I am creating a series of memes that portray Trump as the Anti-Trust.
Taking such an overtly political stand outside of education might seem like a departure from my usual modus operandi, so I shall explain.
The core of my work in education is about making the case that trust is central to learning and teaching.
Specifically, trust arises out of the satisfaction of needs.
Another way to say it is that trust is a by-product of experiencing equity.
There are four practical steps for producing experiences of equity:
- Define needs scientifically
- Distribute resources fairly to satisfy needs
- Remove structural barriers to the satisfaction of needs
- Satisfy needs with parity across groups
(Numbers 2, 3, and 4 are slightly modified versions of The National Academics consensus definition of equity.)
When you understand that this equity recipe is universal that gives you the key to my inspiration for creating the “Trump: the Anti-Trust” memes.
Nearly everything I have heard about how the Trump administration is managing the federal bureaucracy leads me to believe that they are consistently undermining equity and destroying trust in the federal government.
They are distributing resources unfairly.
They are destroying institutions that are supposed to remove structural barriers to the satisfaction of needs.
They are erecting structural barriers to need satisfaction.
And it all stems from Trump.
This description of Trump by Michael Lewis in his interview with Stephen Colbert inspired me.
He said, ”He likes chaos.
“If I’m trying to predict what Donald Trump is going to do and where he’s going to go, one rule is look for where there is trust in the world and he will try to destroy it.
“He’s really uncomfortable with trust.
“And I think there is a logic to it.
“The logic to it is, he himself is untrustworthy.
“And I don’t mean that as an insult.
“It’s just true, right?
“He lies all the time, and when he says something true it’s kind of an accident.
“He stiffs people on deals, all that.
“That’s the way he thinks you move through the world.
“If we’re in a world in which we trust each other, he’s at a disadvantage, he doesn’t belong.
“But if he eliminates trust between people, he’s leveled the playing field.
“He gets the world into a place where he’s good at it.”
This is the most sensible explanation of Trump I’ve ever heard.
I have been against Trump-ism all along, but this description of his attitude to the world crystalized the distinction between Trump-ism and conservatism.
Conservatism seeks to conserve something valuable in our society.
Conservatives rely on trust, not the opposite.
I respect conservatism.
I see myself as this kind of conservative.
In my books I have clearly stated that I am anti-bureaucracy.
This commitment might seem to imply that I might be in favor of the DOGE program, but that is not true.
DOGE is not anti-bureaucratic, DOGE is unprincipled wanton destruction of valuable institutions for removing structural barriers to need satisfaction.
DOGE is led by and is only serving the interests of Trump and his cronies.
It is the essence of Trump-ism.
Trump-ism is neither progressive nor conservative, it is not even anti-bureaucratic, it is crony-ism.
I want government to progress away from bureaucracy.
I want to conserve the equity and trust building institutions of the federal government.
I am against crony-ism, regardless of which party it might be aligned with.
Trump-ism is a brand of crony-ism, so I am against it.
For a deep dive into the foundations of my politics read my post entitled First Principles for Political Realism
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