Trump's cultural revolution

By John Burton

I have a confession to make. In my wayward youth, I was a Maoist. The idea of overthrowing bureaucratic structures appealed to my libertarian sensibilities. If I felt the same now, maybe I would be a Trumpist.

For one way to understand Donald Trump and his tumultuous presidency is to compare him to Mao Tse-tung and the Cultural Revolution. They share the same strategy of trying to create chaos to challenge and disrupt a hostile establishment.

Mao launched the Cultural Revolution in 1966 to overthrow senior government officials who were trying to sideline him after his disastrous Great Leap Forward that led to widespread famine and the deaths of millions of people between 1958 and 1962.

Mao called on high school and university students, the famous Red Guards, to come out in support of his goal to dismantle existing state institutions and overthrow the officials who were running them. The Red Guards were sent out onto the street under the slogan, "Bombard the Headquarters." Out of the destruction, Mao hoped to reassert his power and personal authority.

Trump is employing a similar modus operandi. American broadcasters often comment that "Trump thrives on chaos." Instead of "Bombard the Headquarters," Trump urges his followers to "Drain the Swamp" in Washington. Steve Bannon, Trump's chief ideologue, talks of "dismantling the administrative state."

The Cultural Revolution was overseen by the "Gang of Four," Mao's inner circle that was led by his wife, Jiang Qing. Trump has his own Gang of Four, including Bannon, his daughter Ivanka Trump, his son-in-law Jared Kushner and spokeswoman Kellyanne Conway.

Red Guards waved the Little Red Book, "The Sayings of Chairman Mao," when they rallied in mass demonstrations. In the media-saturated U.S. landscape, Trump is constantly updating his "Sayings" in the tweets he likes to send out to rally his base.

One prime example of Trump's assault on his own government is the gutting of the U.S. State Department. Key positions are left unfilled and many foreign service officers are leaving the department out of deepening frustration.

At a time of growing tensions on the Korean Peninsula, the posts of Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs and U.S. ambassador to Seoul remain empty. There is talk that U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, even as he wields the ax to the department's bureaucracy, is considering resigning because his views are ignored in the White House.

By 1967, the chaos that Mao wanted to achieve had become a reality. But it was also turning into complete anarchy. A civil war loomed as rival factions fought each other, while the economy was grinding to a halt. In desperation, Mao turned to the army to restore order and military units were soon cracking down on the rampaging Red Guards.

Now as the Trump administration threatens to completely unravel due to factional fighting in the White House and deteriorating relations with Congress, Trump has been forced to turn to a trio of former generals, Chief of Staff John Kelly, Defense Secretary James Mattis and National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster, to bring order and create an image of stability.

One result of the Cultural Revolution is that it eventually weakened Mao's authority and set China's economic progress back by at least a decade, although it eventually cleared the way for pragmatists such as Deng Xiao-ping to return to power. The Gang of Four was thrown into prison soon after Mao died in 1976.

The same fate could be in store for Trump. Most believe that he has rapidly lost his effectiveness during his first six months in office, with the failure of major initiatives such as the repeal of Obamacare. The first year is always seen as the most important in a U.S. presidency. Don't be surprised if the Republican establishment tires of Trump's tantrums and ultimately decides to support his impeachment or refuses to back his re-election by endorsing his vice president, Mike Pence, instead.

What I failed to understand in my Maoist days, but what I recognize now is that the Cultural Revolution was basically an anti-intellectual movement that rejected pragmatism. The Cultural Revolution was also based on contradictory premises. It promised to achieve the utopian goals of pure Communism and complete equality while also strengthening the power of a megalomaniac. That was a lesson that was also lost on China's idealistic youth who viewed the Cultural Revolution as a means of liberation from the country's deeply-embedded Confucian culture.

Trump has employed a similarly effective message in appealing to America's deteriorating middle class by promising salvation through economic nationalism and a reduced role for government. Although Trump's Cultural Revolution is less violent (so far), it threatens to cause greater damage not just to the U.S., but the world as well.

John Burton, a former Korea correspondent for the Financial Times, is now a Washington,D.C.-based journalist and consultant. He can be reached at johnburtonft@yahoo.com.