In his inauguration address, US President Donald Trump delivered two important messages – that he will start a “common sense” revolution and that the US’ decline is over. Many consider these more rhetorical than practical. However, if we seriously examine his rhetoric, it’s possible to find deeply rooted US philosophical traditions.
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At the same time, the premature notion about the decline of US power and its international status under the Trump administration should give us pause.
For sure, philosophy appears to have nothing in common with Trump, the super-transactional tradesman who doesn’t like to reason with Ivory Tower concepts. But he is highly innovative if understood through the notion of “common sense”.
After all, he considers kayfabe, a notion invented by professional wrestling, to be a great philosophical notion. Kayfabe, which refers to the convention in pro wrestling of presenting staged performances as authentic, is an old term that emerged from the carnival world. It is based on the big lie of professional wrestling, that it’s a real, legitimate sporting competition.
Trump is a long-time fan of pro wrestling and he uses kayfabe methods during his political performances, such as outrageous monologues. During his most recent presidential campaign, he sledgehammered the line between fact and fiction to win another victory. The Democratic elite never understood this, which is why they lost.
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Amid all the outrageous acts at his rallies, he arguably understood the popular sentiment and concerns of many Americans better than intellectuals and liberal political elites. Trump seems able to grasp the philosophical and political uses of the term “common sense” in a way that has had an impact on American political thought for centuries.