Donald Trump and George Orwell

Oceania is one of three fictitious states to emerge from the nuclear war in the 1950s. It is in a perpetual state of war with the other two states, East Asia and Eurasia. At the same time, this has a legitimizing character in Orwell’s world. It gives an enemy on the outside that can be hated and a reason on the inside to justify the rationing of food and consumer goods.

“The military conflict has a unifying effect on the population: it outlines a common enemy and also a common mission, behind which the needs of the individual disappear. “ In addition to this idea of unity, the maintenance of the hierarchical power of the party played a role, which was to be guaranteed by a permanent war.

“The main work of war is destruction, not necessarily the destruction of human life, but of the products of human labor. War is a means of destroying materials that could otherwise be used to make the masses comfortable and thus is intelligent in the long run.”

But where can the parallel to Trump be drawn? Trump’s “fight against the establishment” announced during the election campaign is the central aspect that can also be found in his inaugural speech at the Capitol. He argues that the new US president is going against the usual courtesy of agreeing to work together. He spoke of the “birth of a new millennium”, the ‘end of hollow phrases’ and the fight against the rotten political class in America. “Trump makes it clear that he views dissenters as enemies. And from now on, his fight is against them – in the spirit of the ‘permanent revolution’.” The common enemy image (of Trump and his supporters) emerges clearly at this point, as does the suggestion that a long battle is expected. Possibly the one to destroy the truth. This would be fitting in that Trump is waging a “running war with the media” because the media are not portraying him correctly and are instead trying to de-legitimize him as president.

The endlessness of wars is also taken up by the newspaper reports. If you look at the USA at the moment and in recent years, it is noticeable that it has been in a 17-year-long war, a “war on terror”, which is still not over since the attacks of September 11, 2001. In other words, this is a de facto seemingly endless war. First in Afghanistan, then in Iraq and now US troops are fighting the Islamic State in Syria. Winston cannot remember not being at war in 1984, and the same goes for all teenage Americans at the moment. However, this war was started under George W. Bush and continued by Barack Obama.

The mistrust of our own people has also been known since the revelations of Edward Snowden.
Trump is now perceived on the international level as a disruptive factor who exacerbates existing conditions. “Now he is blaming traditional US allies and undermining NATO for an assortment of irritants – while newspeaking that he ‘loves’ Mexico, Australia, China, Israel, and pretty much every country. Apparently, America’s default diplomatic posture is now belligerency and bullying. “

The internet makes it much easier to spread “alternative facts” especially since people “carry around telescreens in their pockets in the form of smartphones “. Rodden emphasizes Trump’s active Twitter connection to his supporters and followers in dominating headlines and dictating the conversation. “Big Brother” doesn’t see you, he tweets.

“1984” as an all-purpose intellectual weapon

Orwell’s work has become powerful and is developing into an intellectual weapon with which to combat oppression and totalitarian tendencies, by creating an awareness of how to deal with reality and truth. For if one compares Orwell’s 1984 and Trump, the parallels are clearly recognizable, but one point is also fundamentally different: