and the fate of our friends and allies around the globe, what would be left to stop any of them? The PRC invading Taiwan; North Korea invading South Korea; Venezuela invading Guyana; everywhere the big fish gobbling the smaller, as soon as they think no one's looking. 

Just look at what happened already to the territories Putin hived off from his neighbors years earlier! Look at Crimea! Or look at what happened to Hong Kong! Everywhere Leviathan swishes his hungry tale. Everywhere the gullet opens wide. Everywhere the jaws close on the helpless victim, as it cries out for justice and salvation. And the U.S. under Trump will not hear their righteous screams. Indeed, Trump will gloat. He will take delight in their destruction. For the great in power but weak in spirit—the bullies like Trump—like nothing more than to see the strong in spirit, but weak in body, go down in defeat. 

What strikes one most about Trump at this stage of his degeneracy, in short, is his fundamental sadism. He truly delights in the pain and humiliation of others—especially of those who are already weak and helpless. He likes to kick a man who is down: captured POWs, say, or dead soldiers. Apparently, for instance, Trump recently made a "joke" at a campaign rally about the home invasion in which Nancy Pelosi's 83-year-old husband was brutally bludgeoned in the head with a hammer. What can one even say to a man like Trump giggling at such an incident? Biden said it best, in a response to Trump's remark he reportedly made behind closed doors: "What a fucking asshole the guy is."

The only way to discuss it, ultimately, is in such frankly psychosexual terms. I am reminded of Harold Pinter's warning about a previous Republican president: "The big pricks are out." Or J.G. Ballard's famous short story about Ronald Reagan, the title of which verges on the unprintable, and which I just recently got around to reading. 

Ballard imagines a kind of warped think tank, charged with measuring audience responses to the Republican presidential contender (who was already running for the office as far back as 1968, when the story was penned). But unlike normal think tanks, which measure things like "approval" and "likeability," this one measures Reagan's BDSM-laced sex appeal. They run tests seeking to stimulate mass sexual response by depicting the future president in various kinds of violent, kinky scenarios. The best results, Ballard's fictional think tank sums up—in their eerily clinical style—are found while showing those images that center on the theme of "anality." A fucking asshole, in short.

What both Pinter and Ballard capture, in their inimitably blunt ways, is the kind of sexual aggression implicit in the whole modern right-wing appeal to the macho "strong man" commander. Trump, however, carries this previously-latent sadism to such avowed and explicit heights that there is no space left for a Pinter or a Ballard–type to satirize him. He outdoes any possible critic. 

He is letting it all hang out. And the symbolism is not even subtle. He likes the idea of someone taking a hammer to the head of a helpless, elderly man who has been surprised by a home invader. He likes the idea of Viktor Orban's neo-authoritarian rule, saying that "it's good to have a strong man." He likes all these things for the same reasons he says he will "encourage" Putin to invade his neighbors. And for the same reason he is credibly alleged to have committed sexual violence himself—as a jury in New York recently reaffirmed yet again. He is a small man who only feels powerful and gratified when he can witness the humiliation and pain of others. 

A monstering horror is right. A fucking asshole is right!